After a successful educational and cultural exposure to Bali, Indonesia, the Holy Cross of Davao College has once again taken the initiative to further its ASEAN cultural exploration through partnering with the Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia in Davao City in offering a Bahasa Indonesia language course – the first time in the institution’s history.
The free online summer language learning program is a certificate course which will be administered by a native Indonesian language teacher. It will focus on Bahasa Indonesia Language for Foreign Speakers 1 – Bahasa Indonesia bagi Penutur Asing (BIPA). Twenty five participants, composed of students, teachers, and alumni will undergo 14 two-hour sessions.
During its kick-off conference last June 9, 2023, HCDC President Br. Noelvic H. Deloria, S.C. expressed his happiness for the continued collaborative effort of HCDC and the Indonesian Consulate.
“This is really a very good opportunity that the Indonesian Consulate is offering us and for us here with the Center for Linkages and Internationalization, and Language Studies, we are gearing this avenue where you will be given an edge because you are going to learn a new language,” Deloria said.
He stressed that learning another language can be beneficial to other people.
“Learning a new language is really getting to discovering some ways of communication, and when we communicate, it’s part of our human interaction. We’re very grateful to the consulate of Indonesia for giving this for free,” Br. Deloria added.
Meanwhile, HCDC’s Center for Linkages, Internationalization and Language Studies (Link-In & LS) and Institute of ASEAN-European Studies (IAES) Head Sheryl J. Urdaneta assured the participants that the language learning would be easy for them.
“Based on personal experience, learning Bahasa Indonesia will actually be very easy for you, because there [are a] lot of similarities between Bahasa Indonesia and our Bisaya language,” she explained.
Urdaneta also revealed that whenever the participants will be able to complete the course, they will then proceed to level two and three to be offered free in the coming years.
HCDC continues to expand its horizons on cultural exposure to its students, faculty, and alumni, who are eager to trailblaze cultural understanding and explore different languages as part of the institution’s continued effort on internationalization.