Bilingual Lola Basyang Teaches Present Day Filipino Kids

      One of the hardest challenges today in the Philippines is to teach kids learn tagalog and english. This is especially true in public school where the right materials are usually lacking.  I had first hand experience with this problem when I was reading english stories to grade 4 public school students. It was difficult because  translating english into tagalog is more than building a base vocabulary. It is also translating a foreign culture to these kids. I tried many things to help them learn and one of them was scrounging for ideas from bookstores.  I was lucky enough to find  Anvil's Lola Basyang books in National Bookstore because it had the story both in English and Tagalog at only 65 pesos. Thus, I tested one of the Lola Basyang books called "Ang Prinsipe ng Mga Ibon" on the kids and I had definitely had a easy time teaching these kids English. The book also comes with a free bookmark that you can reward your young readers for listening or reading so well.

    If you have kids or nephews having a hard time either learning Filipino or Tagalog, these books are worth picking up because it saves a lot of time looking for english-tagalog dictionary and smoothly translates the ideas despite the language barrier.

p.s  I was amused to learn that Lola Basyang is actually a man named Severino Reyes who was not gay but was a writer who was amazed on how the real Lola Basyang was able to attract kids like a moth to a flame. This sparked his interested and started weaving Lola Basyang stories.

Links:

• Anvil Publishing

• National Bookstore

It Pays To Read Right, It’s Just Common Sense

     If you are a parent with curious kids or just weary of the garbage coming out of media today, Common Sense Media is really heaven sent because it offers reviews for all sorts of media from videogames to books with moral guidelines for kids, teenagers and adults. Thus, the site can really help if you are in a bookstore and you don't know what to buy because you are overwhelmed by the billions of titles out there.  I know that there are numerous sites that offer these ratings. Yet, what sets Common Sense Media apart is its detailed objectivity. To get a snapshot of what I am talking about, just look at the rating guide below:

    As you can see with the grids, it offers guides more than the usual sex, violence, and languange. It also takes into account ideas which your kids are not ready for. There is more detailed care put into the written reviews but I think it is better to see it yourself.  So, if you are planning to buy a book for kids or yourself, drop by Common Sense Media before you drop by the bookstore. It will really help you save a lot of money on getting the right books. It just makes Common Sense.

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Hi! Welcome to Read Now

  I will be blogging about authors, books, events and anything do with Literature. I am all poofed out from setting up this site. So, please come back tomorrow as I start this journey into the great unknown.

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