Part 2 of Reading Aloud: An Investment of 15 minutes a Day

I decided to do a sequel to the last blog — ‘Reading Aloud: An investment of 15 minutes a day’ as there is a lot more to say in the matter and also to clarify a few issues that came up as responses.

An immediate clarification is that ‘Read Aloud’ is not meant only for children up to the age of 6 years, it goes beyond that age and I will deal with it here with the help of some insights and research ideas shared by Jim Trelease in ‘The Read Aloud Handbook’. We need to keep in mind that the 6+ to teenagers are also in need of informal education during this very unusual time.

First some clarifications:

One response was: ‘loved the article……….quite a few pointers for moms’. I thought there are a couple of issues to be gleaned from the statement.

1. It is the job of the mother to read to the children.

2. Fathers don’t get involved with “female” stuff like reading.

We would do well to consider the impact of non-reading fathers particularly on their sons! Boys generally see and experience females reading — a high percentage of teachers in our schools are female and mothers read the bed time stories. It is therefore quite possible that boys think that reading isn’t for males. However research shows that boys who are read to by their fathers or any other significant adult male (not grandfathers — strangely research shows that the impact was limited) did better at reading. Also, fathers who read recreationally had sons who read more.

So, fathers, uncles, adult siblings and cousins let the children copycat you. Read to them, take them to the library or bookshop, read the newspaper and share parts of it with your child, read novels, sports news — really anything that you enjoy reading.

Another response was that a 10 year old child still enjoys bedtime stories to be read aloud to her. The query was when should one stop reading to the child? I think I was clear in that the level children listen on is higher than their own reading level. In fact, this could go up to the time the child is in grade 8. This is a good opportunity to read books at least a grade or two higher than the child’s reading level. The choice of books is also equally important, for if the choice is dumbed down the child will soon lose interest as it would lack challenge and critical thinking skills. In addition the books you choose for the read aloud should stimulate the children’s emotions, minds and imaginations, stories that will stay with them for years to come. For me personally, one such book is ‘Heidi’ by Johanna Spyri. I can read it even today and enjoy it.

Connected with the earlier response was a question from an anxious parent of a 12 year old. When is it too late to start? Is there a time when children are too old to be read to?

The answer is simple — it is never too late. However it may not be as beneficial or as easy as it is when they are younger. Unless self-motivated, reading to an adolescent can be difficult, there is a lot going on in their lives socially, physically and emotionally and their schedules (even during the pandemic) don’t leave much time to play around with.

However with some creativity and innovation it is possible:

• Try sharing a small part of a book that you are reading — just a page or two to whet the appetite to want to read the whole book or article.
• Chuckle or laugh out loud while reading, then say, you must listen to this, then read aloud the incident or anecdote.

I am sure you can come up with more ingenious ways to read aloud to your adolescent.

Despite sounding like a commercial for ‘Reading Aloud’, I feel compelled to, mention, a few more reasons in support.

Background knowledge is the tool we use to make sense of what we see, hear and read. Here is an example from a class 7 Mathematics Text book of the Karnataka State Board.

“Two cross roads, each of width 10m, cut at right angles through the centre of a rectangular park of length 700m and breadth 300m and parallel to its sides. Find the area of the roads. Also find the area of the park excluding the cross roads.

Apart from the complex, convoluted language, the students need some background knowledge to make sense of the problem. If the student’s background knowledge which also includes vocabulary is shallow, then the material being read will not make sense. And that’s where being read to, silent reading and travel can make a difference.

This next point, I am sure will resonate with some readers, but is often overlooked by many, is that literature actually provides meaning to our lives. Not the way it is generally taught though (I often believe that authors and poets who are no more, will be turning in their graves at the systematic, step by step murder of their work.) Literature brings us closest to the human heart, especially fiction. The Heart Quotient, where in everyday life, one will have to make decisions based on courage, justice, sadness and tears, anger, joy, compassion, love and many more values and emotions, all of which are found in literature.

Here is one for the teacher as well as the parent during and after the pandemic, that is, to read aloud with the curriculum. Catch the attention of the tweens and adolescents in subjects like science, history or geography by wrapping the facts and figures in fiction and interesting non-fiction, But, for that a teacher and parent needs to be a reader in order to pick the right books.

Above all parents and teachers, here is my clinching argument, ‘Reading is at the heart of education. Not being able to read and comprehend affects their entire academic report card and even their life!