To capacitate the language and pedagogical skills of early childhood educators, the UPV Language Program (UPV LP) conducted a two-day workshop titled Read Up: A Literacy Outreach Program among 37 daycare teachers from 31 barangays in Badiangan, Iloilo from March 20-21, 2025.
The workshop commenced with an opening program. In his welcome remarks, Vice Mayor Cylas Jun P. Nobleza highlighted that the activity is “not just reading books” but “is about opening minds, shaping dreams, and equipping children with tools they need to build a brighter future… a priceless gift.”
Hon. Serafin S. Villa, Sanggunian Bayan member, on the other hand, shared that the municipality has been identified as the model for kindergarten development initiatives in Iloilo Province. He also added that he, as Committee Chair on Social Services, has allocated funds for the improvement of kindergarten facilities and capacity-building of kindergarten personnel.
Ms. Anna Liza Barcelona, a faculty of the Division of Humanities and UP Open University, served as the workshop facilitator. At the onset, she provided the participants with a literacy situationer in the country. After which, she introduced read-aloud, a pedagogical strategy used in teaching language, literature, and pronunciation among the young learners. From it, the participants learned about the process in doing the read-aloud, its benefits and importance while, at the same time, got to share their best teaching practices and the challenges they encountered in teaching kindergarten. They also received a set of children’s books from an anonymous donor.
The second day of the workshop focused on the enhancement of participants’ pronunciation and intonation. The participants had exercises and drills on different vowel and consonant sounds, in which they pointed out that they had been pronouncing several words such as giraffe, reservoir, and debris the wrong way.
Aside from “re-learning” English language, the participants demonstrated the read-aloud strategy with kindergarten pupils using their choice of children’s book.
A critiquing was also done to improve the participants’ knowledge and skills on this strategy. To draw commitment from them, the participants were asked to come up with their own slogan on read-aloud which they presented just before the closing program.
During the closing program, Mayor Suzette A. Mamon thanked U.P. Visayas for reaching out to the municipality. She also said that she welcomes any trainings or workshops that may benefit Badiangan.
Asst. Prof. Rene C. Trance, UP LP faculty-in-charge, described the workshop as UPV’s way of giving back to the community and emphasized that a lot work has to done with regard to the read-aloud such as follow-up visits, book-drive donations, and collaboration with local writers and publishers. The ceremony ended with the awarding of certificates to the participants.
While this outreach program has been running since 2016, this year’s offering is relatively new because it adds a set of guidelines on pronunciation and intonation, which is useful in the read-aloud strategy. Hence, this two-day workshop is the first run of its kind in 2025.
This project was made possible through the collective efforts of the UPV Language Program and the Municipality of Badiangan, particularly Ms. Marian Janice M. Mediana (UPV LP Administrative Assistant), Ms. Lilia Ortigas (MSWDO), Mr. Richard Armada (Focal Person, Day Care Worker II), Hon. Serafin S. Villa (Chairman Committee on Social Services), Vice Mayor Cylas Jun P. Nobleza, and Mayor Suzette A. Mamon.
“Read UP: A Literacy Outreach Program” is part of a series of workshops offered by the UPV Language Program aimed at enhancing literacy among the young through the read-aloud strategy.
