A love affair with language and books

BECAUSE SA Aklat Sisikat Foundation espouses developing the love and habit of reading among students, it stands to reason that the resource speakers invited to the 6th Petron Programang Kaakbay annual teachers’ conference held at the Far Eastern University campus are not only noteworthy role models but passionate readers as well.

From the first speaker to the last, the paramount importance of reading was a recurring refrain interspersed in their specific presentations. FEU president Lydia Echauz who confessed to being a Rizal fan, boasting about a Rizal portrait by Amorsolo and a Caedo bust of Rizal in her office, urged the 175 elementary public school teachers from all over the country to take advantage of the June 20 holiday marking the Rizal sesquicentennial on June 19 by assigning their students to rediscover our national hero by reading and writing about any of his works.

Two former DepEd undersecretaries, Juan Miguel Luz and Isagani Cruz, could not say enough about literacy as the basis for all learning and lifelong learning. To Luz, reading is an important building block because it also determines the continuing education of the child. The critical gaps in education are still due to the lack of reading skills. Discussing the typical arguments for and against the K+12 proposal which he strongly advocates—and which elicited much response from the teachers who welcomed the clarification—Luz raised a rhetorical question: “Where else [but here] do we hear complaints about giving more education to its population?”

Speaking in flawless Filipino and exemplifying that the language one uses is immaterial as long as one has mastery of it, Cruz said that we cannot have teachers who are “no read, no write” for how can they expect to teach well? Teachers ought to read to be updated on the many changes in their disciplines which technology disseminates with such speed—if not always with such accuracy. They also need to be several steps ahead of today’s students who tend to be better informed, also thanks to technology. And how Cruz pushed the reading of classics. He proudly narrated that when he is asked how old he is, he is quick to claim that he is 250 years old, because he is in the company of friends like Shakespeare, Confucius, Homer who continue to speak to him.  Yes, you can have your Google, your blog, your cell phone, and 5,000 Facebook friends—still these are no match to the company he keeps. He reminded the audience that at the next conference, he hopes that instead of seeing them with notebooks, they would have books in their hands.

UP College of Education dean Dina Ocampo pointed out that at the heart of the reading problem is that “we don’t teach the children to read in the language that they know.” Rather than spend all the effort on making the child say, spell or read the words aloud, the child should be drawn to think about the story, analyze and question it in the language of choice. Teachers were urged to nurture the “romantic love affair with language and books.”

Dr. Leticia Peñano-Ho spoke on the learning brain and the intricate processes involved in reading and writing. Considering the mysterious and powerful ways of the brain, does it not make better sense to declare, “I love you with all my brain”? she asks. A pioneer in special education in the country, she recounts her beginnings as a reader. Growing up in Lucena, she recalls, “We were the corniest family there because when we went on picnics, we always carried books with us.”

Many other speakers similarly left the teachers with many questions to seriously think about—something that needs be mentioned at another time. And what a better venue for this exercise than this campus, a welcome refuge in a Manila that has lamentably known more glorious times. Although all the participants were housed in nearby YMCA and the Boys Scout of the Philippines facilities, it was a special bonus for them to discover and explore the FEU campus, a refreshingly green compound in the University Belt in downtown Manila. FEU stands proud with good reason: its art deco buildings designed and built by Pablo Antonio, who was eventually named National Artist for Architecture, have been awarded a Unesco Asia Pacific Heritage Award. Everyone got a dose of instant art appreciation with the Botong Francisco murals in the chapel and the Manansala sculptures on the campus grounds on figures depicting the different industries.

But what was especially admirable—and hopefully, imitated—is the clean environment. No piece of rubbish, not even tiny pieces of paper, could be seen littering the grounds. Brimming with pride over her litter-free, smoke-free, English-only campus, Echauz says that all of them have made it a habit not only to dispose properly, but to pick up any piece of stray garbage on the ground. This was more than expected lessons on literacy, caring for the environment, and appreciating the richness of our heritage.

<em>Neni Sta. Romana Cruz ([email protected]) is a member of the Philippine Board on Books for Young People, the Eggie Apostol Foundation, and a trustee of Sa Aklat Sisikat Foundation.</em>