Keep reading! Keep learning!

Internet, television... Most of the kids are familiar to several tv shows, hosts and tv personalities, facebook,  youtube or yahoo chats, but what about books? What was the last book that they have read (school books not included)? When was the last time that their parents sit down with them and read a book? 

An article published in 2010 remarks that "according to the Department of Education (DepEd), out of 2.7 million first-grade students in public schools, only 1.6 million can finish elementary, some of which passed English and Filipino subjects with below average or poor reading skills" This kind of data shows that despite programs as "Every Child a Reader (ECARP)" hold by DepEd, which has received P21 million funding support in 2011 "to equip elementary pupils in public schools with strategic reading and writing skills to make them independent young readers and writers"  or awareness campaigns as those that take place during the National Reading Month, which has been declared in November, reading is not an habit among Filipinos. And not only among Filipino kids, but also among Filipino adults. So what can we expect then? 

And we are not only "loosing" reading habits, we are loosing learning skills too. It is proven that reading stimulates children's creativity, improves their vocabulary and develops ther speaking and writing skills. Furthermore, reading in a second language helps to increse the benefits: memory improvement, cognitive enhancements and more future opportunities as well. 

Spending some time with our kids reading a book together or paying more attention to our students while they read (sometimes that is hard task, we know, especially in those overloaded classrooms) and trying to make the reading sessions funnier can help to improve kids' communication skills and their aptitude for learning, to uplift their self-esteem and of course, it will help them to appreciate the joy of reading.

If we all agree that a good education is one of the most important tools for our personal development, let's try to give our kids the best education.