Vocal heroes: how children of all ages benefit from being read to
Reading aloud to older children allows them to experience what fluent reading sounds like, and they carry that fluidity into their own reading
I recently read an article about a woman whose marriage improved after her husband read aloud to her while she was sick in bed. Everyone loves being read to, no matter one’s age.
Hong Kong has an emerging read-aloud culture. In the beginning, parents and teachers only read to children who were learning to read, to help them sound out words and decipher new vocabulary. There wasn’t much reading aloud to children in the early and toddler years, and even less reading aloud to children who had already learnt to read on their own.
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In the past decade, through the efforts of both government and non-governmental organisations in Hong Kong, parents and teachers have embraced the ideal of reading aloud from birth. This ideal is so important that the American Academy of Pediatrics has issued a policy stating the three essential things that every baby needs: to be vaccinated, to be breastfed, and to be read aloud to.
In order to further develop a strong culture of reading aloud, parents in Hong Kong need to continue reading aloud to children who can easily read by themselves. Modelling best practices is the greatest benefit of reading aloud to “big kids”. When you read, you allow your child to experience what fluent reading sounds like, with different voices, changes in speed and emphasis on certain words. In time, he will carry that kind of fluidity with him to his own reading, whether silently or aloud. When you pause to consider certain plot developments, dialogue or descriptions, you are highlighting the parts of the story that require examination or contemplation. You are modelling reading comprehension.
