How Can Something as Simple as Reading to a Child Can be So Effective?

Salam everyone. Today's sharing:

We read to children for all the same reasons we talk with children; to reassure, to entertain, to bond, to inform or explain, to arouse curiosity and to inspire. But in reading aloud, we also:

• Condition the child's brain to associate reading with pleasure
• Create background knowledge
• Build vocabulary
• Provide a reading role model

Let's look at how we create lifetime readers. There are two basics reading "facts of life" that are ignored in many education circles, yet without these two principles working in tandem, little else will work in education reform.

Reading Fact 1: Human Being Are Pleasure-Centered

Human will voluntarily do things, which brings them pleasure. Pleasure is like the glue that holds our attention - but only to what we like. Every time we read to a child, we're sending "pleasure" message (glue) to the child's brain. However, there're also the "unpleasures" associated with reading - boring, threatening and without meaning. If the child seldom experiences the "pleasures" of reading and meets only the "unpleasures", then the natural reaction will be withdrawal.


Reading Fact 2: Reading Is An Accrued Skill

Reading is like riding a bicycle, or driving a car; in order to get better at it you must do it. And the more you read, the better you get at it.

From: Jim Trelease, The Read-Aloud Handbook 5th. Edition