Literacy development in the Philippines

When it comes to lifelong learning, early childhood literacy development is a matter that is closest to my heart. While the learning of foreign languages is to me no longer a luxury but rather a necessity in the 21st century, to sum it all up, everything begins in the early years of a child as language and literacy are interconnected domains of early childhood development.

As a firm believer of continuous learning, regardless of how old one may be, I would assume that by now, many of us educators believe and accept that education begins in the home, hence playing, communicating and reading with children done at home supports early literacy development. Research has shown that children who have strong oral language skills, for example, are proving to read and write quicker and with ease due to the knowledge of vocabulary and language structure.

As an advocate of early childhood development, I used to ask mothers to read to their children out loud as it formed the first steps in helping them understand the written language. Encouraging parents to sing, read, talk, write and play with their children even at home and before formal schooling can all spark literacy in their early years. Speech, language and literacy are so closely intertwined simply because if one can’t say it or understand it, one will simply not be able to read or write it.

Learning another language at an early age, especially before the age of five, benefits children as it gives them a head-start and boosts their critical thinking and problem solving skills. Many of us have seen Solenn and Nico Bolzico speak both Spanish and French to their daughter Thylane and perhaps one can put sense into the whole idea of language and literacy at an early age through this example.

Early literacy occurs in a child’s first three years (more or less) as he or she is introduced to books, stories and writing tools together with an awareness that a child’s experiences and interactions with others is crucial to their own development. My Tios Anding (the original author of my column) and Ding used to always tell me how in our family, my Lolo Peping was the greatest storyteller. Many of their books contained stories by my grandfather which, as a young girl, truly formed not only my curiosity but also particular interests (that being culture and arts), as it pushed me to become more thorough in doing my research.

Literacy development therefore is so important to build on in the early years with the understanding, however, that it can be built on the simplest of things found within one’s home. As parents and educators, we want our children to be articulate as well as good problem solvers and consistency is key – in and out of the classroom.

Literacy is the cornerstone of development and learning to read in the first years of school in the primary system is critical. In general, literacy is important as it lifts people out of poverty and access to early childhood education is the answer in developing literacy. At the end of the day, we want all learners to stay engaged and love learning because the holistic development of a child’s social, emotional, cognitive and physical needs is the foundation for lifelong learners. We want empowered students as products of our educational system who are fully equipped in adulthood and the more resources we can provide for early childhood education, the better we can address the possible challenges for learners such as learning disabilities.

In a nutshell, literacy development is a vital part in our children’s overall development as it serves as the foundation for learners to thrive in school and eventually become independent adults. We want socially engaged Filipinos as products of our school system and indeed, literacy plays a very important role that goes beyond the functional level.