My Inquirer in Education experience

The invitation for teachers to participate in a serial reading program in the Inquirer’s Learning section was too tempting to resist.

I had read earlier a glowing testimonial from a previous participant. I also wanted my pupils at San Beda College Alabang to experience that “aha!” moment and enhance their reading comprehension skills.

Despite some reservations—I did not know how I could squeeze the series into our own program—I attended the briefing held at the Inquirer head office.

In the conference room, I was greeted by the cheery sound and lively banter of educators who had “been there, done that.”

Being a first-timer could be daunting. Almost everyone knew each other and had collaborated on past series. But the group exuded a friendly and welcoming aura. This was most evident when we all sat down to craft our respective lesson plans per chapter.

Learning section editor Chelo Banal-Formoso, who spearheads the Inquirer in Education program, made us go through challenging writing exercises like developing our own legends for some forces of nature.

It was difficult to resist the infectious enthusiasm of talented and innovative school administrators and teachers like Imelda Caravaca Ferrer, Marlyn Gerio and so many others.

The assigned story, “The Looking Glass Tree (TLGT),” was penned by young Palanca award-winning children’s book author Cyan Abad-Jugo, whose earlier work, “Letters from Crispin,” was thoroughly enjoyed the year before by pupils from 27 partner schools.

TLGT’s genre—magic realism—was sure to capture the young readers’ interest and motivate them to put their ideas in writing. Selected classes were made to do supplemental activities that allowed them to use other sections of the newspaper.

Many students admitted they did not read daily newspapers and other periodicals. The program gave them the opportunity to develop the habit of reading the news and to appreciate the value of newspapers despite the proliferation of news websites.

During the debriefing cum Christmas party, we were asked about our insights and learning. The first thought that came to mind was how the seven-week series squeezed the creative writing juices out of my Grade 5 pupils.

It is a fact that many students dislike writing tasks and would be very stingy with words when they do essays.

With the carefully planned weekly activity guide, I was pleasantly surprised at the impressive output, whether it was writing about their fantasy vacation, composing a detailed description of their dream flight or concocting a funny witch story.

When they had to do a mystery thriller, some students even asked for more time as they wanted to do several chapters to develop their narratives further. Talk about a writer’s divine inspiration!

Hopefully, this will not be the end of my participation in this worthy project. I intend to sign up again next year and come up with more pupil-centered activities that will enable our young learners to think critically and make informed decisions about life and society.

An unknown author wrote: “A child who reads will be an adult who thinks.” Reading the newspapers will certainly help the students grow up to be thinking adults.

Special thanks and sincere appreciation to Ben Chan of Bench, who has been fully supporting this worthy endeavor for the past seven years.

To Chelo Banal-Formoso and my partner-educators, I look forward to more committed, trailblazing collaborative work.