Friday, November 16, 2012

For Nov. 2nd. and Nov. 16 Reading Aloud to/with Kids

We saw three videos today about reading with kids. What were your thoughts? Anything and everything is ok!

13 comments:

  1. Before watching three videos I read the article "Start Reading To Kids Early".
    I absolutely agree with it. The earlier the better, I think.
    Reading develops human's mind.
    A friend of mine entered university at the age of 14 (comparing to 17~18, which is normal age for entering universities in Russia.)
    That friend finished his compulsory education very early, because he had wide knowledge and was ahead of everyone in the class.
    In the university he did very well too, he could easily memorize a lot of new information, and he was good at studying foreign languages.
    I started wondering, what was the secret.
    One day I met his mother (I had a part-time job in a day-care center for children, and apparently his mother worked in that center.)
    His mother is a neuropsychologist.
    So I asked her, whether she did anything special educating her kids. (she has two sons, and both of them are very clever and quick at learning.)
    She told me, that she started reading books to her sons when they were three months old, and she read to them every day. (!)
    It is very important that children hear new words and sounds, see mother's (father's) lips moving and their facial expressions.
    It helps to develop child's mind, cognitive abilities.
    I also found out that her sons started speaking much earlier than other kids, and when her sons spoke, they produced not a single word, but a word combination of several words. (like "mama, for a walk, park" - grammatically incorrect, but understandable.)

    So I wholly support the idea of reading to kids early.

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    1. I think reading early is great. However, there are so many different kinds of kids with so many different abilities which develop at a variety of times. Each child is unique and will react differently to stimulation.

      I will discuss learning to read (in English) next week and also talk about dyslexia, a concept that is just beginning to be known in Japan.

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  2.   By watching videos, I can understand the importance of tone, volume, etc. of voice and communication with children while reading to improve children’s language skills.
      However, I think reading for kids is not only for developing children’s language skills, but also for developing their sensitivity and kindness. And maybe it is more important.
    By picture books, children can feel empathy with characters. That promotes the growth of their imagination which helps children to understand other people's feeling. Also they also learn right and wrong from the books. So children who grew up with good picture books can’t be spiteful.
    And also we should choose books carefully from the viewpoint of its message is really good for children or not.

    Also watching the video of a mother and her child, I felt reading to kids gives them a confidence that they are loved by their parents. It makes them strong in mental, I think.
    The experience of the reading time with parents and worlds in picture books help children when they meet any difficulty.

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  3. As I watched the vodeos, I recalled my personal memory about reading aloud.
    When I was a elementary school student, I liked to reading picture books to
    my younger brother. It was very fun for me to change the tones of voice
    in order to fit the characters. However, he didn't (and doesn't!) like books very much, so sometimes he was interested in my reading, and sometimes he was tired of it.
    From watching the videos, I understand rythm,rymthe and speed are important. Moreover, the best thing I learned from the videos is that patience is one of the most important things for us to read aloud to little children.
    It is true that reading aloud to children develop their skill of reading.
    However I think it is important to enjoy reading with children instead of
    intence to educate children.
    Now my brother get older, of course, but I got want to read aloud to
    little children. Maybe I can read to my father's friend's children next
    time :)

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  4. When I was child, my mother read books to me. She read to me with intonation, I enjoyed it. I loved a book "Kokkosan no Tamago"!!lol

    The three videos said that such for rythem , speed and tone are important. I think so because reading books for children is making their imagination. By reading books with a intonation it is easy for children to imagine scenes.

    I think that a technic is important of couese, however, the most important thing is to entertain them. By enjoyng reading books, they like reading. It is important for their future.

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  5. When I was a child,my parents would read books to me every nights.I especially liked tales of old Japan.I think they read while they were conscious of rhythm and volume.So I liked listening the stories and I would imagine the continuation of stories.
    In class,when Ms.Rebecca read aloud,she is conscious of volume, rhythm,rhyme,tone,I think.So we can imagine scenes easily,enjoy reading!
    Like these and videos,volume,rhythm,rhyme,tone are very important when we read to and with children.By doing so,children can enjoy reading and understand the content of stories more.
    Now I have no younger brother and sister.So if I will have a baby in the future,I want to read aloud as I will be conscious of these points.
    And according to the article "Start Reading To Kids Early",the earlier children start reading,the better.I agree with it because I think reading books give children a lot of knowledge and lead to the growth of feeling.That is why it is effective to start reading earlier,I think.

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  6. When I watched the 3 videos, I remembered what my mother showed me before.
    In my childhood, I went to a volunteer reading club once a week. We could borrow some books and listen to adults who read aloud to us there. Actually my mother was member of such adults and taught me the rules which they should keep in mind. One of them is not to read aloud emotionally. It might sound strange, but she explained me that reading aloud without emotion might let children use their imagination in their own way. I think it is true in some way, but I agree with the 3 videos which I watched in the class. If we read aloud to children without emotion, to attract and make children concentrate on the stories will be harder than reading aloud with emotion. On the other hand, reading aloud with emotion perhaps doesn’t allow children to use their imagination because they already are showed interpretations of the stories.
    Anyway, to be read aloud is interesting for children. If we want to add something educational to that, we will have to devise something, such as asking questions, how to read aloud, etc.

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    1. Wow! That is fascinating! In a way, I can understand that it might be true...that we shouldn't force children to feel one way or another. Still, that takes away so much of the pleasure. Perhaps this is just a cultural difference?

      How do you feel about it?

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  7. Reading aloud develops children’s basic skills to live in society. The 3 videos clearly show the importance of reading to children. I think parents who have babies should watch these videos. I was impressed by the father in the video who listened to children’s comments. Children spoke freely, but he listened to them seriously. This attitude of parents will make children imaginative.

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  8. When I watched 3 videos and read "Start Reading To Kids Early ", I noticed various abilities are vital for a "good" reader,
    including not only reading skill but also torelance or sympathy with child's world.Especially, I think sympaty is the most important. The reason is that readers (generally older than child) sympathizeing with children world can grow children sympathizing with adults' world or sharing their world with others.At first, such communication might be done at emotional level (non-verval one). But gradually it would become verbal or cognitive one, stated in Theory of Mind. Anyway reading to chirdlen is much more profound than I thought.

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  9. I thought that there are many ways to share books with children. The comment about reading with less emotion was interesting because in Japan, trying to be expressive is
    good because we are not good at expressing ourselves freely. But it is also true that we have the culture of reading between the lines.

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  10. I found a interesting picture book which is now the top sales in amazon's picture book category, the title is ”JIGOKU.” This book describes the life in hell after the death. It contains so many grotesque pictures, so leaves some children traumas. But it tells children the importance of life and moral.
    It should be read by parents because when children got shocked or got it wrong from this book, parents should support the children and tell them what this book want to tell them. And this book is useful for children to tell what is right and wrong so that people who can’t understand what is right and wrong are decreasing in Japan.

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  11. My parents read picture books every night. I remembered that. Actually, children like rhythm and sound. So it's very effective! And not only children but also we can enjoy reading books! Especially, I loved reading aloud, so I want to sympathetic with children. It is easy to learn new words and understand means of sentences.

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