A child in my kindy always asks me to read to her. She spends most of her day reading with me. Her favorite book keeps changing. After she has enough of a particular book for several days, she would pick another one. I am not sure whether she really enjoys reading or craves for a special time with a teacher. I have been thinking should I encourage her to do some other things apart from reading? Eventually, I decide to follow her lead and let her determine when she is ready for venturing into other activities.
I read to this little girl in various ways to enrich her learning experience. Sometimes, I dramatize my voice to bring in the element of drama. For musical development, I know that it is important to learn about talking voice and singing voice. Similarly, I think children will be benefited from learning how to change their voice to present a story effectively. It promote the development of verbal language. It's also an excellent opportunity to play with our imagination. We laugh at our silliness; hold our breath at the excitement and marvel at the fantasy...
Sometimes, I encourage the girl to participate in reading along. Young children have wonderful memory. I pause during my reading from time to time to let her fill in the words. She helps me 'reading' from memory, which also gives her a strong sense of achievement. We also discuss the plot; make prediction about what'll happen next; comment on how we feel about the story line and characters and so on.
Reading is actually an interactive experience, which involves more than literacy development. In short, it is reading with a child rather than reading to a child. Considering the benefits of reading, I do not mind reading the same book with a child for a hundred times. What do you think?
You may also want to borrow some ideas from Anita of the University of Victoria, New Zealand. Click the link here. Read more...if your are interested in a bicultural context.
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