MODULE
MODULE17
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Author
MARILYN D. VARONA
Illustrator
MICHAEL SANTOS, BING MONTENEGRO
& KATHERINE CORDORA
Layout Artist
ELEDEN DENOSTA
MODULE 20
MODULE 17
Introduction
The 21st Century Literature from the Philippines and the World
Module aims to engage students in various learning activities of the
21st Century Literature from the Philippines and the World. To assist
students to understand and appreciate the cultural and aesthetic diver-
sity among Filipinos and other nationalities in the world.
This module allows the students to embark on a journey from
Philippine regions to the different parts of the world through a variety
of literary encounters.
Here, the learners will be accompanied by Lito and Letty, the
ship captains of Balangay ( an old name of a Philippine boat). Lito is a
Filipino Ship Captain who is in-charge of local destinations. And Letty
is a Lady Ship Captain from another country. She is in-charge of the
tour abroad. Lito and Letty assist each other in every module visit.
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Legend
This Self Learning Kit is divided into 27 modules with varied
parts and respective icons:
Gearing Up
(Review)
Testing the Water
( Pre-test)
Leaving the Shore
( Priming Activity)
Rocking the Boat
( Activity Proper)
Plotting the Course
( Analysis)
Keeping Track
( Analysis)
3
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MODULE 17
Legend
Approaching Destination
(Application)
Seeing the Lighthouse
( Reflection)
Dropping the Anchor
( Post Test)
Going Back to the Ocean
( Remediation)
Going Back to the Ocean
( Remediation)
Every module targets a specific Learning Competency and asks
learners to perform multiple tasks.
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Hello, dear student, our fellow voyager!
Welcome…
I’m Letty. Are you ready to sail and
BEGIN your voyage with this module?
I’m Lito. Well, it’s time to GO
ABOARD to set your quest for
KNOWLEDGE in motion.
Have FUN!
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Horizon Overview
Learning Competency:
EN12lit-IIC-33 Appreciate the cultural and aesthetic diversity of litera-
ture and the world.
This module requires every learner to understand and appreciate
the cultural and aesthetic diversity of literature and the world.
At the end of the lesson, you are expected to:
A. Read closely to determine the cultural diversity of Filipino-
American literature.
B. Identify the cultural clashes among Filipino-American experiences
of homecoming.
C. Appreciate the cultural and aesthetic diversity of literature of the
world. (EN12lit-IIC-33)
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Connect with the Module
Some reminders before
cruising:
Use the module with care especially in turning each
page.
Be reminded to answer the Pre-Test before moving
on to the Self-Learning Kit (SLK) Proper.
Read and understand the directions in every exer-
cise.
Observe honesty in answering the tests and exer-
cises and in checking your answers.
Do not put unnecessary mark/s on any part of this
module.
Try to finish the task at hand before proceeding to
the next.
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Gearing Up
Studying literature can be very easy
with the right amount of knowledge gained
from your journey in the past.
Can you recall module 16? What are
the various 21st century literary genres, and
their elements, structures, and traditions
from across the globe?
For your next journey , we will guide
you in gathering more literary tools that will
surely make learning more convenient.
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Testing the Waters
DIRECTION: Using the given answer sheet, darken the circle that corresponds
to the letter with the best answer.
1. The title of the essay “Under My Invisible Umbrella” implies different
meaning to the writer, as it reflects her personality. How does she refer to the
“umbrella” in the essay literally?
A. The umbrella is a daily necessity in Manila.
B. The umbrella can be used only during rainy days.
C. The umbrella is part of female fashion.
D. The umbrella is a useless thing.
2. The Fil-Am writer herself, has humorously but reflectively recounts experiences
about her homecoming to the Philippines. The underlined word “her” refers to _______.
