I. Practice the pronunciation of the following proper names:

Manila, the Philippines, Pateros,  Navotas, Caloocan, San Juan, Mandaluyong,  Makati, Pasay, Pinatubo, the Kingdom of Medang, Brunei's Sultan Bolkiahand, Bahay Tsinoy, Quiapo, Sampaloc,  Santa Cruz, Santa Mesa, Tondo, Rizal Park, the Chinese and Japanese Gardens, the National Museum of the Philippines, the Planetarium, the Orchidarium and Butterfly Pavilion, the Quirino Grandstand and the Manila Ocean Park, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam.

II. Answer the following questions :

1. What city is the capital city of the Philippines?

2. Where is the City of Manila located?

3. What city is sitting in the throes of two notoriously dangerous volcanoes?

4. What lake is Manila fringed to the south by?

5. How do they often describe Manila?

6. Is Manila more modern and western or ancient and eastern judging from the steel and glass skyscrapers dotting the skyline?

7. What is the earliest written account of the city?

8. What does the 10th-century Laguna Copperplate Inscription describe?

9. When was the city invaded by Brunei's Sultan Bolkiahand and Islamized?

10. When did the Spanish explorers first arrive?

11. When was Manila colonized by the Spaniard Miguel Lopez de Legazpi?

12. What made Manila more attractive than Cebu, which had been the capital?

13. Why was the city eventually given the moniker of the "Pearl of the Orient"?

14. When did Manila eventually become the center of Spanish activity in the Far East?

15. What do you know about Chinese insurrections, local revolts, British Occupation and a Sepoy mutiny?

16. Since when has Manila been called the Paris of Asia?

17. What were Intramuros and the surrounding districts busy with?

18. What did the month-long Battle for Manila between the Japanese and the Americans result in?

19. How many legislative and geographical districts is the city divided into?

20. What notable landmarks are located in Manila?

III. Complete the following sentences:

1. Manila is one of the sixteen cities (along with the municipality of Pateros) that comprise …….

2. Manila sits on an archipelago just at the edge of the Asian continent …….

3. Ever so physically endowed, it is sitting in the throes of two notoriously dangerous volcanoes …….

4. Manila lies in the path of the tropical monsoon bringing those more and more powerful typhoons ……..

5. A foreigner will be surprised that …….

6. For over three centuries Manila had been colonized and administered by …….

7. Manila began as a settlement on the banks of the Pasig River, and its name originated from …….

8. Prior to the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th century, Manila ……..

9. King Philip II of Spain conferred on the city the illustrious title …….

10. Manila eventually became one end of the Manila-Acapulco Galleon trade route linking …….

11. Manila also saw the rise of the Philippine Revolution which was followed by …….

12. Manila was a thriving trading centre, its multicultural mix providing …….

13. In 1905, Daniel Burnham, the master planner of Chicago, was hired …….

14. Present-day Metro Manila is a conglomeration of 17 cities and municipalities unified by …….

15. Manila can be a very discombobulated place, for it is …….

16. The walled Intramuros area was the traditional centre of Manila, but …….

17. At the centre of modern Manila is Makati …….

18. As the cultural center of the Philippines, Manila houses …….

19. Some geologists theorize that Corregidor was once part of a huge volcano that …….

20. Getting out of Manila by bus is harder than you might expect, as there is no …….