Fifteen minutes per day of reading
to your child will increase your child’s vocabulary and oral language, help
with your child’s ability to think critically, and lead to your child’s success
in school, according to the Ministry of Education, Training and Employment’s
literacy coordinator, Anne Briggs.
And, in preparation for primary
school Reading Week from 16-19 November, on Grand Cayman, your children can be
read to for free.
George Town Library, in
collaboration with Rotary Central, offers free Saturday story time for children
of all ages. The programme has been
running since May.
“These have been favourably
received, and children visiting the library each week with their parents
participate,” said Juliet Lawson, acting director of Cayman Islands Public
Library Services.
“Reading aloud is one of the most
fundamental ways to promote literacy in children,” she says. “Research shows that the more children are
read to, the more they are stimulated to master reading themselves.”
Reading aloud also stimulates
creativity in young minds and is a great way for children and parents to bond,
according to Ms Lawson.
The library also offers a range of
services to children in the early childhood and primary school age range.
“Weekly visits are made to
preschools and primary schools whereby library personnel read stories to
children to foster healthy reading habits,” she said. “We believe that developing this habit from
an early age is critical survival skills in an information driven community.”
Books and Books at Camana Bay runs
a similar free children story time and sing-along on Wednesdays that caters to
children under five years-old. On
Saturdays, Books and Books runs a story and craft time for older children.
Books and Books events and
marketing coordinator Bianca Freeland says the events have been well-attended,
with more than 100 people showing up each Wednesday.
“It’s important to start young and
get kids interested in books,” she said.
“We hope to foster that interest here at the book store.”
Mrs. Briggs says that reading aloud
has immediate benefits for children.
“It helps develop their capacity to
listen attentively and sustain attention.
It increases vocabulary,” she said.
“Students who come from homes where parents read aloud and talk to them
daily have greater vocabularies than students in homes where this does not
occur.”
She says that it’s not the
difference of a few words, but of millions of words.
“Reading aloud helps to create the
strong foundation upon which all other learning takes place,” she said.
And it’s not just mothers and women
that should read to kids.
“The main difference between having
only females read to male children is that they begin to identify reading as a
feminine past time, not something that boys do for fun,” she says. “Many teachers are also female, so likelihood
of a male reading role model at school is slim.”
Mrs. Briggs says that the types of
books that attract boys are also different.
Boys prefer nonfiction versus informational texts, while girls are more
likely to enjoy narrative texts. She
recommends Captain Underpants for boys.
The Ministry of Education, Training
and Employment is looking forward to November’s Reading Week, an opportunity to
further inform the public about reading.
Related Videos