A. Laurelle Fantauzzo
B. Lauriel Fantazo
C. Laurel Anne Fantauzzo
D. All of them
3. The context of the essay focuses on how the people live in the __________.
A. United States of America
B. Philippines
C. European Countries
D. not stated in the essay
4. The phrase “Salamat Po” in the beginning paragraph of the essay was addressed to the
_________ of the university.
A. security guard
B. janitor
C. mail courier
D. administrator
5. Laurel Fantauzzo is the writer of the essay entitled “Under my invisible Umbrella. Her identity
is ______?
A. Chinese-American
B. korean-American
C. Filipino-American
D. not mentioned
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Let’s Navigate
Hi there once again! This time let us know more
about the cultural differences among us, Filipinos
and Americans. Let us learn the many experi-
ences of these Filipino-American people while
they’re here in the Philippines.
Leaving the Shore
Picture Guess. Which among the pictures describe the Filipinos?
What about the Americans? If the picture represent Filipino culture, write
the number under Marian Rivera’s box but if it represents an American cul-
ture, write the number under Taylor Swift’s box.
1 2 3
4 5 6
MARIAN RIVERA TAYLOR SWIFT
I know you can easily point out our Philip-
pine cultures and traditions. Let’s begin!
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Rocking the Boat
Read the excerpt of an essay entitled Under My Invisible Umbrella, by Laurel Fantauzzo.
Identify some cultural diversities among Fil-Am individuals in the Philippines.
Under My Invisible Umbrella
Published September 12, 2013 2:34pm
By LAUREL FANTAUZZO
I accepted the man’s service without question, as if he had been standing at the
doorway of the Olongapo office building waiting only for me. As if I knew he would head
into the downpour, open his umbrella, hold the tenuous shelter of it over my head, and
walk at my pace, getting wet himself. I accepted his work without a “Salamat po.” I was
second to worst in my class of Filipino American would be Tagalog speakers that July,
and, in 2007, at age 23, I was still too embarrassed to try.
As I waited for the rest of my Fil-Am classmates, my Tagalog teacher Susan Quimpo
approached me, holding her own umbrella.
“Did you notice that he held the umbrella only for you?” she murmured. Then—as people
of the Philippines are inclined to do, when a situation seems too absurd in its wrongness to
repair—she laughed.
My classmates and I sounded the same: Fil-Am managing our emotional confusion with
loud inside jokes about our two months together in Manila. But they were brown and they
were damp. I was pale and I was dry.
The man was not holding the umbrella above me. He was holding the umbrella
above my whiteness. He was holding it like a flag for everything he assumed my whiteness
represented: my wealth, my station in life—higher than his—and my deserving extra ser-
vice.
Who do you think is the speaker in the essay?
Can you describe her?
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Rocking the Boat
This worship of whiteness is not a phenomenon unique to the Philippines. But that
day in Olongapo, I felt a surge of shame.
of course, whether I felt guilty or not, I was still dry.
Last August, I spent only forty pesos at an upscale cafe in Greenbelt mall to wait
out a cloudburst. I used the café’s Wi-Fi for hours, while servers impatiently thrust men-
us at more-melanined customers who had dared sit for too long.
I wandered onto a fenced-in, exclusive university campus for the sole reason that it was
a nice walk, and I wanted to be there. The guard smiled and tipped his hat to me. He
did not require me to sign his security book. In a live, crowded theater, I crossed a re-
stricted area to use the much less crowded staff restroom. Four guards said nothing.
As I spent more time in the Philippines in the late 2000s, developing my under-
standing of the society my mother left in 1979, I tried to reconcile what I saw with the
reality I came from. My mother was the second-to-youngest child of seven. The last
home she shared with her family was a small apartment that flooded regularly. She was
a scholar at Ateneo de Manila University, always explained to me as the Harvard of the
Philippines. Her classmates’ easy, entitled affluence depressed her. We lived in a
wealthy California suburb because my mother was always conscious of the necessity to
perform wealth. And we ate bread from the Wonderbread surplus store. We never, ever
threw away expired meat.
How did the speaker describe her mother?
