|
Thursday, April 06, 2006
Making a difference, one young reader at a time
By Charmaine Y. Rodriguez
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
With the dream of helping young pupils in a public school develop a love for reading, two groups donated yesterday over 400 books to a school and gave story-telling training to its teachers.
When school opens later this year, Banilad Elementary School (BES) grade one teacher Menchie Nillas hopes to tell stories in a more interesting way, after she was trained by teachers from Discovery Camp, a private pre-school in Cebu City.
School principal Anita Rodriguez was so happy with the donation, which will cover the needs of the school’s projected 400 incoming kindergarten and grade one pupils this year.
Like most public schools, BES lacks books and has an average pupil-book ratio of 1:6, she revealed.
After helping the Center for Battered Women with its donation of clothes, toys and fixtures and giving a playhouse to the Children’s Center in Banawa, Discovery Camp directress Mariles Nable said the school decided to spend the proceeds of its Thanksgiving Fair to “reach out to those who had less.”
Together with the The Research Room, a non-stock, non-profit organization operating a center for children with learning difficulties, Discovery Camp decided to put up a literacy project for the benefit of BES.
Marisa Pueo, The Research Room directress, said the organization’s advocacy is to support teachers and school administrators through training and workshops and to share its resources.
Believing that “literacy opens a lot of doors,” Pueo said the two groups decided to give age-appropriate books for the pupils to focus on early intervention.
“Reading is more of a task in most schools. They don’t use it as a tool to gather knowledge. It is something that can never be taken. Teachers come and go but with this (project), you add value to someone else’s life,” she said.
Discovery Room teacher Mae Esguerra, who was among those who shared her expertise with the teachers in BES, said she was happy they were very open.
She shared the elements of effective storytelling and taught them strategies, like integrating values in the story, using different voices to portray characters and encouraging their pupils to speak in public by relating the stories to their own experiences.
Nable said that when they visited BES last year, they were thinking of giving scholarships but changed their minds when they saw that the school had very old reference books.
Pueo added that they decided to train the teachers so they could learn more strategies and maximize the use of the reading materials.
“We wanted to do something that is going to continue,” Nable added.
With perseverance, “little” ideas, like what they had when they started the project, make a difference in the community, she said.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (April 6, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here. |
|
[return to top]
[home]
[network page]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
SUPERBALITA
WEEKEND
|
