I can still remember way back in highschool that I really love reading. I was more hooked in reading when my seatmate, Ally was bringing different books weekly. We managed to finish atleast 3 novels for a week- how crazy was that?! One of my most favorite books were from Paulo Cohello and of course, you could never go wrong with Nicholas Sparks' novels.

That's why when Edmund grows up, I want him to learn the value of reading.

Reading has a lot of benefits, not only it increase your vocabulary but it also enhances your imagination. Unfortunately, Reading has insurmountable benefits that cannot be neglected. It fosters individual growth that can spur national development.

Encouragingly, the Philippines do not log behind on basic literacy. In 2013, 96.5 percent of 74 million Filipinos 10 years old and over were basically literate. Basic or simple literacy – is the ability of a person to read and write with understanding a simple message in any language or dialect.

Furthermore, nine out of every ten Filipinos 10 to 64 years were functionally literate. Functional literacy includes not only reading and writing but also numeracy skills. The skills must be sufficiently advanced to enable the individual to participate fully and efficiently in activities commonly occurring in his life situation that require a reasonable capability of communicating by written language. A functional literate person is one who can at least read, write, compute and/or comprehend. Also, persons who graduated from high school or completed higher level of education are classified as functionally literate.

Though the statistics look good, the number significantly drops when comprehension or higher level of literacy is considered. Only 5 out of 10 elementary graduates can read, write, compute and comprehend. While this number improves as the students reach high school, only about 60% of the population actually reaches high school thus, attaining this level of literacy. Employment/ looking for work (28.8%), Family income not sufficient to send child to school (15.7), and lack of personal interest (14.9) are top 3 reasons for not attending school/ dropping out.


This November 24 & 25, the Gateway Gallery is holding its 2nd Mga Kwento ni Nanay: A Storytelling Workshop in partnership with Adarna House. 

The Gateway Gallery Reading Programs aims to foster literacy or love for reading and books among Filipino children. Furthermore, the workshop is designed to strengthen the reading campaign of the Gallery by involving parents, guardian, teachers and volunteers int he Community.

What to expect?

• Kuwentuhang Adarna sa Gateway Gallery is a monthly storytelling session for community children. The activity aims to promote book enjoyment through animated storytelling and activities. The stories are told by storytellers from Adarna House using Adarna books. The session ends with distribution of snacks and educational gifts.
• The Liwanag Reading Caravan is a storytelling – school campaign where celebrity storytellers visit nearby schools to promote the value and habit of reading. It also encourages the students to visit Gateway Gallery’s Liwanag Reading Corner for some “after-school reading”.
• Mga Kwento ni Nanay is a one-day storytelling workshop designed to strengthen the reading campaign of the Gallery by enlisting parents, guardian, teachers and volunteers in the community. Participants are briefed on the value of reading and helpful techniques to become effective storytellers. The activity not onlyemphasizes the benefits of reading but espouses spending quality time with the children for their overall development.

In the last 5 months since they launched their reading program, they were able to reach 230 children, trained nearly 100 storytellers and distributed more than 150 books.