Five Things My Mother Taught Me That Had Helped Me Read And Write

1. ONOMATOPOETIC

In grade school, one of the highfalutin words I learned from my teacher, Teacher Lydia Maagad was:

” Onomatopoeia .”

or as WIKI puts it,

” a word that phonetically imitates or suggests the source of the sound that it describes. -WIKI

The sound of the word suggested the meaning or at least the sense of the word.

Clap
Ding-dong
Baa-baa
Meow
Crash

THEN came my mom:

She had her own version of onomatopoeia in our household.

” Ang dako nga iro gigukod ang gamay nga iring. ”
( “The big dog chased the small cat ” )

As much as possible, when we were smaller children, she would want us to read aloud, words, according to how they might mean.

Our manner, in reading words aloud, was dependent on what the word meant.

Our mom will translate to us the meaning of the English word into our dialect which was Bisaya.

So we will understand the words better.

And the words:

a. BIG ( dako),

had to be uttered with a big voice with maybe a decibel higher than the rest.

BiIiiiiG

b. CHASED ( gigukod ) ,
had to be said in one quick beat, like you, yourself, are being chased.

Chāsed.^

c. Small ( gamay ),
had to be pronounced in a more tiny voice.

Small.. always in a small voice,
in contrast with saying BIG , with a bigger voice.

So as little children, words like:

” Soft, “we said it softly.(like in a whisper-“Soffft. “)

” Slow “, we said it as slowly as we could. ( maybe a beat slower this time, than the other words in the sentence.)

” Large ” , then we had to say the word a bit louder or bigger: ” LAAARGE. ”

Same goes with the word GIANT.

( and which is why I never forgot the word HUMONGOUS. )
( though my son has his own analysis of the word.)

And to quote my mom:
” ‘ dili ra gabasa basa ka, unya wala ka kasabot sa imong gibasa.”

(” ‘never be reading words and not understanding what they mean.” )

THEREFORE, just by saying the word or pronouncing it according to how it sounded, made COMPREHENSION and REMEMBERING ITS MEANING a lot easier.

( of course we did not do that anymore, now that we are grown-ups )

‘ Guess, that would be my mom’s take on onomatopoeia , as practiced in our household when we were kids.

2. MORE POWER

a. TUDAHI KANA! ( Louder. )

As children, my siblings and I would join elocution contests in school. While our mom had to be our designated Trainor.
( of course we could not afford one.)

As my brother Vito who was an elocutionist too, recalled, our mom would ask us to recite our elocution pieces in the middle of our living room, while she would be walking around.

She would suddenly walk to the left side, the right side, go to the kitchen, to the bathroom or to the bedroom.

I remembered this irritated me a lot.

More so when from the kitchen, she would suddenly shout, ” TUDAHI! “ ( Louder!)

I remembered as a young child, what went through my mind was this,

(” pa tudahan nimo , kay dili ka kadunggog,
alang-alang niabot na ka ug kusina,
ako naa ra dinhi sa sala. ” )

( ” you want me to recite stronger and louder since you say cannot hear me, but of course you cannot hear me,you are right there in the kitchen
while I am in the living room.”)

I could have never, of course ever, said that to her,
till in my teen age years, I asked her politely why.

Then she offered this answer:

” You will be speaking to a very large audience in an auditorium, every person in all those corners should/must hear you.

You need to know the power of your voice
and SHOULD the SOUND SYSTEM GO WRONG ,
you know your voice got you covered. “

b. TUDAHI. ( not necessarily very loud but with more power or conviction)

As we prepared for periodical exams, we answered mock test papers that she made.

thereafter, we did not only read aloud our answers, but we had to read it WITH MORE POWER. With conviction.

” The capital of FRANCE is PARIS. ”

In grade-two, I once said that sentence with less or no power at all,
which initiated a discussion between my mom and I, that might had sounded something like this:

My Mom:

” Pier Angeli, unya, sigurado ka?” ( ” Pier Angeli, are you sure ? ” )

” Your voice did not sound like you believe that the capital of FRANCE is indeed PARIS. “
” Tudahi.”

My Young self: ( impatient and slightly annoyed)

” OO lagi uy Mommy, the capital of FRANCE is PARIS! “

And then she would leave me just like that, after I had said it with conviction.- a converted believer.

