World Read Aloud Day 2024

For World Read Aloud Day 2024, I shared with the learning community these posters on the reason for a Read Aloud in High School. Reading aloud is for all ages! I enjoyed selecting the stories too!

ReadingAloud_HS by ZarahG

One on One Reading Aloud and Storytelling Workshop

I had a wonderful time sharing stories and swapping teaching adventures with Yvette Solina Salish at Nook in Molito. Yvette is a teacher in Erbil, Iraq. She teaches Math in Primary Years Program of the International Baccalaureate in the school. Home for vacation, she thought of taking stock on her teaching pedagogy. 

Big thanks to her sister, Bernadettte Solina Wolf who connected us. Our four hour session stretched to six hours. Almost the entire day, really. And thanks to the peeps in Nook as they warmly accommodated us with a whole day pass for our first visit. That’s good customer service!

This is my favorite nook in Nook. If you know me well, you know why. 😉

As this was my first tutorial for a reading aloud and storytelling workshop, I didn’t know how it woluld work. It did end well! 

 Yvette and I will definitely meet again, get in touch online and keep the learning connections active. She found the materials I used as enlightening and the input session valuable addition to her skill set in teaching primary students. She hopes to be more confident in reading aloud and telling stories to her students. In the end our session, I gave her these tips, baon, as I call it to bring with her back to Erbil.

On Messenger she sent me this message afew hours after our session. 

“Thanks too for teaching and inspiring me to read aloud and do storytelling! I’m amazed by how well you do it. I hope I can reach up to your level of ease in the future! I can’t wait to try all of your techniques! Take care and keep in touch! 😊🤗😘”

My reply to her was this:

“Go! You will grow into it. Start by investing on good books for kids. Develop your own selection criteria. Read the books aloud to your family. Plan your pre, during and post reading activities. Practice. Evaluate yourself. Listen to your students too. You will learn from them too!”

I am having a productive summer! 

On Reading Aloud and Storytelling (2/2)

In the event of being with two different groups of people who are interested and eager to learn and relearn skills in storytelling and reading aloud, I consider myself fortunate to learn from them too. 

From the TSP volunteers, I realized how our search for meaning and goodness in this world can be actualized in volunteer work. I look back at the young professionals I met a week ago and I am still touched by their hope and their sincerity to help TSP reach its goal of people empowerment through books and reading. From the DepEd K-3 teachers in Pangasinan, I am reminded once again of the values of grit and patience. The Filipino public school teacher is up against challenges bigger than herself or himself. It will take a lifetime to change the system, but it is enough to be able to inspire and affect one person. 

Feeling young and energized with TSP volunteers!

I see the goodness in Rey Bufi and his wife, Grace, the parents and founder of TSP. I admire the resilience of Teacher Ara for continuing on and doing a thankless job. Organizing people and mobilizing them is not an easy task, but they do it anyway. This is the grace I take away from leaving Biñan once in a while. I meet authentic people who, despite limitations, persevere to make a difference in their communities.

Specifically, I discovered how tenuous our connection is with our folk literature and local knowledge. Pangasinan is showing signs of progress, but my conversations with teachers there reveal gaps in the use of their mother tongue and in telling stories from their culture and history. Exposure to different forms of literature is an area of growth as well. Both groups, TSP volunteers and K-3 teachers were fascinated at the folk tales I used as samplers for storytelling. Comments like “ganun pala yun”, “ay pwede pala” were aplenty. 

DepEd Superintendent Balderas explains that reading is comprehension.

The scarcity of books and resources was a clamor of both groups. I resolve to include one or two activities for materials creation next time I do a workshop. As a librarian, I will echo and share this concern. Hopefully, any of my advocacy group could pick from there and help bridge children to books they so badly need to engage in.

On Reading Aloud and Storytelling (1/2)

I am writing this on may way back to Manila from a successful training workshop on reading aloud and storytelling in Pangasinan. I was invited by the Department of Education of Region 1 through the initaive and effort of  Teacher Arabella Soniega. The training program is designed for K-3 teachers to learn and relearn pedagogy in early literacy education. There were 128 teachers present in the training plus, a dozen school leaders. 

Last week, I was with the The Storytelling Project (TSP) to run the same workshop for their volunteers. Of the 15 volunteers, 2 are teachers and 1 is a librarian. They will soon be implementing TSP’s reading program in a public school in Laguna.

Two workshops. Same topics. Different audiences. Different purpose. Same goals. TSP volunteers need a good skill set in reading aloud because their two-fole roels. One is to support teachers in teaching literacy slills and the other is to provide children with an environment where reading is enjoyed and experienced outside of the classroom. The DepEd recognizes storytelling as an adjunct strategy for reading aloud when learning skills in the four communication arts, namely, listening, speaking, reading and writing. I discuss both in workshops and demonstrate ways of using them.

