Read this: Rex Book Store Fluency Awards winners

MANILA, Philippines - Rex Book Store held the grand finals of the Reader’s Theater Fluency Awards recently at SMX Convention Center. Sixteen schools, with close to 100 students from various grade levels, showcased their talents before a huge crowd of school administrators, teachers, authors, and parents.

Now in its second year, the Rex Book Store Reader’s Theater Fluency Awards continues to be an effective platform for promoting reading fluency among young students. Contestants performed excerpts from actual scripts of the Building Fluency through Reader’s Theater product line of Teacher Created Materials (TCM). Finalists competed for the top prizes in three categories: beginner’s (for Grades 1 and 2), intermediate (Grades 3 and 4), and advanced (Grades 5 and 6).

The Paref Northfield School for Boys bagged the grand prize in both the beginner’s and advanced categories. The beginner’s team was composed of Josemaria Emmanuel Torres, Josemaria Calvario, Jose Alfonso Syquia, Joaquin Enrique Mariano, Joaquin Francisco Sun, and Jaime Antonio Kison while the advanced category team was made up of Paul Gabriel Uy, Jaime Miguel Gozar, Gabriel Navarro, Jason Rafer, Alphonso Balagtas, Gabriel Esguerra, and Patrick Misico, both coached by Roderick Fernandez.

The School of the Holy Spirit of Quezon City was the grand winner for the intermediate category, with Ma. Angelica Martinez, Denise Bonuel, Ma Louisa Rongavilla, Danika Manalang, Fatima Singson, and Jamila Domingo coached by Lydia Reyes. It was the school’s second, having won for the same category in last year’s competition.

Runner-up for the beginner’s category was Our Lady of Peace School, with Maryhl Donila, Edrick Dequina, Darby Bobiles, Angelica Liwanag, Daphne Martinez, and Aliyah Martinez and coach Emma Palo. St. Paul College of Makati scored a double win as runner-up for both the intermediate and advanced categories. The intermediate category team was composed of Beatrice Almirol, Uriel Federez, Janelle Sale, Leila Magno, Robert Martin Reyes, and Angela Vista while Dorothy Borromeo, Neil Jacob, Joshua Dimaano, Ann Wischelle Gabriel, Gabriel Galang, and Anne Louise Gomez comprised the advanced category team. Both groups had Maria Bassig as their coach.

The judges consisted of an esteemed panel of professionals in the fields of education and communication: storyteller and radio host Luis Gatmaitan, educator Zarah Gagatiga, and school directress Gabby Roa Limjoco.

Rex Book Store officers Sonia Santiago and Jeanne Marie Fontelera awarded the prizes to the winning teams.

Building Fluency through Reader’s Theater is a fun yet effective tool for building fluency skills in reading, listening, writing, and speaking. Schools who are interested to know more about Reader’s Theater and TCM products may call Rex Book Store at 712-4101, 712-4106, and 712-4108 or visit www.rexpublishing.com for more details.