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Rocking the Boat
My favorite karinderya serves scrambled eggs and rice for twenty pesos. My
presence amuses and annoys the guards and drivers who were never granted schol-
arships to study me in my birth country. As my Tagalog improved, I began to under-
stand their objections. Didn’t I have a more sosyal place to eat as a foreigner? What
was I playing at, treading into their space?
I occasionally see my relatives in Tandang Sora, a long but narrow street with
many working-class neighborhoods. My cousins often think about strategies to be-
come Overseas Filipino Workers. It isn’t their first choice to leave. But they have no
other escape from the criminally small wages given them. Last summer they were de-
veloping their own small karinderya. I always consider their position against mine. It is
an uneasy comparison. Had my mother not been a scholar—had her own, elder sis-
ter not married an American, and petitioned for her to join them in California—had my
mother not found my father, a U.S. Naval officer who made her laugh—I too might be
starting a karinderya, finding strategies to go abroad.
Whenever I visit Tandang Sora, I always bring dessert—a box of donuts, or a
bag of cookies, or ice cream. My cousins always feed me: sopas, afritada, fried chick-
en, tilapia stuffed with garlic and tomatoes, which they know to be my favorite. They
joke about my Italian side when spaghetti is on the table. They feed me well.
Of course, none of the economic struggles that once haunted my family approach the
reality of the kalesa driver, who winces when he tells me about his wages, as he plies
the avenues of Malate. He is allowed to take home only twenty pesos of each 100-
peso ride. The rest he owes to the owner of his kalesa. It’s perfectly legal. He does
not say the rest, but I can perceive it: he can go to no one for fair wages.
Can you name few of these homecoming
activities while the speaker was in the Philip-
pines?
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Rocking the Boat
When I find shrewd charges added to my bills, I argue as briefly as my Tagalog
in-progress will allow. My Filipino friends say I should argue, for the principle of it. The
workers are likely being dramatic, performing their desperation. My friends say they
get cheated too as Filipinas.
In the end I call the overcharges my “dayuhan tax.” My foreigner tariff.
The extra cost I owe for the postcolonial privileges of my face. As long as the popula-
tion remains economically stranded, I suspect my American whiteness continues to
be a kind of cheating in the modern Philippines. Besides the dayuhan tax I joke
about, there are other subtler, more personal taxes intrinsic to my pallid appearance.
No one in the Philippines will ever immediately believe I am Filipina, no matter how
strongly and how affectionately I choose the country. My Tagalog will take years to
reach everyday, pun-level proficiency. My mother chose not to teach me and my two
younger brothers Tagalog, for fear that our Italian American father would feel exclud-
ed. My brothers feel no connection at all to her home country. I alone return regularly.
Sometimes, expats of Western countries who hear my California accent and
see my pale face assume they’ve found a friendly audience for their Philippines frus-
trations. I’ll hear their complaints coming—Corruption! Traffic! Terrible customer ser-
vice!—and I will say, stiffly, “My mother was from here.” Sometimes it gives the ex-
pats pause. Sometimes it doesn’t.
I do not know when I will deserve to say, “I am from here.” My language diffi-
culties and my face still prevent me access to that statement. But I often hear that I
am lucky. I may not belong to a ruling family, but I look and sound like I do. One
night, a new friend invites me to a party in Forbes Park. I know the neighborhood’s
name as code, the way I know certain last names as code: upper-est class, highest
security, a servant for each family member, etc.
What are the speaker’s attitude towards her
homecoming as a balikbayan in the Philippines?
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Rocking the Boat
A private gate guards the house. It reminds me of the palatial, forbidding,
buttery mansions I used to pass on drives through Malibu in Southern California with
an ex-girlfriend who knew where celebrities lived. The young man hosting the party
here in Forbes Park is connected, in a way I don’t immediately grasp, to a political
family.
