Book Promo: Tales from the 7,000 Isles: Filipino Folk Stories

Tales flyer from Zarah Gagatiga

Book Order for Tales From the 7,000 Isles

Tales From the 7,000 Isles Filipino Folk Stories is already published!

It's available in the US and orders for the book can be made online. Visit ABC-CLIO's website for more information. In Manila, Scholastic Book Fairs Philippines shall be the official distributor. If you know a Scholastic Book agent, you may place advance orders from him/her.

I have been in touch with my friend and co-author, Dianne de Las Casas, brainstorming and planning for a possible launching of the book in Manila sometime next year. For the meantime, keep checking out the blog and my FB page for info on pre-launch activities and book parties.

My First Day @ the MIBF 20 11

I went to the Manila International Book Fair (MIBF) last Friday (16 September) and Saturday (17 September). My first visit was job related. I dropped by the Anvil showroom to select exam copies of Filipiniana and foreign titles which they carry via Megatext. Then I was off to the Scholastic and Adarna booths.

At the Scholastic booth, I met John Kwong from the Book fairs department. He was so proud to invite me over at the Scholastic Warehouse in Pasig to visit their library showroom. Turns out that Scholastic Book Fairs is focusing on helping school libraries develop a reader friendly collection that offers fiction and non-fiction titles. This is something I would be interested to look at.

With Clifford at the Scholastic booth

I had my chance of meeting Clifford, the big red dog. Here in the photo, I was whisked back to my storytelling days for National Book Store. At the time, Scholastic did not operate on book fairs and educational trade. They were sole distributors of books to books stores in Manila. One promotional activity they had then was to celebrate book parties with Clifford, the Berenstain Bears, Arthur the aardvark and many more events that drummed up reading books as well. To this day, Clifford remains a favorite among preschool and primary grades readers.

Before leaving the Scholastic booth, I had a conversation with Joyce Bautista who was, at the time, organizing a web chat with Rachel Ward, author of the book, Numbers. The web chat is scheduled today at 4PM.

Finally, I had my picture taken with one of the staff dressed in space alien costume. I love her headband! I might come dressed in one some time in the future for spirit week in school Who knows?

When I came to the Adarna House to check their new titles, I was happily surprised to see Dr. Luis Gatmaitan making chit-chats with the staff. Familiar faces all! It's like meeting friends I've not seen in a long while.

This year, Adarna House has one new title and four reprints launched at the fair. Glenda Oris' Whuush!, Gatmaitan's Ang Ambisyosong Istetoskop, Almario's Si Hinlalaki and Rosa Albina and Desausido's Dalawang Dagang Bulag. Good titles indeed. But what piqued my interest is Adarna House's Wikahon. It's a reading inventory and skills development module for learners of the Filipino language. It's pretty impressive so I will devote one blog post about it next week. For the meantime, it is enough that a glimpse of this product is given to readers of the blog.

My day at the fair was also a day of meeting friends in the industry - Ed Marananan, Jay Menes, Portia Padilla, Nhyl Elada, Sam Cudiamat, Teacher Anding of Kumon, friends from World Book and Phoenix Educational Systems and some celebrities too like Dulce, the power house singer who has recently been active in the Christian renewal movement. It had been an exciting day at the fair!

Reading Advocacy for School Librarians

My last session for Scholastic Philippines' school librarians training on reading advocacy ended today with thirty participants from private schools in Bulacan, Batangas and the greater Metro Manila area. They shared books they've read; worked in groups to identify existing activities and strategies leading to literacy and reading advocacy; and listened to my input on school library standards and the changing roles of school librarians. One jarring reality -- standards are worlds apart between schools who have and schools who have a few.

Over all, it was a good workshop. I was flattered to know that most participants were former attendees of previous workshops I conducted. Thus, there were familiar faces and good friends from the field present at the workshop. Consultants form Scholastic Philippines told me how, some of them were eager and excited to attend my workshop once again. I guess I have a few good fans out there.

I wish to thank Roselle Masirag and her team of consultants in Scholastic Philippines for making the training a success, indeed. I hope to hear feedback, news that is good and otherwise, and any suggestion from them. I wish them good luck in all their work and reading advocacy.

Ans super thanks for the books! I'm reading Rachel Ward's Numbers at the moment. It's pretty good.

Reading Advocacy

I just ended a whole day seminar-workshop on Reading Advocacy Through Effective School Library Services. The event was sponsored by Scholastic Philippines for school librarians who are subscribers to their Assessment in Education Program (AEP). It's a sustained reading inventory cum reading skills development program and librarians are part and parcel of its implementation. There were fourteen participants from school libraries in Manila and Batangas. In the first part of workshop, we looked at the changing roles of school librarians. For this, I turned to the ever reliable IFLA-UNESCO School Library Manifesto, Koechley (1997), Danielson (2007) and Kuhlthau (1997).

IFLA - UNESCO School Library Manifesto Staff The school librarian is the professionally qualified staff member responsible for planning and managing the school library, supported by as adequate staffing as possible, working together with all members of the school community, and liaising with the public library and others. The role of school librarians will vary according to the budget and the curriculum and teaching methodology of the schools, within the national legal and financial framework. Within specific contexts, there are general areas of knowledge that are vital if school librarians are to develop and operate effective school library services: resource, library, and information management and teaching. In an increasingly networked environment, school librarians must be competent in planning and teaching different information-handling skills to both teachers and students. Therefore they must continue their professional training and development Source: http://archive.ifla.org/VII/s11/pubs/manifest.htm

Roles of librarians (Danielson, 2007):
* Create an inviting physical and emotional environment;
* Promote a culture for the quest of knowledge;
* Coordinate with teachers of the school and serve as resource persons;
* Maintain and extend the library's collection;

THE SCHOOL LIBRARIAN'S ROLE IS COMPLEX AND WIDE RANGING - Danielson, 2007

School librarians are (Koechley, 1997):
* Instructional Consultants - collaborators who assist teachers in instructional design
* Life Long Readers - models of the reading culture and acquisition of knowledge
* Information Gatekeepers - managers, creators and communicators of information and technology Kuhlthau identified the roles a librarian play when conducting information literacy sessions and providing readers services.
* Organizer - arranges and manages resources; creates a user-friendly, self-service environment that leads to independent study.
* Lecturer - provides tours and orientation sessions focusing on the location and access of resources.
* Instructor - provides one or a series of cooperatively planned lessons on information sources and references arising from classroom activities tailored to students' needs.
* Tutor - provides one-on-one session with a student or a group of student on specialized information needs.
* Counselor - confers with the students in the provision of cognitive and behavioral support (Reading Guidance / Bibliotherapy / Research Mentor ) focusing on the process and seeing the product as part of the construction of knowledge and positive well-being.

In the afternoon, we discussed reading, technology and reading advocacy activities. There will be another session next week and, learning form today's session, I will sure make some changes since there will be more participants next week. So, if your school subscribes to Scholastic Philippines' AEP, do attend. See you there!