MANILA, Philippines—More than the mutual experience of having the head of the family away as an overseas Filipino worker, the residents of St. Pancras Academy in Seamen’s Village, Dasmariñas, Cavite, are working to have another thing in common—a passion for reading.

“We are trying to be a big reading school to influence the entire village,” says Marissa Oca-Robles, school founder. “We have a community where people have many varied interests, and we’re trying to unify them with this one interest. And we chose reading because it’s universal. It cuts across age, gender, everything.”

With this end in mind, around 50 children from St. Pancras attended Friday’s Read-Along session held at the multipurpose hall on their campus—the 53rd Read-Along session since its launch last year, and the second to be held in Cavite this year. The event featured stories about protecting the environment read by GMA-7 News reporter Jiggy Manicad and Adarna storyteller Dyali Justo.

Manicad read Victoria Añonuevo’s retelling of “Si Pilandok, ang Bantay-Gubat,” while Justo read Rene Villanueva’s “Si Emang Engkantada at ang Tatlong Haragan.” Both books were published by Adarna House.

‘Highly rewarding’

“It was fun and highly rewarding,” said Manicad, all smiles after his first time to read to children. “Especially when I asked a question and they were able to answer it immediately, it meant that they were paying attention. That meant a lot to me, that they were listening to my story,” he said.

Students from St. Pancras opened the program with a re-staging of the puppet show “Eco-Defenders: Tagapagtanggol ng Kalikasan,” by the US Agency for International Development and US Department of Energy’s Sustainable Energy Development Program.

They were led by fifth-grade student and puppet show narrator Mark Neal Alday.

Adopting the environmental theme was in line with the school’s tree-planting activity in December.

Building on the adage “It takes a village to raise a child,” the school’s reading advocacy program has adopted the tag “It takes a child to raise a village”—of readers, that is.

“We hope to influence the parents to read as well through their kids,” said Robles. “We believe that with storytelling, children would be more articulate and be better communicators.”

Communication is key

And more than anything, communication is a key skill for these children who only see their fathers, who are away as seamen, every so often.

“Maybe one day they can write their stories to tell their own parents,” said Robles. “If they are articulate, they can communicate their feelings more clearly, and this way the parents would know their children better. Even if they are away from each other, they won’t be strangers.”

Aside from promoting love of reading among the students, officials of St. Pancras also hope the Read-Along would inspire the teachers as well.

“It was important for [Read-Along] to come along so that the teachers could see how it is done,” said Pinky Josue, academic adviser at St. Pancras, who hoped the teachers would be inspired to adapt storytelling in the classroom as well.

St. Pancras principal Letty Silvestre, herself a seafarer’s wife, said the school emphasizes the value of the sacrifices of the students’ fathers.

“We emphasize that although our families are abnormal in the sense that there is no father present, it is because they want to provide us a better future,” she said.

With the advent of modern technology, Alday said he usually communicates with his dad via webcam, sometimes as often as twice a week. “Sometimes, he even helps me with my homework,” he added.

Alday said it was easy to make friends at St. Pancras because they all had similar experiences. “It’s easy to relate to my classmates because our dads are all seamen,” he said.

“Sometimes, we tell each other about our feelings whenever our dads board their ships. We support each other.”

The Read-Along was launched in May last year by the Inquirer Research Department, Library and Junior Inquirer to promote the love of reading among children through storytelling sessions with celebrities and volunteer readers.

The project received an award for excellence this year from the Philippine Quill, an award-giving body for business communicators, for spreading the passion for reading.

Friday’s Read-Along session, hosted by Junior Inquirer writer Ruth Navarra, was in cooperation with USAID-SEDP and St. Pancras Academy. All the books read were from Adarna House.

A special Read-Along session exclusively for Hands-on-Manila street kids was held yesterday at the Inquirer office as part of the street kids’ Christmas party. The next regular Read-Along session will be held on Dec. 13, 10 a.m., at the Inquirer main office in Makati.