Reading books is still a unique experience for children

by Rochelle (M.I.S. School)

"The more you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go." – Dr. Seuss, "I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!"

In a society where technology and gadgets are everywhere we look, the highly-anticipated release of the latest I-pad, the latest computer console taking center stage at home, or the strike of 'furby fever' sweeping across our children like an epidemic, we can easily get swept up by technology and forget the importance, value and sheer enjoyment we can give our children from simply giving the gift of reading books. Benefits of reading start at a young age and can start even before the child enters education. Toddlers and preschool children will have a higher aptitude for learning if they enjoy books and have had that 'book time' or 'story time' which will fuel their eagerness for them in the future. Studies have shown that students who are exposed to reading before preschool are more likely to do well in all facets of formal education. After all, if a student struggles to put together words and sentences, how can they be expected to grasp the math, science, and social concepts they will be presented with when it comes to school? Reading offers a productive approach to improving vocabulary and word power. It is advisable to indulge in at least half an hour of reading a day to keep abreast of the various styles of writing and new vocabulary so children should be encouraged to swallow up and ingest as many books and literacy they can from an early age! As a preschool teacher you can begin to see patterns in the children who enjoy books and have this important story time at home. Children who start reading from an early age are observed to have good language skills, and they grasp the variances in phonics much better. The habit of reading also helps readers to decipher new words and phrases that they come across in everyday conversations. From working in an international school I can see on a daily basis that this is very evident and for topics that in some ways seem thousands of miles away from our students, things that seem simple such as describing the seasons; how do we teach a student that lives in Thailand where hot, wet and hot and wet seem to be merged into one long season. In order to teach the beautiful changes of spring, the excitement of summer, a beautiful autumn day and a winter that is both freezing and cosy, we as teachers and parents alike can use the brilliance of books to paint these pictures and instill these images in a child's mind. This is just one tiny example in a vast amount of information in the education system that can be aided through the use of books. The oversight of the importance of reading would have a detrimental impact on a child's education and the power of reading should not be taken lightly. The advances of today's society and the growing of technology are fantastic in this day and age, but the importance of books in ours child's life is quite simply irreplaceable.