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Yesterday I gave a lecture to all the teachers. The topic was identical to the title of this blog post. In fact what caused me to select this topic was being moved by an introduction to a book that I read. it said:

You probably have unlimited riches

A chest full of treasure and a cupboard full of gold

But you can never compare to the riches that I possess

Because I had a mother who read me books

You probably already know which book this is.  It was published many times, translated into many languages, sold in the millions. Yes, it is the world famous, enduring classic The Read Aloud Handbook. For a long time, I have been aware of the highly celebrated nature of this book. However, I didn’t read it with real attention until a little while ago. Immediately after reading it, I had a multitude of feelings and decided that I should share these straight away with all the teachers so that they could learn about this rich friend of literature.

‘阅读 (to read)’. Everyone is very familiar with this word. When you hear it, you think it is simple but it is not necessarily the case that everyone fully understands it. This is especially true when it comes to children who are at one of life’s most important stages. As a teacher or parent, how can we bring our children to love reading? If every teacher could answer this question, then perhaps the number people who love to read both in the city and countryside could multiply the education level of our public so that it would reach a new level.

The crux of the issue is: We teach children ‘how’ to read but we forgot to teach them to ‘want’ to read! This is a fact we have no choice but to acknowledge.

The Read Aloud Handbook provides a solution on its front cover: Read aloud to children! You cannot look lightly upon this simple sentence. Not just in the rural areas but also in the cities, there are few parents and teachers who read aloud to their children. This is because they aren’t consciously aware of the importance of reading aloud. Below is some general analysis I have done of the book’s content on the importance of  reading aloud.

The most important point: Reading aloud can link reading with fun in the child’s mind. This can increase their interest in reading. In fact, not only children, but also adults enjoy listening to stories. If children see adults grab a book and consistently tell interesting stories from it, they will think that reading can create very interesting occasions.

Creating “background knowledge”: Having background knowledge means that if I come across something I’ve heard of before but don’t fully understand it, I have a starting point from which to do further research. Background knowledge makes it unlikely that I will come across something for which I have no context to guess at its meaning.  For children this is very important in several aspects, such as broadening their knowledge base, improving learning ability and building self confidence. Below are two points that the book mentions:

* Children that often listen to adults reading books posses an abundance in sounds, words, sentences and living experience. Therefore, it will be a piece of cake when it comes to reading books themselves.

* The less we understand the theme of a book, the slower we read, and the less we will understand.

Build vocabulary: The language we use in everyday conversation is very limited and does not have an abundance of fine vocabulary. Nor does it have complete sentence structures or style like in the ebb and flow of a plot etc. This, since every book has many words, how can we not give them to our children to listen to? All aspects of children’s reading and writing ability can improve greatly because of this.

Become a model for reading: Teachers and parents often become role models for children who unconsciously mimic them. Thus, reading to children is a great way to be a good example to them. Furthermore, if relatives read together, this is a way that different generations can enhance their emotional bonds and engage in thriving discussions in their free time.

The important content in the book is a lot more extensive that this. For example, it says that the material most important for reading aloud are novels. There are also essential strategies for reading aloud. My general description really does not count for much. I only hope to encourage all parents and teachers to see our existing problem. If we hope that every child can have a lifetime of learning then it would not do any harm to buy The Read Aloud Handbook and have a look at the vast number of statistics and cases that can point us on a very clear path.