Advisories & News
Press Release
SENTRO RIZAL TORONTO PILOTS ITS SILID-ARALAN SA KONSULADO
2025-09-15
16 August 2025 — On Saturday, the Philippine Consulate General in Toronto, under the Sentro Rizal-Toronto, hosted its first Silid-Aralan Sa Konsulado in celebration of August as National Language and History Month.
The five-hour session was organized in partnership with the Philippine Teachers Association of Canada (PTAC), Kultura Life & Art Inc. represented by PAFIOO Awardee Roberto Lavides and his wife Joyne Lavides, York University-Department of Theater, Dance and Performance Professor Patrick Alcedo, FilCanadian-owned restaurant Lakay Kusina, and Filipino-owned business Aki’s Bayong.
The interactive program featuring sessions on games & drama, arts & crafts, cuisine, and music and dance was attended by twenty (20) children aged 6-15 years old from the Greater Toronto Area.
From ABAKADA and Philippine television fantasy drama anthology Ora Engkantada, the students learned to form, write and act out words and phrases in Filipino.
While making their own coasters from weaving plastic strips, they were also introduced to the ingenuity and sustainable practices of the bayong weaving communities in Malabon that use recycled packaging materials to craft their baskets, bags, and other accessories.
Everyone had a tasty, informative and entertaining lunch of lumpia making, personal boodle plates and trivia over halo-halo.
The final activity was an introduction to Filipino folkdance. The students learned Binatbatan, a traditional dance from northern Philippines (Ilocos) that depicts the actions of cotton farmers separating the seeds from the fibers using sticks, which is essential to the creation of the Ilocanos’ indigenous handwoven cloth, the Inabel.
The Silid-Aralan Sa Konsulado is part of the ongoing efforts of the Consulate, through its Sentro Rizal-Toronto, to engage Filipino youth and young friends of the Philippines in exploring the richness of Philippine culture, heritage, language, and traditions. END