Reading Aloud from a teaching context, especially in literacy teaching, is a proven technique in teaching comprehension skills. When an adult reads aloud to children, the act of reading and the cognitive processes involved in it are shown, shared and modelled to them in a manner that is enjoyable and non-threatening. In storytelling, the teller does not use a book but a story to take the listener in a journey of adventure, wonder, play and the discovery of insights. Both are multi-sensorial activities that develop many skills including life skills, compassion and empathy.

TEDx: The Importance of Reading Aloud

PPT: Reading Aloud Workshop

WRAD 2017: Reading Aloud Tips and Book Activities

A day after  International Book Giving Day, (IBGD 2017), we campaign for World Read Aloud Day (WRAD) 2017. LitWorld has freebies to drum up and celebrate this literacy event. Go register in their website before the big day, February 16, 2017. Download the free picture book. Have it printed and let your young reader color the pictures. Read the story together. Celebrate books and reading in your community!

I have curated blog posts on reading aloud, tips and suggestions, book making activities and the roles that adults play in language and literacy development of young children.

1. Make reading aloud as a family affair. My mother read aloud to me. So, when I had kids, I read to them too. As they grew up, I fed them books and involved them in choosing books they like to read. My kids and I talk about books too.  Even now that they are teenagers, we still get to talk about books they have read, movies and plays they want to watch and music they enjoy listening to.

2. Model the reading habit. Begin at home. Parents play a big role in modeling the reading habit. Click the link for my ten tips in creating a reading environment at home.

3. Books for kids of varying ages are aplenty! Bookstores and libraries have them. Buy or borrow, just have books within their reach and can be accessible for their reading pleasure. Picture books. Illustrated storybooks. Concept books. Even picture dictionaries are available for kids beginning to read. Folk tales also abound the market and selections in libraries. Feeling unsure about reading them folktales? Here are things to consider in choosing folktales for your young reader.

4.  Are books inaccessible to your young reader? Create them! Here is a simple activity to start you off and your young reader in making books!

5. If you are a teacher, a school librarian or an adult working with and for children, tell stories to them! Extend the experience and write stories together. Make books! Build Libraries and Reading Corners!

Happy World Read Aloud Day!

World Read Aloud Day 2014: Zoe's Book Talk

I am re-posting this today, World Read Aloud Day, to celebrate not only the power of words in reading them aloud but also for the empowered child when he/she reads aloud.

When my daughter was 10 years old, she had difficulty reading. Her love for learning pushed her to go beyond her difficulties. Here is a recorded video which she took using my iPod back in 2010. She book talked an I Spy book and walked the listener through the end. English is her second language, thus the numerous grammar mistakes in her telling. Proof that she is learning a language foreign to her.

WRAD 2014: Raising Our Voices Blogging Challenge Week 1

WRAD Raising Our Voices Blogging Challenge: Week 1: February 10 - 16

What is your earliest or fondest memory in which someone read aloud to you?
Your first mission is to answer this question. We are using this prompt to bring awareness to the impact reading aloud and the act of being read to has on readers of all ages. Consider it an opportunity to connect with others through the shared experience of hearing stories read aloud. 

More prompts: How you plan to celebrate WRAD on March 5? Who will you celebrate with? Where will you be? If you have celebrated WRAD in the past, what activities brought you and those you celebrated with the most joy? 

Growing up in the mid-70s, reading aloud was my alternative to watching TV because my parents controlled my viewing hours. There was Sesame Street and Electric Company to see in the morning while old Filipino movies and Japanese anime were my TV fodder in the late afternoon. This media experience did not drive me away from books. My mother read aloud to me. I loved the way the words slide out of her mouth and into my ears as she read from a book. The pictures in the books did not move when my mom read aloud to me, but the pictures I conjure in my head as she read aloud came alive. Those images were mine.

The words were strung together by the author. The pictures were illustrated by an artists. And yet, I have my own version of words and pictures put together. That is the power of the spoken word. Reading aloud enabled me to dream; to imagine; and to create. I did not know it then, but this is probably the reason why I became a school librarian. That love affair with books sealed my fate. Thanks a lot, Mom!

In the past WRAD celebrations, I had videos of book talks posted in the blog. I once did a read aloud of Lizard's Song. It is a joy to do this: talk about books and read aloud even if only it is done in this blog. This year, I'll celebrate WRAD 2014 by completing this blogging challenge.

I've done the first post for Week 1. On to the next!

World Read Aloud Day: Raising Our Voices Blogging Challenge

I am joining in this blog challenge initiated by Matthew Winner for World Read ALoud Day 2014 (WRAD 2014). The theme for WRAD 2014 is Raising Our Voices. As librarian and literacy advocate, I will use this blog as platform to raise the voice for books, reading and literacy.

