Let's cultivate the reading habit
Andrew Scott
FIRST BOOK: For the very young children the parents should choose
the books and a child’s first books should be attractive and should
contain accurate descriptions with multi-coloured pictures
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READING: This is a very appropriate time for us to think about the
importance of the reading habit and how to foster it among both the
young and the old. Today reading is not a very popular choice as a
recreational activity for most children as well as adults as they prefer
to spend long hours watching TV programmes.
It is pathetic that most of them do not even care to discuss the
great joy that can be found between the covers of a good book. Therefore
it is very essential that particularly in our schools and in other
educational establishments such as the universities, the ever-rewarding
habit of reading be encouraged and nurtured.
The teaching of reading in schools should focus attention firstly on
the development of basic skills and especially vocabulary development
techniques should be emphasised. The most essential thing in promoting
the reading habit is to create a genuine interest in reading and how to
enjoy life through the act of reading.
Teaching children to read is not of much use unless the skill of
reading is to be used in their later life once they leave the portals of
their schools. Emphasis should also be laid on the use of reading in our
daily lives. It is only the young people who care to accept the joy and
value of habitual reading that carry on this noble habit of reading into
their adult life.
The home should necessarily be the origin of creating an interest in
reading and parents could do much to encourage their children to read
intelligently. Next the schools can do much to promote the reading
habit. An interest in reading cannot develop in a vacuum. It is always
founded on personal interests. A student who is interested in dogs would
always prefer to read a book on dogs.
Thus the first step in arousing an interest in reading is to
stimulate the child with life and the world around him. When we consider
this fact the home is a very important factor in creating an interest in
reading and it is in one's home that a positive attitude towards reading
can be created in the minds of children.
The parents of all children should provide a background for the
fostering of healthy reading habits among their children. An interest to
read should be as natural to a child as watching TV and to achieve this
a powerful home environment for reading has to be built up.
It is also essential that parents who are keen to foster the reading
habit among their children should themselves know at least something
about books and authors. For the very young children the parents should
choose the books and a child's first books should be attractive and
should contain accurate descriptions with multi-coloured pictures.
Later a broad variety of books are necessary to enhance the child's
horizons in reading. At the same time children must be taught to treat
books with care and respect. Of course, a child's fear of damaging books
should not be allowed to interfere with his desire to handle them and to
read them to get the maximum benefit.
When a child enters a school, teachers specially the language
teachers, should take the responsibility to evaluate the child's level
of interest in reading. During the school going days itself children
should be encouraged to build up a private library with one's favourite
books and periodicals.
The teachers' attitude is a very significant feature in improving a
student's love for reading. Wherever possible opportunities to read for
enjoyment in the classroom itself should be provided and a daily period
devoted entirely for reading will not be out of place in any school.
This would provide each pupil an excellent opportunity for exploiting
his needs to improve his reading skills.
While the taste for reading should be groomed from the very young
days reading for life plays an important part in the lives of everyone
of us.
Teaching children to read can be very challenging and activities
involved could be planning and implementing lessons. Designing and
preparing special reading materials, diagnosing reading problems and
providing remedies for them and the teacher himself could be a reading
model by reading aloud to the children and discussing about books with
them.
Today the country is flooded with an ocean of printed matter which
pour out of the world's presses and it is almost impossible to read
everything that is printed. Therefore, for efficient and useful reading
we must make a proper selection of the reading material at hand and one
must select the best from the point of view of individual tastes.
Good and great books which elevate our mental horizons should be read
patiently and discerning readers must always avoid trashy literature
like cheap novels which flood some of our bookshops.
It is also very important that people who are new to the world of
reading should seek some guidance in the selection of suitable reading
material and this can easily be done by going through book reviews
published in daily and weekly newspapers and in magazines. A
well-written review would always give a fair picture of the book under
review.
Different individuals will have widely different values in reading
the same book. However, taken as a whole, books offer amusement,
knowledge, inspiration, imagination or even escape. Those who expect to
get relaxation and amusement by reading books should always do their
reading in a relaxed mood and an atmosphere free of outside
disturbances.
Particularly those who seek knowledge from reading should read
carefully, taking down notes where necessary. These notes will come in
useful either immediately or even many years later.
It is saddening that today more and more people are reading less and
less good books as they are thoroughly contented by reading books of low
literary value such as cheap romances. This is particularly so with many
of our teenagers who should really be guided to become more discerning
readers and in reading too like in many other activities early habit
formation is of intrinsic value.
It is a very good habit to read the daily newspapers (at least one)
intelligently as they are daily digests that keep us informed of things
happening around us. The selection in reading is absolutely important
and readers must make up their minds to read material that will add to
their mental strength and well-being. Random and aimless reading will do
us more harm than good. |