Spending time together while listening to entertaining and educational stories is becoming a nightly habit for parents and children following the eStorytelling Sessions of Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart).
Launched in partnership with the Department of Education (DepEd) and The Storytelling Project, and aired live every 8:30pm on the Smart Communities Facebook page, this is Smart’s way of bringing the magic of stories into people’s home through technology.
“We want to promote storytelling as a recreational activity that parents can do with their kids, especially now that they are confined in their homes. The goal is to get people to tune in, keep them engaged, and keep them learning during this time of social distancing,” says Ramon R. Isberto, Head of Public Affairs of PLDT and Smart.
“As a parent, I acknowledge the importance of storytelling to our children. Storytelling was one of my ways to share the love for reading. It became a bonding moment for me and my kids when they were younger. I hope more parents will continue this tradition, and bring the young generation to a culture of reading,” said Usec. Tonisito M.C. Umali, DepEd Undersecretary for Legislative Liaison Office, External Partnerships Service and School Sports, and guest storyteller of the Smart eStorytelling Sessions.
For main storyteller, Smart tapped Kuya Rey Bufi, founder of The Storytelling Project—an organization that has been sharing the love and joy of reading with kids in remote communities.
“Since we are unable to go out to to tell stories, the eStorytelling Sessions give us the unique opportunity to reach out to more Filipino families. Technology has become a most useful way to help us in our need for human interaction,” says Bufi.
Information embedded in the context of a story is said to be more easily remembered. Storytelling is thus an effective way of teaching a lesson or getting a message across. Stories aim to teach kids about their own uniqueness, and important values such as acceptance, inclusivity, courage and obedience. “Our first few stories were geared towards understanding our current situation, continued with a story that specifically helped kids understand what to do, and followed up by a story of gratitude to our frontliners,” shares Bufi.
Being a parent himself, Bufi also encourages other parents to tell stories to their children and to make it part of their daily routine.
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