KAREN Mae Crampatanta, reading coordinator of the Department of Education Division of General Santos City North District, said they utilized game-based activities in teaching their students how to read when they launched DEAR Day, or ‘Drop Everything and Read Day,’ on January 12 at the General Santos City National Secondary School of Arts and Trades (GSCNSSAT).

She said they introduced activities such as "Read-oke,” where they let students read aloud the lyrics of a song they themselves select on the video sharing site, YouTube.

“Then from there, [the teacher] will ask what’s the meaning of the song they sang. What’s the best line for them that they can use to draw what’s on their minds? That’s enjoyment while learning,” she pointed out.

"Very critical kasi. ‘Pag teaching kasi you need to explore at hindi mag-base lang sa kung ano ang nakasulat sa memo [In teaching, you shouldn’t only base your decisions on what’s written in the memo],” she added.

Other learners have also engaged themselves and resonated well with mystery reading adventures or e-book exploration, literary pictionary, scrabble, and book charades.

“What sets DEAR Day [in Gensan] apart is its informal setting, allowing students the freedom to choose their reading materials and books of interest, including the strategies that they would most enjoy using," Crampatanta noted.

As an educator, Crampatanta highlighted that their role is to guide students in various activities. For instance, if learners encounter challenging words, teachers assist them in unlocking their meaning.

“Additionally, we encourage them to select a word from their reading and build a story around it. For example, a simple word like ‘flower’ can become the inspiration for a creative narrative,” said Crampatanta.

Students also have the option to express themselves through drawing, art, or even composing a song related to their chosen reading material.

Allan Flores, DepEd Gensan Division regional trainer for DEAR Day, said he is happy and thankful for the implementation of "Catch-up Fridays" for this whole month of January in the country’s public schools.

He said that they have particularly picked DEAR Day as the strategy to transform young learners, particularly those in elementary and high school, into avid readers.

Aside from reading, Flores said schools will have the rest of the Fridays of the school year for “the integration of values education, peace education, and health education.”

He also recounted how DEAR Day in General Santos has taken on a unique flavor, with students choosing to read their personal pick of a book under the shade of a tree, on the floor, in the library, or just outside their classrooms.

The fun activities outside the grading systems are really effective, said Flores. 

“Ang galing at ang saya lang [It would be great and joyful] if all teachers would really implement it the way it was designed initially. So yun talaga ang maganda. Yung hindi sila istrikto, free lang sila, maglaro ang mga bata [That's what's really good. Where they are not strict, the children are free to play],” he told the Philippine Information Agency in an exclusive interview on Wednesday, Jan. 17.

“The goal of this is not only to enhance the reading skills of our learners, but also to really [stir in them] that love for reading,” he explained.  

Having a genuine love for reading, according to Flores, will make it easier for young learners to understand what they read, pointing out that “it’s not about grades or quizzes but fostering a lifelong love for the written word.”

Flores emphasized that schools have the freedom to adopt other strategies as learning modalities to enforce Catch-up Friday and motivate students to read.

He said that it depends on the teacher’s approach to implementing Catch-up Friday, which should still be based on the directive, but they may find a way to make the learning more fun and interesting for all students.

Non-graded

Citing the DepEd Memorandum 001 series of 2024, Flores underscored that Catch-up Friday will not be graded since the objective is to reinforce the learning of students, emphasizing that it is the solution to low comprehension skills among students.

According to Flores, Gensan faces a significant challenge as it has a substantial number of non-readers and struggling readers.

He said that despite strong word recognition skills, many students fail in comprehension, hindering their overall reading proficiency, which he described as “aliteracy,” the state where children can read “but lose interest in it over time,” causing alarm not only among DepEd Gensan officials but also the city government.

Hence, the DepEd Gensan, he pointed out, takes to heart the implementation of Catch-up Friday in their areas of concern.

He also said that though Catch-up Fridays should be fun, learning shouldn’t be disrupted, pointing out that they have institutionalized monitoring schemes, such as “learner’s reflection journals, compilation of reading experiences, learning, and appreciation of values, health, and peace education,” to gauge the learning development of students.

In a heartfelt appeal, Flores called for collective efforts, noting that they are not doing this just for compliance but to truly reduce, if not eradicate, not just “aliteracy,” but also illiteracy among students in Gensan. (HJPF - PIA SarGen)