Between the Lines | Hong Kong kids can benefit from reading quality books
Age-appropriate original tales will help build children’s literacy skills
Numerous studies point to the same finding that children who love to read grow up to be more astute, aware, compassionate, resourceful and resilient than those who don’t read for pleasure. Parents and teachers should pause and give thought to what they want to accomplish in getting children to read.
Finding joy and comfort in reading is not the same as having aptitude for language and reading comprehension. Once we embrace the idea that the goal is to develop a child’s passion for reading, and that strong literacy skills are just a necessary by-product, then the path to achieve it will be clear.
Parents and teachers play important roles in children’s reading journey, by modelling the reading habit and providing easy access to quality children’s books.
Children whose book diet consists only of popular mass fiction may not develop the stamina, comprehension and concentration needed to tackle reading assignments in middle school and high school. A strong foundation laid with quality books during each stage of a child’s early years is needed in order for them to appreciate English literature studies, especially when it comes to reading genres outside their area of interest.
Literacy blooms wherever students have access to books they want to read, permission to choose their own, and time to get lost in them
Few children rush at the chance to read Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Don’t give seven- year-olds an abridged version of this masterpiece in dull prose. Instead, give them age-appropriate original tales for about a decade, to help build up their literacy skills. When they finally approach Macbeth at age 17, they will appreciate Shakespeare’s language and context, and reap so much more from the experience.