"Few children learn to love books by themselves. Someone has to lure them into the wonderful world of the written word; someone has to show them the way." - Orville Prescott (a father who reads to his children)
We want to make you the hero of your children's reading experience. Therefore this week we will equip you
with a few strategies to give you confidence that you will prevail in your efforts. First on this list of strategies is ......(you guessed it.....straight from the title..........) READING ALOUD.
Literature based learning (especially during this time when kids are at home) involves maximizing the potential of what we already have in place, using our homes, and libraries like INSPIRE. All these places have doors and we need to hold them open in such a way that children can walk through and find a lifelong love of book. AS THE GROWN UPS IN CHARGE, you will win the keys to those doors if you .... READ ALOUD to your children.
This activity involves nothing more than reading a book out loud to a child (probably everyday but we will allow you to go with your pace here.) The child may follow the text in your copy of the book, or in his or her own copy or may just listen to the sweet sound of your very beautiful voice when you are reading. It is just this simple. It does not require any paperwork or special training and asks nothing of the child but a little attention. In fact lets just say that it is so easy on everyone's part that it is hard to believe an activity like this could yield results that verge on the miraculous.
Jim Trelease in his book the read aloud handbook (which is an excellent read for both teachers and
1. conditions the child to associate reading with pleasure , an association that is necessary in order to maintain reading as a lifelong activity .
2. Contributes (amazingly) to background knowledge for all other subject areas, including science , history ,geography, math etc
3. Provides the child with a reading role model
4. Creates empathy toward other people because literature values humanity and celebrates the human spirit and potential, offering insight into different life styles
5. Increases a child's vocabulary and grammar and has the potential to improve writing skilss (please lets avoid using baby language like gugu gaga while speaking to babies)
6. Nurtures emotional development and improves self esteem
7. Creates a strong bond between parents and children.
Looking at this list of benefits which was much longer, reading could be a type of education in itself .
Reading aloud need not be stopped just because a child is older. More mature readers still need the flow of discussion to encourage prediction skills, to understand character development , to determine cause and effec. They seriously benefit from the model of an adult reading with proper paciing and attention to pronuciation and punctuation and leart to troubleshoot by watching an adult.
A worthy mention
Read aloud has the power not only to sustain but to resuscitate an interst in and affection for books for children of all ages (those who were asking now they have a fun solution of how to excite your kids to read)
A love of reading and a strong ability to read can be a compass leading children to the information they need to survive or to live better and leading them to a view of themselves and others that reaches towards the horizon.
like a very important point
Anyone who reads to a child can be assured that on some level they are giving a child the best tha can be offered, whether they child attends public, private or home school.
Again we thank Esme Raji Codell, and Jim Trelease who put such great thinking into words and even if we add our own we know they are the real geniuses in books that have changed the world . This books deserve a worthy mention here "The Read-Aloud handbook and How to get your child to love reading - a parents guide"
THE LIBRARIAN
WE want to thank our worthy readers and those who have given back such wonderful feedback. Keep it coming.
In the same spirit of reading to children we wonder if we could ask you to do something for us. We are looking for an orginal story to highlight on our "We can write wonderful original things segment coming soon." We would love to be the ones to give you the title. Here it goes
" I live in Africa. Recently due to covid issues and the fact that i have no reason to hide in the bush because the number of people coming to see me has gone down, i have recently acquired a very weighty issue. I am a hippopotamus and i need a diet plan. Can you write one, send to the librarian and save me from myself? - yours the hippo who lives near a water body in the bush. Yes ..that one"
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