Although the Spawn has been making a very good effort in trying to speak Filipino whenever he can (which is regrettably, just a word or two each day since he does not know many words or expressions), I’ve had to devise ways in order to help him actually remember the vocabulary words we are taking up during his lessons so he can use them in everyday conversation.
We came up with a card game, similar to Magic: The Gathering or Pokemon, with a Filipino twist!
It’s called “Tabi Tabi Po” — loosely translated as “Step aside, please” or “Excuse me, please.” The saying is from a local superstition that in order not to offend and anger nature spirits or supernatural creatures in the vicinity, one must utter the words “tabi tabi po” before entering their domain (which may be a forest, an old house, or even your own garden).
 |
The rules of our CCG are based on the card game in the Nintendo DS game Chocobo Tales. The creatures on the cards are based on Philippine folklore and the descriptions of the attacks and spells that each card can cast during the game is written in Filipino (which I am hoping is accurate since I am not too fluent myself.) |
The artwork on the cards are made by The Spawn while the layout is done by myself.
This is still a work in progress but The Spawn has been excited working on it and has been looking forward to the time we can actually print out the cards and play the game.
So far, the creatures he has made for the cards are the Nuno sa Punso (sort of like a gnome), an Ebwa (a type of carnivorous giant), and a Wir Wir (Philippine version of the werewolf).
Related Products from Amazon.com:
4 Comments: Trackback URL | Comments RSS
July 29th, 2010 at 11:13 PM
Very, very cool! Definitely have to come up with something like this for my 6-y.o. son. He’s into Bakugan and, lately, BeyBlade, which would both be kinda tricky to translate into a game. =p
Wishing it was as easy as letting him watch Hero
channel cartoons in Filipino. =p
Nina recently posted..Tumblr love – love and lol
July 30th, 2010 at 7:12 PM
I tried letting the Spawn watch Tagalog cartoons on Hero too!! (when we still had a tv). It got him frustrated but at least he started saying he wished he could understand them.
It’s definitely a great activity to come up with a game together! We used to make our own board games too. My son loves making the art work for it. Be creative and let your son come up with the rules adapted from Bakugan or BeyBlade. My son loves Bakugan too but it would definitely be more difficult to create our own “marbles” LOL!
August 1st, 2010 at 6:34 PM
Aww
Hope he’ll be able to speak filipino well when he grows up! I’m also not that fluent in filipino, but after reading a poem i made for school, my teacher says I am. 
Good Luck!! 
August 5th, 2010 at 3:38 PM
That’s good you can write poems in Filipino already! I used to write poems and short stories all the time when I was in highschool. (Still do!) Keep it up! Maybe the Spawn can practice speaking in Filipino with you sometimes. =)