It is really hard for my 6-year-old daughter to learn Filipino. In fact, her grades on that subject are low that it pulled down her general average for the first grading period.
To be honest, I’m worried because she always wanted to get an award in school. But this time, she can’t because of her grade in Filipino.
I had been thinking of an effective way to teach her Filipino. I let her watch YouTube videos for kids like fairytales and others. Aside from that, I also let her read some Filipino books.
Although she complains that she cannot understand it, I explain it to her. Good thing that there are books for kids that are available in two languages. This way, she can read the English translation which helps her understand the story. She can also compare the Filipino text to the English part.
Recently, we went to National Bookstore to buy clay and magic pencils since I promised her that I’ll buy her those things. We also looked at the book section and bought her a new book titled “Ang Prinsipe ng mga Ibon.”
Book Review
This book has both English and Filipino text. I asked her to read the Filipino part first then the English part. After reading, I asked her to tell me what the story was about. And it is really very interesting with an important moral lesson.
It is one of the many stories from Ang Mga Kuwento ni Lola Basyang ni Severino Reyes. I actually thought it is something like Ibong Adarna because of the cover. I immediately pictured the men sleeping under the trees while the Ibong Adarna sings. Lol. But I was wrong. It has a different story.
According to my daughter, “Ang Prinsipe ng mga Ibon” or “The Prince of the Birds” is about a girl who married a bird. When I heard that, I was surprised. But she is right.
It is about Prinsesa Singsing who married the Prince of the Birds. She is a very kind princess and when the King told her that she needs to get married, she introduced him to bird. Of course, the King did not agree with the Princess’ desire to marry the bird.
There were two instances when the King encountered some problems in his kingdom. The Princess told him that the bird will help him but he should promise that he will let her marry the bird after that. But even if the bird was successful in helping the King, he still refused to approve the marriage.
Because of that, the bird said that he doesn’t want to become a person anymore because people don’t know how to keep their promises. With that, the Princess decided to turn into a bird so she can be with her beloved. And they left the kingdom together
Moral Lesson: We need to keep our promises or else, we will suffer the consequences. We should also avoid judging others based on the way they look.
In the story, the King lost her daughter because he did not keep his promise. Apparently, this is very painful for him especially when he saw that his daughter turned into a bird.
The King belittled the ability of the bird to help save the kingdom and he only looked at it as a mere bird despite knowing that it can turn into a Prince after marrying his daughter.
Conclusion
The book is very nice with colorful illustrations. I already mentioned that I like it because it is available in two languages. Aside from that, it has a moral lesson that we can teach our children.
There are still other books from Ang Mga Kuwento ni Lola Basyang ni Severino Reyes and I will definitely buy some too. I guess my daughter will be getting more of these books for our next trip to the National Bookstore!
How about you, have you read this book already? What is your favorite book that has a moral lesson?
