By heart

Teaching English the Divine Way

by Benigno Tutor Jr.

The world moves forward not because of the cold calculations of planners, but because of the passionate dreams of “heart people.” One such dreamer is Divina Gracia “Veena” Cercenia, general manager of Dela Cruz English Club, who believes that the right brain ought to be used more in the formal learning process as well as in daily life.

In a society known to be a thicket of male egos, only a heart person like Veena dares to stake her place under the sun—defying all odds against women, nay, foreign, Filipino, women seeking the mainstream profession in Japan. Only a heart-driven person takes such a risk in the midst of the economic doldrums, refusing to resign herself to the homebound okaasan or the foursquare mamasan role of many of her fellow Filipinas in Japan.

Intuition, guts, opportunity-seeking—these are the heart qualities that put right-brain women like her a league above her more rational counterparts. These are the qualities that easily won the trust of Ryosuke Sasaki, company president and partner, when he first heard this articulate woman make a business presentation. Practicing what she preaches, Veena is taking on the giants in her industry by teaching English “with the heart.”

Veena learned her sense of independence from her mother, who raised her, her brother and sister single-handedly in Cavite. Despite being a single mother, her mom was even able to provide her with the luxury of a TV set that exposed her early to Japanese culture through Voltes V, Bioman and Shaider.

She finished A.B. Mass Communication as a working student, early on starting a career in the mass media as newscaster in a TV program. She excelled at school in declamation, speeches and debates. Later, she pursued full-time career in marketing in such consumer giants as Jollibee and Shakey’s. Being a stunning beauty, she was naturally drawn to TV work, her last being with the Imageworks Entertainment Production as marketing manager. She had also worked as a fashion model for the Royal Entertainment Ventures Company. Her career was cut short by her marriage to a Japanese introduced to her by a mutual friend and has since made Japan her abode with her husband and two sons.

How are you, a career woman, as a family woman?

Like normal marriages, my husband and I have gone through thick and thin. I was quite insecure at first, but he patiently guided me. Filipina friends also helped in hard times. I have had to continually battle the language and cultural barriers. But due to love, trust, respect and passion, we’re still intact.

Raising two sons in Japan is the most difficult, challenging and rewarding part. Unlike in the Philippines where you are treated like a princess after giving birth, here, after 2 to 3 days, you are sent home to take care of your baby single-handedly.

What is the transition like from being a full-time career woman to being a wife and now being back to a career?

I am glad I made the big leap from career to motherhood while I was still young. It gave me time to reassess my goals in the long term, even if I have toddlers. After my second baby, I started planning to work either as a hotel receptionist, a tourist guide or a telephone operator, realistic jobs for a Filipina at that time.

How did you get this break?

To get started on the career track, I requested my mother to come to Japan to look after my tots. April of last year, a very close Filipina friend told me about her Japanese acquaintance, Mr. Ryosuke Sasaki, who was planning to establish a company. Then a human resource manager of a big Japanese company, he had been disappointed by his previous attempts with Japanese associates in business. When we were finally introduced to each other, he said I was just the person for the kind of project he was thinking. We started brainstorming on this project in August 2002, first weekly, then every other day. From organization, to logo, to slogan, theme color, businesses under the company such as English Club, Filipino family restaurant, marketing & advertising materials and the like. In November last year, the Dela Cruz Company Limited was born with the Dela Cruz English Club as its flagship.

Why an English school, when there are big-league competitors? How do you intend to build a niche?

We chose to debut through this because we believe that the market is suffering from incorrect and ineffective method of learning the language. The Japanese are being shortchanged for the money and effort they put into learning.

What gave you the inspiration to teach English differently?

Mr. Sasaki headed the research. From his own experience, having been taught English for a long time but remaining unable to converse freely, he developed this concept we now call the DCEC method (for Dela Cruz English Club).

Tell us about your method.

To learn the language naturally, we focus on conversational skills, not on writing nor pronunciation. The objective is to be able to communicate, regardless of the accuracy. The principle is to make the body remember, using the right part of the brain, whose speed and breadth are faster and greater. We follow the learning pattern of a child—first he hears, mimics words, forms phrases, then sentences. With the aid of songs, videos and books, he’ll connect ideas and visuals. If children do not learn the language by memorizing grammatical patterns, why ask the adults to do it? That is why all our textbooks have audio CD’s, because we encourage them to listen daily (to or from work, via portable player) and to practice reading aloud. We even encourage our students to commit mistakes, if only for the purpose of letting their tongues get used to the words. The Japanese are very shy. They tend to back off when they’re corrected frequently. Or, they will not speak up if they’re not 100% sure. For this reason, we allow them to speak “broken” English or “Japlish”. We don’t correct them right there and then, especially, if it is only a minor mistake in grammar, intonation and pronunciation. For as long as we understand what they want to convey, it’s okay.

In short, we teach English with the heart, using not only words but also body language, not only verbal but also non-verbal communication. We encourage them to use the right brain, which is not so much concerned with logic and accuracy but with intuition and heart-to-heart understanding.

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