The Iloilo Provincial Government, in collaboration with the Regional Education Council (REC) and Department of Education (DepEd) School Division Office (SDO) Iloilo, held a 2-day intensive training on Teaching Reading the OGSL Way at Citadines Amigo, Iloilo City on August 30-31, 2024.
Over 100 elementary educators from kindergarten to grade 3 participated in the training, which was designed to enhance their instructional techniques using the Oral Graphic Symbolic Language (OGSL) program.
The training aimed to prepare these educators as trainers of other teachers for the Bulig Eskwela (BES) Basa initiative, which will be implemented in pilot municipalities including Janiuay, Lambunao, Carles, Dingle, Oton, and San Miguel.
“We are embarking on a journey to change education outcomes in the Province of Iloilo and we are starting with six towns,” said 3rd District Board Member Jason Gonzales, reminding participants of the importance of the training.
The sessions, led by DepEd Public Schools District Supervisors (PSDS), covered key topics such as Sound Symbol Overlay, Building Word Power, and Language Incorporation, with assessments and a workshop on the Work Application Plan (WAP).
This training is part of the broader Bulig Eskwela sang Probinsya (BES PROBINS) Program, which aims to standardize reading instruction and improve literacy for K-3 learners.
Addressing the participants, DepEd Iloilo Chief Education Supervisor of the Curriculum and Teaching Division Dr. Nestor Paul Pingil said teachers "are taking a major role in our journey for literacy", and encouraged everyone to "work together to operationalize such innovation".
Janiuay Pilot Elementary School Kindergarten teacher Maricel Jaen looks forward to applying what she learned in her classroom.
"My training will help my learners be able to write and identify letter sounds to form basic words. It is a big help for us teachers to be effective and efficient in teaching reading, and make every learner a reader. I thank the Iloilo Provincial Government for facilitating this," said Jaen.
Simultaneous with the BES Basa initiative, another reading improvement intervention, Proof of Concept (POC), is also being implemented in the province in partnership with Synergia, Inc.
Like BES Basa, the POC also has its own pilot municipalities where teacher capability building and learning resource provision are conducted, focusing on reading improvement among grade 3 learners.
Governor Arthur Defensor, Jr. supports these initiatives as part of his commitment to enhancing educational outcomes among learners in the province.
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