Around 70 children from public schools in Brgy. Commonwealth in Quezon City were treated to a morning of storytelling to boost their interest in reading.
Youth volunteers from the Holy Trinity Parish, fresh from their Museo Pambata training to be storytellers, entertained the children with stories – complete with cartoon drawings.
“We really want children to love reading. We started by building our library with books that they can borrow; but we realized that nobody was borrowing the books because they’re not that interested so we thought of a reading fest where we bring students and storytellers together to encourage them to read,” said Fr. Luciano Felloni, parish priest of Holy Trinity.
He added that the youth volunteers – who underwent the training through the assistance of Synergeia Foundation – now wants to bring their storytelling activities in other areas of Quezon City to encourage more children to read.
Selected Grades 1-6 students from North Fairview Heights, Payatas, Fairview and Commonwealth elementary schools came as early as 8 am excited to take part in the activities.
Children enjoyed the stories – Batugang Langgam (Lazy Ant) and Unggoy at Pagong (Monkey and Turtle), which were chosen for the values they impart. “Batugang Langgam” was written by one of the church volunteers, Maximo Bautro, Jr., after the storytelling team found that it needed a story incorporating all the values the children needed to learn – based on a survey they conducted in the community.
“I enjoyed the day. I liked the stories and the games,” said Mary Jane, a Grade 3 student from Payatas Elementary School. “Ang saya saya.” (It was so much fun!)
Several parents, who accompanied their children to the parish where the reading fest was held, also enjoyed the activities. “My daughter loved it. She was participating the whole time,” one of the mothers said.
To reinforce what they learned during the storytelling session, the children were asked questions after each story to test their comprehension skills. At the end of the activity, children also made stick puppets of the characters in the stories. The ones with the best puppets received prizes.
Volunteers from the Holy Trinity Parish, Synergeia Foundation and K-Search Asia Consulting, Inc. were on hand to assist. K-Search, through its partnership with Synergeia, gave away school supplies and books to the children. K-Search volunteers also organized the games, which served as intermission between the storytelling activities.
Manuel Guillermo, President and Managing Director of K-Search, said supporting the reading fest was a way for their company to give back to the community. “In our business, we know the importance of good education and reading is a basic need that children must learn.”
He added that while K-Search is a small company, he believes that their initiative in supporting education-related programs would encourage others to support similar activities.