Inside the house, a fog machine distorts the regal dark. A DJ’s bass line
shakes my skeleton. A man dressed like a pirate urges us to drink. Small, oval-
shaped rainbows glow intensely at a slick, temporary bar. Servers call me “Ma’am!”
and gesture toward the rainbows. I realize they’re drinks. I pick one up. It illuminates
my hand. My rainbow shot is very, very sweet.
Outside, serious-faced cooks grill hamburgers. I grew up knowing never to spurn free
food, so I stand in line for one. I watch more and more young Manileños arrive. They
are, I realize, all part of the ruling classes somehow, or they have befriended mem-
bers of the ruling classes. Many of them—though not all—are as white as I am, or
more white.
I see a mechanical bull.
“What?” a Filipina friend mocks me later, when I describe the bull and the bass
line and the sweet rainbow and the Malibu-celebrity-style house and the free burger
that was really very delicious. “Were you just judging it the whole time?”
I flinch. But I fail to explain to her that the same thought occurred to me at the party,
too. Why, I argued to myself, should I judge this? Why should I worry about my com-
plicity in racial hierarchies and class hierarchies and family entrenchments that were
constructed long before I ever arrived in my motherland? Why not imagine, for just
one night, that I am part of a powerful family? Why not just laugh?
How did the speaker regard herself in her mother-
land?
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Rocking the Boat
So I drink another rainbow. I get photographed. I exchange business cards. I
memorize new names. I watch the whipping hair of socialites who ride the now-
bucking bull. In the small hours of the night, I feel glad I am able to enjoy myself.
When I finally exit the gate, I am surprised to find another, more muted par-
ty—party in the most utilitarian sense of the word.
These are the drivers and bodyguards, waiting for the members of the Philippine
elite inside. They smoke and murmur to each other and check their cell phones. Their
own families are waiting for them at homes far from Forbes Park.
I have no easy explanation for my feelings about this moment. The workers
would not welcome, and do not deserve, my pity. But as I move mere footsteps from
the company of the sovereigns to the company of their servants, I feel the uncertainty
and shame that blur so often in me here. In the Philippines, I can get past the gate.
For a chance at the social mobility I perform effortlessly, many Filipinos,
waiting forever, unprotected, outside barred mansions, will leave. They will hope for
work in a place—Europe, or my birth country—that helped create and enforce the in-
tractable inequity forcing their displacement today.
When I cease imagining the difference of those lives—when I choose dismis-
sal over compassion and self-examination and criticism, to make my own path in the
country feel less unnatural than it is—Perhaps that’s when it will be time for me to
leave the Philippines or perhaps that’s when I will finally be able to say I am from the
Philippines.
How did the speaker describe the party she had
attended one time?
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Rocking the Boat
How do I make space in myself for everyone on both sides of the gate? Pro-
tected and unprotected? I have a troubled relationship with umbrellas. They are daily
necessities in Manila, where the weather can alter by the hour with the intensity of an
erratic god. But I always lose umbrellas. Or I break them. It always surprises me
when umbrellas break. I never expect them to be as fragile as they are.
Once, when the wind blew the trees horizontal in the business district of Orti-
gas, I paused in the lobby of an office tower, drenched. More and more passers-by,
each of their umbrellas brutalized and useless, joined me. The guards let us all stay.
Most of us were waiting to walk to the MRT train. Over the next hour, we watched
power lines whip and taxis forge defiantly forward and rain slash into the streets’ now-
surging floodwaters. We were all, for a brief moment, equally halted, equally soaked.
Then one guard noticed me. “Taxi, ma’am?” he asked. “Taxi?”
He smiled, offering to go out into the rain for me. I smiled back, and told him
“no”.
Your reading ends up here. Are you ready
to answer the question: What were the different
homecoming activities the speaker had dealt with
while she was in her motherland?
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Plotting the Course
DIRECTION: Study the following questions carefully and write your answer on the blanks.
1. Who is the writer of the essay? Describe her in two words.
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
2. What culture and tradition are being mentioned in the essay. Write three (3) of
them.
