A culturally-responsive, context-sensitive, and open-access digital textbook on the Spanish language for Filipino teachers and learners—this is Cuentos.
According to Blázquez Carretero, Cruel, López, Porras, Roxas, and Sibayan-Sarmiento, authors of the book and faculty members of the UP Diliman Department of European Languages (DEL), the Spanish language textbook was developed by Filipinos specifically for Filipinos to reflect the Philippines’ diverse cultural and linguistic landscape.
The authors explained the book integrates Spanish teaching methods that cater to the local needs and learning preferences. They added that it was created to standardize the Spanish curriculum in the Philippines by providing a common resource for the country’s public education system.
Cuentos was funded by the UPD Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Development under the Outright Research Grant. The project also had the support from the Department of Education (DepEd), Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), UP Visayas, UP Mindanao, and UP Baguio.
Cuentos was launched on Oct. 24 at the University of Santo Tomas. The event was attended by ambassadors from Spain, Colombia, and Panama, senior representatives from Chile, Mexico, Argentina, and officials from the UP System, DepEd, and TESDA.
The launch also featured the official presentation of the Asociación Filipina de Enseñanza de ELE(AFELE). Established in 2018, AFELE is the premier and most extensive national network of more than 270 Spanish educators in the Philippines.—With a report from the authors