Do you remember those cuddling moments at bed time, when you read a story to your child when s/he was too young to read, thus nurturing your love for of each other and for reading?
Research shows that reading aloud to children when they are teenagers is still extremely valuable. It:
- Helps children to become better readers
- Improves adult awareness of their responsibility as literacy role models
- Improves the quality of family life
During read-aloud, we share the excitement, the suspense, the emotion, and the sheer fun of a new book and its intriguing or annoying characters.
We will not take our teenager on our laps, but we can still find fun ways of reading aloud with them. Sharing an article, a poem, an encyclopaedia entry or a few paragraphs from a book with your family at lunch, in the car (can be audio books), to entertain him/her while s/he is doing the washing-up, when s/he is sick in bed, or anytime, and keep it a regular habit. Take turns. They can read things to you too.
Chose read-alouds that relate to a current issue, a recent discussion or topic of study, or that you particularly liked, to foster a love of literature. Try different things. The wider the variety of readings, the greater the chance to meet or provoke the teen’s interests. It will often be the start of great discussions…
More on http://www.rif.org/parents/tips/tip.mspx?View=12
Have fun!
Florence
PS. Teenagers like to read aloud to each other too: I often witness groups of students happily sharing stories.
PPS. At MAC, reading out loud and reading together in unison is a practice used by many teachers to assist with the comprehension and enjoyment of text.
I think reading aloud is magical and am always trying to find pretexts to do it with the crew – thanks for your advocacy of it!
C