One of the hallmarks of a Charlotte Mason (CM) education is reading literature. In fact, there are some circles who describe a CM-type of education as literature-based learning because of CM’s emphasis on living books.
So when I was trying to create a curriculum for Filipino for my dear daughter’s (DD) Kindergarten year, I researched what our local literatures were to help me narrow down what books to look for.
I can remember when I was in school that the Philippines has a rich literature that ranges from bugtong (riddles), sawikain/salawikain/kasabihan (proverbs), awiting-bayan (folk songs), tula (poetry), alamat (myths and/or legends), kuwentong-bayan (folk tales), epiko (epics), maikling kuwento (short story), nobela (novels), dula (plays), awit at korido (metrical plays), and zarzuelas (musical dramas).
Indeed, what a very rich literature we have!
I’m curious if these are still taught in school. Are they?
But since my child is still in Kindergarten, I chose to focus, in the meantime, on our alamat (tales/legends that tell the origin of animals, places, or things) and kuwentong-bayan (folk tales).
Now, as I have mentioned before, looking for local living books was a bit of a frustrating experience because of their scarcity. It was also a bit sad that a lot of our “classic” literature are in English, though I think I know the reason behind this.
It was especially frustrating looking for Filipino children’s poetry as there were very few that were accessible.
And that’s one of the things that limited the books I chose to use because my two main criteria for the list of books I came up with are: (1) it has to be written in Filipino, and (2) it has to be written by a Filipino.
The good thing is that we have local publishers who are trying to make our literature available to the public again so we have a number of recently published books of classic stories that I’m sure our Lolos and Lolas, (and probably our Nanays and Tatays, as well, depending on what generation you are), grew up with.
Curriculum/Book list
So here are our book picks for Kindergarten Filipino…
Poetry
- Ang Mga Gumagapang-gapang. A very short picture book on creepy crawlies written in rhyme.
- Mga Tula ng Kabataan. A book of short, original Filipino poems that depicts our local culture. The author, who migrated to the US, specifically wrote down the poems for her only child so s/he would still be familiar with his/her mother land’s language and culture. This book is suitable for very young children, e.g., preschoolers, and would also be a good material for reading practice.
- Filipino Rhymes. In the link, only the color brown.
- Educational Filipino Rhymes for Children 2. Ikukuwento ko lang. There are two books in this set. I was only sent the 2nd one with a note by the author telling me that the 1st book is not available so he sent a different book. I was so upset (I felt I was scammed) I reported it to Shopee and maybe that’s the reason why the shop I bought it from is no longer existent.
- Aba, Aling Ano! Bullets 3 and 4 above, and this one (5) are a collection of street verses I am familiar with because they are rhymes I grew up with. Think of “One plus one, Magellan…” or “Isa, dalawa, tatlo… and tatay mong kalbo…” Are these still a thing with kids these days? I would say these books are our local or counterpart Mother Goose/Nursery rhymes in Filipino.
- Isang Mabalahibong Bugtong. A children’s poetry book about cats. The poems are nice but some of the poems do not rhyme. Haha. I do know that there are poetries that do not rhyme (i.e., free verse) but when it comes to children’s poetry, it’s the rhymes I’m after 😁.
Alamat
- Noong Unang Panahon (Adarna House). A short picture book that tells of three different versions of the origin of the Philippines.
- Kung Bakit ang Pinya ay May Isandaang Mata at Iba Pang Kuwentong-bayan Ukol sa mga Prutas. Legends on the origin of local fruits.
- Ang Babaeng Nahulog Mula sa Langit at Iba Pang Kuwentong-bayan. Legends on the origin of places in the Philippines.
Kuwentong-bayan
- Philippine Folktales (Tagalog version, by Anvil Publishing). Some of the stories here could also be found in the other books in this list. I bought this online at the Manila International Book Fair when it was held online during the pandemic (I think it was in 2020) but I cannot look for a local online shop that carries it right now.
- Ang Karerahan Nina Kalabaw at Pagong at Iba Pang Kuwentong-bayan Ukol sa Hayop. Local animal folk tales.
Kuwentong-bayan and alamat are interchangeable, actually. There is no need to distinguish between the two. But I put a distinction just for scheduling purposes.
Kung Bakit ang Pinya…, Ang Babaeng Nahulog…, and Ang Karerahan Nina Kalabaw at Pagong… are actually part of a series published by Tahanan Books. There are six books in the series but only the ones we used and which are listed above have Filipino translations, I think. The rest are published only in English, as far as I know.
Short review of books
I find the books just okay and good enough 😁. They could definitely be improved but it was good enough.
My DD didn’t enjoy them, though. She would say she hates alamat. Haha.
But we still soldiered on.
If you plan on purchasing/acquiring any of the books I’ve listed above, you may skip Ang Mga Gumagapang-gapang (not in the picture above) as I feel it was not worth the very expensive price. Also, Filipino Rhymes and Educational Filipino Rhymes for Children 2 can also be skipped since some of the verses there are included in Aba, Aling Ano!
Philippine Folktales by Anvil Publishing can also be skipped as a lot of the stories in it can be found in the Folk tales series by Tahanan Books. Also because it seems to be unavailable already. There is an English version in archive.org, though.
Keeping portfolio samples
Featured image from seekpng.com