I have lifted this post on WRAD 2014 Raising Our Voices Blogging Challenge from Matthew Winner, The Busy Librarian.

The World Read Aloud Day "Raising Our Voices" Blogging Challenge begins February 10 and runs through March 9. If you choose to take the challenge, each week you will be asked to write a post in response to a prompt or question (outlined below), for a total of 4 posts counting down to World Read Aloud Day. 

Each of the prompts addresses the WRAD theme "Raising Our Voices." Raising Our Voices encapsulates that simple yet effective way we show the world's children we support their future: that they have the right to read, to write, and to share their words to change the world. 

WRAD Raising Our Voices Blogging Challenge: Weekly Outline 

Week 1: February 10 - 16
What is your earliest or fondest memory in which someone read aloud to you?
Your first mission is to answer this question. We are using this prompt to bring awareness to the impact reading aloud and the act of being read to has on readers of all ages. Consider it an opportunity to connect with others through the shared experience of hearing stories read aloud. 

After answering the prompt, share a short description of how you plan to celebrate WRAD on March 5. Who will you celebrate with? Where will you be? If you have celebrated WRAD in the past, what activities brought you and those you celebrated with the most joy? If you haven't finalized plans, of if this will be your first WRAD celebration, use this space to share your brainstorming process, and direct your readers to litworld.org/worldreadaloudday for activities and recommendations.

Week 2: February 17 - 23
Adult & Child
Answering the following questions with a child. The child can be a student or your own. Age does not matter. Make sure to exchange and enjoy answers with one another before sharing them with us.
1. I think everyone in the world should read…
Me:
Child:
(repeat this format for the remaining questions)
2. If I could listen to anyone in the world read aloud to me it would be…
3. When I read aloud, my favorite character to impersonate is…
4. The genre or author that takes up the most room on my bookshelf (or e-reader) is…
5. My favorite part about reading aloud or being read to is... 

Week 3: February 24 - March 2
A Snapshot of My Reading Life
Post a photo that gives readers a glimpse into your reading life. This could be your favorite place to read, your bookshelf, your library, your classroom, a book from childhood that you still re-read today, your favorite person to read with. Anything that brings joy to your reading life will work!
Below the photo share a short narrative explaining why this picture is meaningful to you. 

Week 4: March 3 - 9
Raising Our Voices
It's time to read aloud! Select a favorite text, or a personal story that you love to share out loud, and make a video. If you don't have a webcam, are having technical difficulties, or prefer not to be on camera, you can also translate this challenge into a written post. Share what you will be reading on World Read Aloud Day, and why you chose this particular piece to read aloud.

If you choose to take up the WRAD Raising Our Voices blogging challenge, make sure to tweet your weekly posts to @litworldsays and use the hashtag #WRAD14 so that we can retweet your wonderful read aloud stories! Happy blogging!

Reading Aloud and Storytelling

When I got the invite to judge in the Inquirer Read Along Contest, I knew I had to break a personal belief and a promise. And once more, I was confronted with an issue many teachers and Filipino storytellers grapple with -- reading aloud and storytelling.

I will not discuss what it is and what it is not. Rather, I'll post links of videos on reading aloud and storytelling as well as videos of Mr. Jay Menes' read aloud session. Now here's a link to Just Stories an online place where storytellers gather just to tell stories. No fanfare. Stories are the stars of the show and the teller is the willing medium who keeps them alive.

My read aloud video of Lizard's Song, by George Shannon and illustrations by Jose Aruego and Arianne Dewey.

Story Knifing Sampler

Jay Menes reading aloud to preschoolers during Read Aloud Day 2011. He read aloud an Adarna book classic, When Color Comes to Town

Since storytelling is an art form and reading aloud is reeking of educative values, as well as literacy development merits, the two can be combined. The result is a hybrid technique known as book-based storytelling. Is this right? Is this wrong? Is there a proper way of delivery? There really are no answers to the questions. Art is subjective but an artist need to constantly practice his or her craft to grow and continuously develop. One needs to be a reflective artist too to see areas of improvement in choice of stories, in technique and purpose. Why tell stories? Why reading aloud? What stories to tell for Filipino children to enjoy and learn from? What cultural legacies can surface in the process of telling or reading aloud?

Sometimes, contests hamper this growth and development as it focus on the 1st, the 2nd and the 3rd prize winners and not at stories shared and the audience who listened to the stories read or told.

I did enjoy my time at the Inquirer Read Along last month and I send them my congratulations for a meaningful and well thought out advocacy and CRS activity. But, I'm hoping to see and hear news of more storytelling and read aloud festivals instead of contests.