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
3. There are two kinds of essay ---formal and informal. What can you say with the
essay that you had read, is it formal or informal? Can you tell why?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
4. Filipino culture and tradition are far different from the other countries.
(Examples: bayanihan, humble, hospitable, caring and loving) Which of these
culture and tradition, do you think other foreign people would experience? Why
do you think so?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
5. What “tagalog praise” does the writer find difficult to articulate? What does it
imply?
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
Hi there! Have you had answered all the ques-
tions above? Hope you had learned a lot from the
many homecoming activities of a balikbayan in our
country?
Let us know more about our culture and tradition
on the next page.
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Keeping Track
Now, Let’s learn the many culture and tradition of
each country listed below? Let’s find out.
• Philippines
Filipinos are known for close family ties.
• America
Kids move out when they reach the legal age.
• Sweden
Gold and silver coins are placed inside a bride’s wedding shoes.
• Japan
Children cover their tummy button when they hear thunder.
• Italy
The core celebration of Carnival is based on a locally famous Battle of the
Oranges.
• Greece
A child’s tooth is thrown onto the roof for good luck.
• Indonesia
A person points with their thumb as it’s considered very rude to point with a
fore finger.
Do you know other country’s cultures
and traditions? Do you appreciate it / them?
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Approaching Destination
DIRECTION: Can you write the correct answers to the given concepts below?
Take a look inside the umbrella for the correct word to answer.
1. This cultural affection for white
westerners, especially Americans, is
sometimes called _______.
2. Laurel Fantauzzo uses both
3. _______ is the state
the _______ and the ______
of being neither here nor
tense in her writing.
there.
4. Filipino-American writer are
able to transform what they
write from ____ to perspec-
tive.
5. The ___ symbolizes
Laurel Anne Fantauzzo’s
identity as Filipino-
American writer. 6. A recurring issue one finds
in a lot of Filipino-American
texts is an issue of
_________ .
Were you be able to identify the correct answers
based on the given description in each item?
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Approaching Destination
DIRECTION: Let’s make an itinerary of Laurel’s homecoming to the Philippines!
Which places, foods, and happenings would you like her to experience few days after
her arrival in what she called hometown? Do you think she may like it? Why?
DAY 7
END HERE Day 7
End here.
Day 6
Day 5 DAY 6
DAY 5
DAY 4
Day 3
DAY 3
Day 2
Day 1 DAY 2
DAY 1
Begin here.
BEGIN HERE
A homecoming of a balikbayan is something that excites
someone. We love and are proud to bring her / him to
some scenic / tourist places and serve her / him our deli-
cious Filipino dishes.
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Approaching Destination
Processing Questions:
1. What can you call somebody who is going home from abroad?
______________________________________________________________
2. How many days would a balikbayan stay in her hometown?
______________________________________________________________
3. If you are her friend, where do you suggest she spend her vacation? What
food will you suggest her to eat? Why?
______________________________________________________________
Seeing the Lighthouse
DIRECTION: Complete the following sentences as honest as
you can.
1. In this lesson, I learned that life as Filipino-American is ---
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
2. I learned that the Filipino’s relationship with Westerners is characterized
by ---
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
3. In expressing ideas, the tone (including tenses usage) of the
essay is important because ---
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
Prove your understanding on this by answer-
ing the questions on the next page.
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17
Dropping the Anchor
DIRECTION: Using the given answer sheet, darken the circle that correspond to
the letter with the best answer.
1. The speaker in the essay is Laurel Anne Fantauzzo. She is a _______.
A. Chinese-American
B. korean-American
C. Filipino-American
D. not mentioned
2. The phrase “Salamat Po” is an expression of being ______.
A. respectful
B. Kind-heated
C. humble
D. All of the above
3. The context of the essay focuses on how the people live in the _____.
A. United States of America
B. Philippines
C. European Countries
D. not stated in the essay
4. The Fil-Am writer herself, has humorously but reflectively recounted her experiences
about her homecoming to the Philippines. The underlined word “her” refers to _____.
