Sunday, October 25, 2009

Speed Reading - Where Do You Start?

By Gail Jones

No one honestly knows when speed reading was first used, but it may well have been a long while ago. For centuries, reading was the privilege of a small group of the most well-educated people in the world, the vast preponderance of whom were monks and priests. This tiny, exclusive group of men protected their privilege and were loathe to instruct the general populace to read. Furthermore, throughout those centuries there were relatively few books to read compared with today. Books were also very expensive as they all had to be written out by hand. Perhaps the only fact that has not altered is that the Bible was the most common book in existence and even now the Bible is the most prevalent book.

The world is quickly becoming a place where individuals are slowly but surely giving up on books and becoming fixed in front of monitors or television screens. In such a world, parents must not ignore the importance of developing a zeal for reading in themselves and their children. Reading is a habit that should be established when the child is fairly young, so what can you do to engender this habit?

Well, there are several strategies you can employ, although one of the best to lead by example. Read with your child every day, even if its only for 10-15 minutes. Permit your child to see you reading. By this I mean, don't only read in bed before you go to sleep, but instead of watching television sometimes and read your children a bed-time story. Encourage them to read too. You could also:

Register your child for reading classes, if you really don't have much time or your child is a little slow at reading. There are many well-structured after school reading classes that aim to make books more attractive to children. They help children with articulation, sayings and metaphors. These classes can be fun with animated characters and pictures, especially for young children,. They often make use of picture books, nursery rhymes, comical songs and short stories to fire up the imagination of younger children.

You will have to learn how to stimulate your child's interest. If your child has a preferred character, pick a series of books that feature this character. Try to encourage your children to read proper books not comics. The language in comics usually leaves a great deal to be desired with its sloppy English and street slang. Instead, go for series of books like Harry Potter or Tarzan.

You should build yourself a library of your own books. This may sound a little grand, but after all, a library is only a collection of books. Start with a good-looking bookshelf that you can easily add to. A skill like reading cannot be learned in only one place, so you cannot afford to leave all the hard work to the day-school or even the after school curricula. You have to pick up books that you believe your child will enjoy too. Make use of the Internet as a source for learning about the contemporary reading games that will attract little children to the fine and ancient art of reading,

When you child is engrossed in reading for its own sake, you might read up on speed reading. Speed reading is best suited for educational schoolwork and background reading. It's extremely suited to cramming or studying for examinations. It is perfect for school and university. However, the first task, before you can think about speed reading, is to get your child reading in the first place.

About the Author:

0 comments:

Post a Comment