Sarangani reading classes attract foreign volunteers

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ALABEL, Sarangani—For Thai teener Nuth Sonthipanyahul, teaching Filipino grade pupils here to read “is tiring but amusing.”

“(But) it feels good to make them happy,” Sonthipanyahul, 16, said.

Sonthipanyahul was among nine foreign-youth volunteers, who joined this year’s Reading is Fun! program under the Big Brother concept of the Sarangani government.

Started in 2008, the program taps volunteers to help children enhance their reading and comprehension skills.

Under this year’s Reading is Fun! 15-day reading program, some 5,000 elementary pupils graduated after overcoming difficulties in reading.

Gov. Miguel Dominguez said the Sarangani Big Brother: Reading is Fun campaign was launched under the province’s Quality Education for Sarangani Today (Quest) program in a bid to help the Department of Education (DepEd) reduce the number of “frustration readers,” particularly among Grade 2 and 3 pupils in the province.

“Frustration readers” are those who can identify words but have inadequate or no comprehension at all.

When asked what he wants to contribute to these children, Sonthipanyahul curtly said: “Education and teaching them to speak English.”

He said if these children can speak fluent English, they can go anywhere they want, find jobs and have better futures.

Turkish volunteer Elif Gurcinar, 18, said more help is needed to improve the state of education in the country.

“Some schools are really bad. Classrooms are not enough and there’s no enough reference materials,” he said.

Gurcinar said children were fortunate to have local governments like Sarangani’s.

Jenneth Ruta, a Grade 1 teacher in Lun Padidu Elementary School in Malapatan town, said a one-on-one approach had to be used for some children because they can’t even identify letters in the alphabet.

“During my first day, I started with the alphabet, then the sounds, before I was able to make them read the words,” Ruta said.

After nearly 15 days of reading lessons, Ruta said she is proud to say that her class was able to develop not just their reading but also comprehension skills.