The Benefits Of Reading Out Loud

Hello

In this featured article I`m sharing my views on reading out loud.

I remember my teacher reading stories out loud to my class in Junior School before home time and I loved our reading hour with her. She used to add funny voices for all the characters and lean in and whisper to add tension and she would always ask us what we thought would happen next, firing our imaginations. She was one of my stand-out teachers. She read many books to us and each time it seemed the next story was even more magical than the last.

As a mother, educator and published author, I look back and believe my inspiration came from lessons like these.

If you as a parent or teacher can get your children or your pupils to concentrate on the spoken word being read you can be assured that you are impacting positively on intellectual development, concentration skills and firing their imagination.

From about the age of ten upwards most of our reading is silent and private, but to have books read to you aloud as a child is a great stimulant for the imagination and it is imagination which fires children s creative writing, confidence and motivation. It is this which encourages them to try something new, to ask questions and to share their ideas openly.

As a teacher I encourage my pupils to read their work out loud whether that is their own story or a reading comprehension they are working on in their lesson with me. Children love to read out loud it supports their reading flow and they are more likely to ask questions about new words than if they are reading to themselves in silence.

A shared experience where you can feel the shape of the language, its rhythms, the richness of words, the sounds they make, the effect the right word has in the right place, is priceless and will encourage children to think about their own writing and the way they express their ideas.

Here s a list of my favourite books to read out loud or together with your child:

The Story of Doctor Doolittle Hugh Lofting

A Bear Called Paddington Michael Bond

The World of Pooh A.A. Milne

Anne of Green Gables L.M. Montgomery

Heidi Johanna Spyri

Little Women Louisa M. Alcott

The Famous Five Enid Blyton

The Butterfly Lion Michael Morpurgo

James and the Giant Peach Roald Dahl

Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator Roald Dahl

Harry Potter and The Philosopher s Stone J.K. Rowling

The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe C.S. Lewis

The Wind in the Willows Kenneth Grahame

The Railway Children E. Nesbit

The Stone Managerie Anne Fine

Mrs Pepperpot in the Magic Wood (and all the other stories in the series) Alf Proysen

The Secret Garden Frances Hodgeson Burnett

I feel passionately about reading out loud to and with the children I have contact with and for them to be read aloud to by you is also extremely beneficial. So happy reading.