A. Laurelle Fantauzzo
B. Lauriel Fantazo
C. Laurel Anne Fantauzzo
D. All of them
5. The title of the essay “Under My Invisible Umbrella” implies different meanings to
the writer, as it reflects her personality. How does she refer “umbrella” in the
essay literally?
A. The umbrella is a daily necessity in Manila.
B. The umbrella can be used only during rainy days.
C. The umbrella is part of female fashion.
D. The umbrella is a useless thing.
You’re almost done with your module journey! I’m happy
that you’ve gone this far. Keep it up!
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Discovering the Gems
Hi! Here are the precious pearls you’ve kept
along the course of your module journey. Let’s count
them.
PRE-TEST POST-TEST
B
1. A 1. C
2. C 2. A
3. B 3. B
4. A 4. A
5. C 5. A
Leaving the Shore Approaching Destination Plotting the Course
Marian’s box 1 white love 1. Laurel Anne Fantauzzo. A Fil
-American, humble
1 3 5 2 past and present
2. Eating in karinderya, bonding
3 homecoming with family & relative, partying
with friends
4 experience 3. Formal—it is a formal essay
Taylor’s box
5 umbrella 4. Hospitable
2 4 6 6 liminality 5. SALAMAT—grateful, respect-
ful
Approaching Destination
• Day 1 bonding with family
1. a balikbayan • Day 2 food dining with family and
2. Seven days friends
3. Boracay or Palawan. It’s a tourist
• Day 3 family bonding at the beach
spot in the Philippines.
Adobo, Pancit, and lechon. These • Day 4 mall shopping at the mall
are Filipino’s favorite foods. • Day 5 check-in in resort with friends
• Day 6 attend mass at the church
• Day 7 prepare to leave abroad
Seeing the Lighthouse
Answers may vary.
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U N I V E R S I T Y
Answers to the
W D
Word Puzzle on
H F E
Remedial Activity
C I A H L
P O L I T I C A L M O I
M E I M C
P I N V I S I B L E I
A E Y C O
S S O U
S S M S
H I E R A R C H Y I
O N
N U M B R E L L A G
(For scores 4-5)
CONGRATULATIONS!
You have succeeded in your journey to the exciting
atmosphere in the ocean. See you next time!
(For scores 1-3)
Hello there! Are you satisfied with your
gems? Do you want to gain more? Get ready
because I will be with you as you search for
more gems amidst the waters. Good luck!
Going Back to the Ocean
Living abroad does not only require learning a
new language, but also adapting to a foreign cul-
ture. Each culture has its customs and traditions
which can be very different—even shocking from
your own culture.
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Remedial Activity
DIRECTION: Find 10 words in the puzzle. These words are taken from the essay.
1. WHITENESS 4. DELICIOUS 7. HIERARCHY 10. FAMILY
2. POLITICAL 5. UMBRELLA 8. UNIVERSITY
3. INVISIBLE 6. HOMECOMING 9. COMPASSION
A U N I V E R S I T Y K N
B L N X W G R A K T E L D
C M O Y H H S B L U F M E
D C P Z I I T C M V A H L
P O L I T I C A L W M O I
E M Q A E J U D N X I M C
F P R I N V I S I B L E I
G A S B E K V E O Y Y C O
H S T C S L W F P Z F O U
I S U D S M X G Q A G M S
H I E R A R C H Y B H I O
J O V E P N Y I R C I N P
K N U M B R E L L A J G Q
Did you have fun answering your remedial
activity? I hope so. We’ll see you again in
your next module journey.
Have a nice day!
• https://www.sprachcaffe.com/english/magazine-article/amazing-cultural-facts
• https://www.mobal.com/blog/travel-talk/destination-guides/customs-and-traditions-from-around-the-world/
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