Yes, folks, ” I BEEELIIIIEEEVE that, ” The capital of FRANCE is PARIIIIIIIIIS. ”

Most importantly, by saying it aloud, I had also memorized the answer.

TUDAHI and TUDAHI KANA is something from my childhood that I have carried on, and recently applied on my five-year old son.

3. READ ME

Long before I heard of DOLCH and FRY in my adulthood,
I think my childhood had introduced me to a distant relative of theirs, through my mom.

Everywhere, anywhere and anything was a reading opportunity for us.

My mom made sure of that.

She familiarized us with SIGHT words, literally,
if Dolch and Fry may permit me.

We read anything on sight.

She made us read not only books but also, anything and everything that our eyesight connected with.

As one of my blog post entitled ” READ ME “, revealed:

“On my first trip to the airport,as my parents were about to fetch an uncle who just came from Saudi, the signage “Airport 45 km ahead” never missed my eye. And the numerous signage
thenafter…..”Dangerous.Men at work.”..”Sorry for the inconvenience, your taxes are working for you”…”House for rent”….”Wanted Driver…”Or that blue and white plywood which hangs on our neighbor’s house and which had the words : “Atty-at-law” under his name. And even the words……”In loving memory of wife, son and daughter”…Epitaphs, that too. ”
http://pierangeliangsen.blogspot.com/2008/05/read-me.html

4. B.M.E.

Beginning, middle and end.

My mom encouraged us to also know our:

*PREFIXES
*SUFFIXES
*ROOT WORDS

Prefix

My first appreciation for prefixes, would have to be the prefix: ” Amphi “.

Mom introduced that prefix by pointing out the venue of the ” Amatyure ” in Cagayan de Oro City was.

When I was younger, the ” Amatyure “ or
The Amateur Singing Contest of the local radio station, DX-C.C.
( or was it DX- O.R.) was held in the city’s,
AMPHItheater.

Something I really appreciated as mom pointed out the semicircular shape of the venue while it was curved or concave at both sides or ends.

(The prefix AMPHI : which meant, two, both sides or around.)

Suffix

It was in wanting to know what the probiotic in Yakult was,
that I was introduced to the suffix, BIOTIC.

It meant ” way of life.”

My mom and I, researched it in the dictionary and we also came across related suffixes such as:

BIUM
BIA
BIAN
BIONT

It also somehow meant ” way of life ” .

I was in grade four when my science teacher introduced to us, a new word…

AMPHIBIAN.
An animal that has the capability of living both on land and in water.

It was a word I would always remember, while never having to confuse it with any other word, really.

Looking at the two words placed together, more or less , helped me remember the definition or meaning of the word:

TWO and LIFE were my key words.

5. THE JOURNAL

The Chronicles Of Narnia and The Diary Of A Wimpy Kid.

We were encouraged to keep a journal.

And we had a name for it.

My journal had a name.

My mom helped me named it.

It was named: ALEJ ( Alēé )

( after my great maternal grandmother ALEJANDRA, whom I was supposed to have been named from,
had not been for italian actress PIER ANGELI’s
untimely demise.)

It was not plainly called, ” The Diary ” nor addressed to as ” Dear Diary. “

My entry began with, ” Dear Alej. “ It was like writing to a long lost friend. I would even go so far as asking it or her,
how it or she felt.

Dear Alej,

How do you feel today?
I hope you are well.
For I am not….

Thus, writing on my journal seemed very personal, always. However, I could not say the same for my four brothers. I know they would not have managed any diary, but somehow they turned out to be effective writers too. Perhaps, their form of practice, would have been having to write love letters, to those girls, they courted.

And in my son’s case today, I encourage him to write how he feels or what he thinks.

He writes small notes to me.

And sometimes, like maybe after answering an activity book, my son surprises me with his notes.
( e.g. ” I love you mom. “)

They not only help give their written words and own literature spontaneity, but personality as well.

Today, I write like I am just talking to a friend.

As if to someone, I could open my heart and share my thoughts with.

Something in the line of , ” Dearest Alej, “.

So which is why, I guess, my style of writing had been influenced by that journal from long ago.

I have thousands of things to thank my mother for. And those are just five of the thousands. Thanks Mom, they helped me read and write.

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!