The Foreign Service Institute (FSI) organizes and implements the Foreign Language Program as an essential human resource development undertaking. It generally aims to help strengthen and upgrade the performance capabilities of the career foreign service corps in international affairs and to recognize the importance of language proficiency in the conduct of Philippine diplomacy.
The FSI offers courses on the following international languages: Arabic, Bahasa Indonesia, French, German, Mandarin, Nihongo and Spanish. These are conducted within the duration of one year (Levels I, II, III) for the Basic Program. The duration of each level is 15 weeks or three and a half months for 90 training hours. Classes meet twice a week for three-hour evening sessions.
The Basic Program involves the acquisition of adequate communication skills and knowledge to meet the fundamental requirements of basic grammar, pronunciation and language comprehension.
English Language Review Course
This review course aims to update the participants on forms and rules of International English in contrast to Philippine English, to improve their individual English language proficiency, and to enhance their skills in expression, comprehension, translation, editing and language learning.
The course is conducted twice a week, three hours per session for a total of eight sessions.
Course on Writing Memoranda and Letters
This course hones the participants’ writing skills applied to the shorter forms of official (organizational) communications, such as notes, notices, memoranda, letters and press releases. Specifically, this course works on the skills of paragraphing and outlining in English and adapting styles for the target readership.
The course is conducted twice a week, three hours per session for a total of eight sessions.
Course on Speech Writing and Delivery
This course focuses on formal speech and its relation to other forms of oral communication, develops skills in speech writing and oral interpretation, and reviews English phonetics and paralanguage.
The course is scheduled twice a week, three hours per session for a total of eight sessions.