Read Aloud Day!

To kick off our READ ALOUD Day celebration, here's Jay Menes, storyteller and workshop facilitator, in a read aloud session among preschool kids.



Watch out for more videos of storytellers, teachers and librarians reading aloud!

On the Wings of Literacy

Been riding on the wings of literacy the past few weeks and here are some pics to share with you!

At Hope Christian High School's preschool department during the opening of Literacy Week. There were storytelling sessions by Jay Menes courtesy of Adarna House.

Visiting storyteller, Gcina Mhelope-Becker, of South Africa gave a workshop on telling folk tales, personal and family stories, and contemporary stories at Museo Pambata. She was riveting! Her experiences of growing up in a Zulu tribe in South Africa provided exotic setting to her stories. Her version of the folk tale, The Tortoise that Fell From the Sky is insightful and moving because it speaks of the success of a fallen leader. 

From a cautionary tale, Gcina fashioned the folk tale to a modern story of leadership and facing up to one's mistakes but, with the wisdom on what to make of the failure into a learning experience. 

The Scholastic Warehouse in Pasig City opened its doors to the public via a sale that offered big, big discounts. I was fortunate to see their new showroom/library. I had the opportunity to meet their new team of Book Fairs specialist and exchanged ideas with them on the importance of reading and libraries.

A teacher from Valenzuela shares her Reading beliefs in a seminar I conducted on libraries being an agency of literacy development.

And just yesterday, I had a long, but substantial lecture on Literacy Campaigns at the National Library of the Philippines with teachers, teacher-librarians and school librarians from the National Capitol Region. Most of them came from the public school system and are no stranger to literacy activities and strategies. So, I presented collaborative and integrative literacy campaigns done by Sambat Trust, Sa Aklat Sisikat, Room to Read, the PBBY, MyLibrary Project of Filipinas Heritage Library, Early Readers Online, etc. The forum was sponsored by the Children's Literature Association of the Philippines. 

The UN declared 2003-2012 as the Literacy Decade. What have you been doing to encourage reading and the understanding of literature to kids and young adults?

Books and Storytelling in a Conference on Virtual Library Spaces

Attending the first day of the 4th Rizal Library International Conference last 21 October was an opportunity that allowed me to touch base with friends, college batch mates and colleagues in the profession. Here I am with Peachy Limpin who flew in from Australia a day before the conference began. She presented a paper on Technical Services with a focus on Resource Description and Access (RDA). Her full paper can be viewed and downloaded from the conference's website. Papers and presentations of other speakers may also be accessed there.



I was also given the chance to present the 1st National Children's Book Awards by the PBBY and the National Book Development Board. A poster session was provided for me as well. Thank you so much to Dir. Lou David and her team of librarians who made this possible. Four hundred participants are now aware of this milestone in Philippine Children's Literature.



During the fellowship night, Jay Menes and I performed three stories using a beatbox. Shout out to our dear friend, Dianne de Las Casas for inspiring us to experiment on performance and participative telling techniques.



Here's looking towards more opportunities to tell Filipino folk stories in the oral tradition!

Poetry Reading: Racing The Rain

It is already a custom. The winning Salanga Prize is told or read aloud during the celebration of the National Children's Book Day. This year, the winning poems by Raymond Falgui were read out loud and performed.

Jay Menes followed the dictate of tradition reading Green Leaf. He then moved on to beat box as I read Racing The Rain. The short clip can be viewed here.

Special thanks to our dear Diannne de Las Casas for the beat box. It has been initiated!