THE SAN BEDA English and Literature Society (SBELS), in partnership with the Community Engagement Center (CEC), organized “Bookal sa Puso: Booklat,” a storytelling activity, at the Claro M. Recto High School in Manila, as part of their community outreach, March 29.
Jenella May Aya-ay, SBELS Internal Vice President and Activity Chair of the event, shared that the activity was done in order to “share the knowledge in language and literature through the act of storytelling.” The chosen participants of the event were a class of grade seven students from the high school.
The storytelling activity was led by Jomarie Vicente and Shelly Bocabel, students from the English and Literature Department, who were the ones that were assigned to discuss one of the stories by Fanny Garcia entitled, “Sandaang Damit.”
Aya-ay also bared that one of their objectives in conducting this event, was to “somehow pique [students’] interest and to be able to mold their knowledge in their own ways.”
According to Bocabel, they were able to have a good discourse with the grade seven students because they were highly participative and attentive to the activity.
“I can say that the students are very much friendly and participative throughout our program. Answering questions not just in an objective manner, but also integrating their subjectivity throughout the course of our discussion and I think it is very wonderful to hear the insights of these children and how well they learn and understand things despite their youth,” Bocabel shared.
According to the head of the CEC, Ms. Norielyn Tabag, the activity of the organization was indeed timely for high school students especially today. “It is timely and relevant because we know for a fact naman that students are very much inclined into…digital technology so lahat naman diba … for reading medjo nawawala so we need this kind of practice para macontinue natin yung love for reading yung book yung ating love for books na pagbabasa talaga kasi diba yun ang challenge ngayon akala natin lahat nakikita natin sa internet or sa social media iba parin talaga yung nabibigyan ng mga pagkakataon na yung mga bata ay magbasa from the book yung hard copy talaga,” Ms. Tabag elaborated.
Furthermore, Ms. Tabag shared that she thinks the community engagement project of SBELS, in collaboration with the CEC, was a “successful” one. “I believe na the activity is successful because we learn from the teachers that they really appreciate because it was integrated in the Filipino subject and considering that the students ah are come from ano English and Lit talagang ano kumbaga effective ang delivery sa mga students ng Claro M. Recto High School, mga grade 7 students ito,” Ms. Tabag acknowledged.
In connection with the event’s success, Ms. Tabag says that the CEC looks forward to these kinds of initiatives that the SBELS could sustain, together with the other organizations. She also shared that this kind of activity is an opportunity for SBELS to impart the knowledge that they were able to get in their classrooms into the service for the community.
