Waray Language
Join this interactive language learning immersion and meet a community of folks connecting through Waray language, arts, and culture.
About the Immersion
Waray or Waray Waray is the dominant language of Eastern Visayas, spoken by over 4 million people.
Waray is spoken in the islands of Samar, Leyte and Biliran. It is also spoken in parts of Masbate, the southern tip of Sorsogon, and the Gibusong Islands of Mindanao.
Join our 5-month immersion as we explore cultural themes through language, practice pronunciation, review material, learn new vocabulary, ground in grammar, and engage with media (film, art, music, literature) from Visayan artists.
This is a live and recorded course of about 2 hours per week with 18 sessions, which will be accessible for one full year. The immersion runs from October 20, 2025 through March 3, 2026.
If you are Philippines-based & salaried in the Philippines, email us at [email protected] to confirm your location & receive the 70% off discount code.
If you are looking to apply for a partial or full scholarship, please email us at [email protected].
Course Calendar
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1 - LA: Elements & Environments
Live Classes: Week of October 20 || Practice Classes: Week of October 27
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2 - BA: Circle of Life (Relations, Linkers, & Pronouns)
Live Classes: Week of November 3 || Practice Classes: Week of November 10
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3 - GA: Values of Space, Time, Money
Live Classes: Week of November 17 || Practice Classes: Week of November 24
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4 - NA: Verbs (Completed and Incomplete)
Live Classes: Week of December 1 || Practice Classes: Week of December 8
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5 - RA: Verbs (Contemplative and Imperative)
Live Classes: Week of January 5 || Practice Classes: Week of January 12
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6 - YA: Expressions of Care
Live Classes: Week of January 19 || Practice Classes: Week of January 26
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7 - HA: Cosmic Uncertainty (Common Expressions)
Live Classes: Week of February 2 || Practice Classes: Week of February 9
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8 - KA: Spiritual Ecologies (Visayan Folklore and Mythologies)
Live Classes: Week of February 16 || Practice Classes: Week of February 23
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9 - OO: Affirmations
March 3, 2026 (Full Moon Eclipse)
Meet Your Instructor
Firie Jill Ramos
Firie Jill T. Ramos writes poems, fiction/susumaton, and children's stories in Waray. She won the 2019 NCCA Writers Prize for the Novel in Waray and Chito Rono Literary Award for Poetry in 2009.
Firie’s poems have appeared in different publications and anthologies here and abroad such as in Memories of Water (Ateneo de Naga, 2016); Tinalunay: Hinugpong nga Panurat nga Winaray (UP Press, 2017); Sustaining the Archipelago, An Anthology of Philippine Ecopoetry (UST Press); Cha: An Asian Literary Journal ( Hongkong. July 2017); Pinili (KATIG 2018), and Philippine Graphic (August 11, 2019 issue).
Her short stories appeared in Anmaly Issue # 34, and in Ulirat: The Best Contemporary Stories in Translation from the Philippines (Singapore. 2021). She co-edited the book Garab: Hinugpong nga mga Bag-o nga Susumaton ha Waray (March, 2023)
She also translates stories and other materials from Waray to English such as the story Sandangaw published by Sari-sari Books in New York.
Firie Jill is the current Workshop Director for the Lamiraw Creative Writing Workshop, a workshop for writers in the Waray language, now on its 20th year. She is a founding member and officer of the KATIG WRITERS Network Inc., a federation of practicing writers in Eastern Visayas.
She is a Special Education Practitioner, and continues to practice as an independent SpEd professional.
Firies writes about women and their lives in the islands of Eastern Visayas.