This trial lesson focuses on conversational English for beginners.
1.	INTRODUCTION. The teacher and the student must establish a connection by getting to know each other. The teacher may ask some basic questions to the student about his/her background, work/study, or where he/she lives.

2.	GOALS AND PURPOSES. The teacher may ask the student why he/she wants to learn Tagalog. The teacher and student should set at least 3 language learning goals. Should it be short-term, medium-term, or long-term? How do the teacher and student achieve these 3 goals together?

3.	ABILITY ASSESSMENT. The teacher may ask the student if he/she can understand or speak some Tagalog words/phrases. If yes, the teacher may ask the student to translate some common English greetings/phrases into Tagalog. Otherwise, the teacher will translate these for the student to understand. The teacher should explain the meaning of each word.

4.	MATERIALS INTRODUCTION. The teacher may ask the student if he/she has a preferred book. The teacher should consider using it and suggest other materials.

5.	A DEMO. The teacher shows the students the structure of the lesson.  Each lesson consists of the following parts :
I.	GREETINGS!
II.	GOAL/PURPOSE OF THE LESSON
III.	LESSON PROPER
A.	Topic 1
      Examples 
B.	Topic 2
      Examples
C.	Topic 3
      Examples
IV.	PRACTICE
V.	SUMMARY

6.	A SUMMARY AND NEXT STEPS. The teacher should summarize the discussion. The teacher may ask the student when to schedule his/her next lesson.

I. THE TAGALOG ALPHABET. 
In the 1930s, when Tagalog was chosen as the basis for the national language, there were 20 letters in the alphabet consisting of five vowels and fifteen consonants. These were "a, b, k, d, e, g, h, I, l, m, n, ng, o, p, r, s, t, u, w, y". The consonants were referred to with the vowel "a" appended to each consonant so that these were pronounced as "ba, ka, da", and so on. In the 1980s, eight (8) more consonants were added to the alphabet. These were "c, f, j, ñ, q, v, x, z". This was done to facilitate the writing of new words and terms borrowed from other languages. The letters of the Tagalog alphabet are now referred to in the same way as the letters in the English alphabet except for "ng" (pronounced as "nang") and "ñ" (pronounced as "en-ye") which is of Spanish origin.  Generally, these eight additional consonants are used for proper nouns (names of persons, places, buildings, brand names, etc.) such as Marife, Clara, Santo Niño, Leyte Gulf, Jones Bridge, Jollibee, and Louis Vuitton. 

II. SYLLABLES AND STRESS IN TAGALOG
There are four kinds of syllables in Tagalog :
1. The simple syllable consisting of only one vowel (V) 
Ex: "o" in "ta-o"  (person), and "a" in "pa-a" (foot)
2. The consonant + vowel syllable (CV)
Ex:"ba" and "sa" in "ba-sa" (read), "ta" and "la" in "tala" (star)
3. The vowel + consonant syllable (VC)
Ex:"an" in "an-tay"(wait), "am" in "am-bon"(rain shower/drizzle)
4. The consonant + vowel + consonant syllable (CVC)
Ex:"tak" in "tak-bo" (run), "lak" in "bu-lak-lak"(flower)
STRESS is the vocal emphasis of a particular syllable.  In Tagalog, the use of stress on a particular syllable in a word can make a difference in meaning.
There are four principal types of stress.
1. End Stress
Ex: anák (child), amá (father)
2. Penultimate Stress
Ex: babáe (woman), laláki (man)
3. Penultimate Stress with a Glottal Catch
Ex: punò (tree), pusà (cat)
4. End Glottal Catch (no stress)
Ex: punô (full), sampû (ten)

Basic Tagalog for Beginners

reading

writing