Parañaque students get treated to Colorful Dreams

LAWYER Maggie Tamin, compliance and administration manager and project head; Annalyn Tiglao, San Dionisio Elementary School principal; Charrise Chuidian, public relations VP; Manolo Silayan, and Wilma Estaura, human resources VP, listen to lawyer Aissa Academia, legal affairs VP, as she explains Colorful Dreams. PHOTOS BY RODEL ROTONI

The library was packed with kids eager to learn about the main character in Kristine Canon’s “Si Pilong Patago-Tago,” played by Lurvin Ocampo.

“Kuya Pogi” to the kids, Ocampo is a senior officer for training and development of the soon-to-open City of Dreams Manila and one of three volunteer narrators on Day 2 of Colorful Dreams, an arts and storytelling activity at Parañaque Central Elementary School’s library.

Day 1 was attended by some 400 pupils, as many as the number of volunteers from City of Dreams Manila who mostly worked as ushers and food servers. The City’s chefs made the snacks.

On Day 2, around 100 kindergarten to Grade 3 pupils from the central school and neighboring San Dionisio Elementary School watched intently Ocampo’s comedic portrayal of Pilo, a kid obsessed with hide-and-seek.

They were delighted whenever Pilo had to reveal himself to family members who called his name, by exclaiming, “Bulaga! Hindi n’yo ’ko makita, ’no?”

Ocampo’s voice electrified the room, drowning out the kids’ murmurs and giggles.

He showed the open book to his audience to give the kids a glimpse of the illustrations. A couple of times, he asked, “Where is Pilo hiding?”

The hyperactive Ocampo was a compelling storyteller, said Manolo Silayan, also a senior manager for training and development.

Silayan taught Ocampo and five other employees storytelling tricks he learned as president of Alitaptap Storytellers Philippines from 1999 to 2010 and by organizing storytelling competitions with private groups and the government.

He suggested the storytelling activity when the City of Dreams was planning its corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects.

ALL EYES are stuck to Lurvin Ocampo, as he reads “Si Pilong Patago-Tago”

When it was time for Silayan to read Jose Miguel Tejido’s “Ang Pambihirang Sombrero,” the second of three stories, the likeness between mentor and pupil was undeniable in the methods they used to engage the young audience. Silayan asked the kids to play the roles of a fireman, a gardener and many more. He also poked fun at himself.

“[The kids] have to see you as competitive to what they see and hear on the computer or the television,” he said, adding that the threat from technology was “huge.”

Kids did not have to understand what the screens showed while they had to decode letters and words when reading, he explained.

“For now, our targets are very young children,” Silayan said.

“[We have to] make them love reading before they start to love their computers,” he said. “We believe that storytelling is going to help the kids become interested in books.” It also taught socialization.

To bring that point home, Ocampo, Silayan and Shine Blanche, also with training and development, read “Ang Magkaibigan,” written by Angelita L. Aragon—the story of an extraordinary friendship between an ant and a dove, forged after one saved the other’s life.

They wanted to show how encounters, like the storytelling session, could help kids interact, especially these days when technology was making them socially inept.

At the end of the session, the volunteers distributed crayons and coloring books with popular themes like “Frozen,” “Tom and Jerry” and “Ben 10.” They held a brief coloring contest and gave extra goodies to the winners.

Colorful Dreams would conduct quarterly tours of different schools in the city, said Wilma Estaura, vice president for human resources.

The storytelling activity is one of many CSR activities of City of Dreams, an integrated casino resort in Parañaque City that will give a sneak preview this month. It is scheduled to open before the Chinese New Year. The resort wants to focus on child development.

“The kids see that you’re holding a book, that you’re lifting words from the book. It makes the child want to see what’s in it,” Silayan said.

The kids excitedly raise their hands as Manolo Silayan asks for volunteer role-players.

City of Dreams will donate books to the Parañaque school library, including stories from Dreamworks, its partner in building DreamPlay, “the world’s first education-based entertainment system.”

The City volunteers promised the kids who attended the storytelling session that they would be the very first visitors when the high-technology, interactive play space opened.

The session was the last of the team’s first school-based activity. It was the second reading event since an outreach to Bahay Aruga orphanage.

The goal was to get the kids to move on to more difficult books, Silayan said. “We want to prepare them for reading alone, reading quietly.”

Eventually, the activity would visit schools in depressed areas, said Estaura, including those outside Parañaque.