The ongoing pandemic led to many changes in the lifestyle of Filipino families, such as the sudden shift to the work-from-home model for parents and online learning for their kids. Distance education entailed adjustments not only for the student but for parents as well, who now needed to take a more active presence in their children’s education to help ensure the effectiveness of this new mode of learning.
Digital business solutions company Teleperformance supported parent employees in this struggle through their Keep Learning, Keep Growing; Citizen of the World Town Hall.
Speakers Ani Almario, Vice President of Adarna House, the country’s leading publisher of children’s literature, and Rich Rodriguez, Citizen of the World volunteer and the head of Pinoy Storytellers and volunteer in the Alitaptap Storytellers Club, discussed tips for parents on pandemic education, including the importance of storytelling to engage children in an age of online learning.
Ani Almario emphasized for parents to always involve their kids and talk about their daily set-up. By structuring their day, parents are helping each other survive daily sorrows and strife. Furthermore, routines give children a feeling of regularity and predictability, especially during a season wherein children do not have control.
Rich Rodriguez asked, “Are we forcing them to learn?”. It’s important for parents to talk to their kids to see whether they are developing learning fatigue while they are pushing them to learn. A normal school setup implements play time which is not always possible especially for a work-from. To combat learning fatigue, Rich advised parents to synthesize the process of learning. “We make sure that they have that good grasp of understanding and a good way for us is to talk to them at their level so that we can understand them better.”
To reach a certain level of engagement, one must use the power of visuals or storytelling, from performing a theatrical imitation or accompanying a lecture with entertaining voices. Parents can ask their children questions as a way for them to talk and engage rather than handing them a book for them to read and re-tell the story like a robot.
“We can’t just do things the traditional way. We have to think this is the way kids and people learn today so we have to take that road. We must put ourselves out there, out of our comfort zone, because in this way, we are instilling positive values and actions within our family,” shared Jeffrey Johnson, Senior Vice President for Human Capital Resource Management of Teleperformance Philippines.
