Let me tell you something about the Basadours’ World Read Aloud Day Celebration last March 5, 2014.
So it was March 2 (a Sunday) and I was just doing my usual reading when I suddenly realized that March 5 (a Wednesday) is World Read Aloud Day BUT… we forgot to discuss how we are going to celebrate it. I posted a short note on our Facebook page about it and said that we had to do it! We needed to move fast to find a public school that will be our partner institution for that day.
We went to a public elementary school in Cebu City to talk to the principal. I do not want to go into the details here of how tedious it was to coordinate with the school because they thought that the activity will cost them time, effort and money. Suffice it is to say that it was one of those times when I did not like organizing an activity with public school teachers. It was not shocking because I have had similar encounters before. But it is always disappointing to meet people who call themselves “teachers” but don’t really live up to what they are called for. Just disappointing. On a positive note, I have had experiences in several public schools where the principals and teachers were more than accommodating, very open-minded and very participative. So I would not generalize that all public school principals or teachers lack good manners or just plain unenthusiastic about volunteers coming to their schools offering an activity that will cost them noting. Oops, I am getting somewhere here. So this is the sentence where I will end that part of the story.
Anyway, the idea was to do storytelling hops in the classrooms of Grades 1 to 3. That was actually 12 sections and we were given 8:30 a.m. to noon time to reach all these sections. So we had a plan and I am posting this here so that anyone who read this entry may have an idea on how you can possibly replicate this in your barangay or town or city.
World Read Aloud Day (WRAD) Team! Here are the updates:
1) Storytelling begins at 8:30 a.m. English coordinator said better to start early so we can reach more classrooms.
2) Mechanism is classroom storytelling. We are telling stories to 12 sections from Grades 1 to 3. That’s 30 to 40 pupils per section so a total of 360-480 children.
3) We spend 30 minutes in each classroom.
8:30 – 9:00 – 2 sections (two Grade 1 sections – two storytelling teams)
9:10 – 9:40 – 2 sections (two Grade 1 sections – two storytelling teams)
9:50 – 10:20 – 3 sections (three Grade 2 sections – three storytelling teams)
10:30 – 11:00 – 3 sections (one Grade 2 section and two Grade 3 sections – three storytelling teams)
11:10 – 11:40 – 2 sections (two Grade three sections – two storytelling teams)4) Team per time
8:30 – 9:00 Denise and Eva; Charmie and Cris Evert
9:10 – 9:40 Denise and Eva; Charmie and Cris Evert
9:50 – 10:20 Denise and Eva; Charmie and Vianca; Cris Evert and Patricia (USC student)
10:30 – 11: 00 Denise and Eva; Charmie and Vianca; Cris Evert and Patricia
11:10 – 11:40 Denise, Eva and Vianca; Cris Evert, Charmie and Patricia5) Storybooks/Story materials
We have two books – Ang Pag-abot ni Kolor sa Lungsod and Si Lurat, Kidhat, Pirok ug Piyong – in our storytelling kits. Please choose. Also, I will bring my big book nga Bruhahahaha! I will use that. Practice mo ha?6) Assembly time is 7:00 a.m. at Andoks Mabolo. Magdungan ra tag adto. Last minute briefing didto.
7) Special request: There is division storytelling contest on March 8 and the school has a representative. Nihangyo sila if we can help their contestant. I said yes. So after the storytelling session, let’s just spend time with the child and listen to him or her.
8) Doreen Sy is our official documentor. Nananghid na ko sa principal. Go picture na!
That Wednesday, we were in our costumes. I was the child in “Bruhahahaha! Bruhihihihi!” a story of a girl who thought that her neighbor, an old woman named Mrs. Magalit is a witch. The book was written by Ma. Corazon Remigio and illustrated by Roland Mechael Ilagan. (Yes, we did decide to let go of the negativity and focus on the reason why we are there in the first place: the children!)
Transferring from one classroom to the other was very exhausting but it was very fun. It was actually one of those storytelling sessions that I really enjoyed. I was in sleeping attire with braided hairstyle, asking the children to give me a name and an age. If I remember it right, I became Izzy (7 years old), Anna (8 years old) and Angela (6 years old) in the three classrooms that my partner, Charmie (who was Mrs. Magalit, the “witch”) and I visited. My energy was at its highest level and I was enveloped in this overwhelming feeling of happiness every single time I saw them giggle or wide-eyed as they listened to the story.
I wrote a Picture Feature of that day in my entry last March 17 but I thought of posting another one entry related to that event because I did not want to forget the happy memories of that day. May you find inspiration in the happy faces of the children to volunteer as storyteller. You can be part of this by joining the Basadours. Our website will be up soon but for now, let us indulge you with our Facebook page.
