Tara, Basa!: My Eye-Opening Experience in Hagnaya Beach Resort Training To Teach Young Learners

It was a sunny afternoon at my school in Cebu Normal University-Medellin that I first heard about the opening of Tara, Basa! Tutoring Program. This program has opened a lot of realizations about education and honed my knowledge of my chosen field. For the whole summer vacation this year, before I got into 4th year, I served in a school under the Tara, Basa program and this kept me busy until the opening of classes. So what is Tara Basa and how my experience during training went. Know about it in this blog.

I bet you have already heard about Tara, Basa! program, especially if you are in college now under the program of BEED. When I first heard about the Tara, Basa! program, I was honestly carried away by its goal. This program is not just a simple reading program, but a nationwide movement of education and service. Tara, Basa! was initiated by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to foster struggling and non-readers among elementary students while also providing opportunity for college students, like me, to serve the community, gain experience, and implement what they have learned from school. What is more wonderful about this program is the idea that it puts three generations in one room during our deployment but I will be making another blog for that. Children, college students, and parents do their roles in the classroom, providing a flexible and open environment to learning and growth.

So Tara, Basa! is developed primarily to improve the reading competence of children who have developed difficulty in recognizing words or even understanding basic texts. College students, especially those studying in state universities, are selected to become Tutors or Youth Development Workers (YDWs) and our school is one of the rising state universities in the country, hence, we chose to be part of the program. It was dedicated to third year students from the education program that was chosen by our school to be YDWs since graduating students are not around the school anymore after graduation. As tutors, we are assigned to handle reading sessions with children specifically focusing on phonics, drills, guided reading, and other literacy-building activities. So what I have learned in my past demos and lessons have been carried into realization during those days of reporting to school for classes.

But before deployment, we had a very important thing to do for at least one week. And it was to attend training as part of Tara, Basa! program and learn important information regarding the program that we could use on the deployment later.

Our one-week training happened in Hagnaya Beach Resort located in Hagnaya San Remigio Cebu. This resort is quite famous in our town, offering a relaxing and elegant experience of beach and pool escapade. The resort features a beachfront, an inviting outdoor swimming pool with waterslides and a kiddie section, and a beachfront restaurant that offers plenty of local and international foods.

In the present, a large boat-shaped structure is built in the middle of the pool, good for taking photos and relaxation, and is now the landmark of the resort. I remember every time we have a break from a training session, my group of friends and I would go outside to stroll around the resort because it was attractingly beautiful.

I mean who would not like the features of this place. One of my favorites is this big chessboard display in their park and as someone who loves playing chess, encountering these big and massive chess pieces is unbelievable and sublime.

So going back on the training, the hardest part would be the demonstration where we would have a sample demonstration in front of three teachers from CNU, as an eligibility test if we are ready to be trained and deployed. I would say that the training is one of the most important parts in this program as it ensures efficacy and mastery during the on-field experience. The training serves as preparation to make sure all volunteers are ready for the task ahead and they have already mastered the rules and significance of this program. During these sessions, we were taught how to conduct reading classes effectively, use guidebooks and workbooks provided by DSWD, and apply proper teaching strategies that suit young and struggling learners. During training we were also introduced to child learning policies to give us a framework of how children learn and how education should be delivered, and guidelines since we would be working with children or minority age. This keeps us assured that everything we do in the field are safe, respectful, and in compliance to ethical standards

The training also helped us build confidence as tutors and self-efficacy. It gave us a clearer picture of what to expect during the program such as how to handle different behaviors of the students, how to communicate effectively both to pupils and their parents and as well as how to maintain professionalism in the classroom. We were also taught the importance of program’s monitoring and reporting systems to ensure quality performance and integrity in all communities or schools. What I find helpful about this process is how it doesn’t solely teach you what you should do but also includes why you are doing it. It reminds you who you are helping and that this was not only about teaching but also transforming the lives of children in the long-term.

That is my training experience and Tara, Basa! The Tutoring Program is all about. This program, as I realized, is a reflection of collective compassion and care to education among children who are in dire need of assistance in reading and basic text understanding. By joining this program, I have learned how important it is to safeguard young learners and foster them in terms of education to build a generation of responsibility, literacy, and integrity. Not only learners benefit from this program but also parents who were taught how important they are as first figure of educators to their children and college students, shaped into young leaders and stewards of education and hope in this world.

Soon I will be sharing with you my Tara, Basa! field journey and you'll come to meet the young learners I have taught important things for months. Stay tuned for more stories of this program and I promise to shed light on the importance of education through this Tara, Basa! blog series. Thank you for reading, my dearest readers!