The Magic of Reading Aloud

“My mum doesn’t read bedtime stories for me,” my child quipped in front of the whole congregation. I could have melted for embarrassment! You know how children are so generous with the truth; when you ask, be ready for anything. And she was telling the truth: I didn’t read bedtime stories for them. I wasn’t aware of the magic of reading aloud, and how it strengthens bonds and builds young brains.

I blame my culture, being of African descent and a Zimbabwean national. Growing up, our mothers didn’t have time to sit and read stories for us; they simply paid fees for you to go to school and learn how to do it there! It wasn’t in my nurture to read aloud, but for the sake of my children it has to now be in my nature.

We experienced the magic through story-telling though. I’m even nostalgic reliving the moments when our grandmothers told us stories; folklore they are called. That was the best part of the day, sitting by gogo (grandma) at night and listening to those enchanting stories. It didn’t matter if we’d heard the story a thousand times, we were still eager to hear it one more time. The stories were always accompanied by music, where gogo would lead and the rest of us would follow: a call-and-response form.

That kind of magic is the one we can bring to our children now by reading to them. In reading to them they learn to read too. Teaching someone to read is a mammoth task, hats off to all those who begin the process! Yet once one can read a whole world of information is at your fingertips.

I am still in the trenches with my own children in our home school. It hasn’t been easy but we are making strides. But how I wish I had known that reading aloud for them makes the road easier. In my ignorance I always thought the more they do it for themselves, the better they become at it.

Reading aloud to children has many benefits

1. Reading aloud to children enhances their vocabulary. It helps them sound out words that they would otherwise have shied away from because of their difficulty. Let’s be honest, English is not the easiest of languages to read because rules that apply on one word differ from the next word- tough, cough. I remember struggling with ‘abundant’ because I read it as a-byoo-ndant in my head, I had never heard it sounded out before then. Reading aloud also helps them learn how words are used properly in sentences or speech.
2. They are trained to focus: listening to a story requires the children to pay attention.
3. It enhances their imagination. They experience the magic of reading aloud here: going places they have never been before. It’s way much better than watching, because there is some brain exercises going on. Let’s be honest, you can conjure up a very funny image from just a description. And that’s what makes books fun.
4. You can bond as you discuss what’s happening in the story, and also get to hear what they feel about certain subjects. This helps improve their empathy. It’s also a good opportunity to guage their comprehension skills.
5. Bonding over books with children fosters a love for reading because of this positive association with you. They may not remember the actual texts read but they will never forget how the experience made them feel.

Tips to enhancing the magic

1. Be expressive. This brings a story to life. Changing voices and tones is so interesting, not only to children but also to grown ups (I was listening to an audiobook about Henry Kissinger’s biography and I enjoyed it immensely. The reader would imitate Henry’s voice). I remember enjoying a radio show long back where this guy read Shona novels, my native language. It was so captivating we never wanted to miss a show.
2. Use your finger to point where you are reading. This helps children read along with you. Avoid reading in a monotone, that way they learn what different punctuation marks do to a text.
3. You can read ‘real’ books. We have been wonderfully surprised to have the kids ask for more pages in a typically ‘grown-up’ book. If the subject is interesting enough, they do listen.
4. If you can come up with a melody/music where appropriate they won’t get enough of it!

Reading aloud has a magic pull for the whole family. There have been moments when we as parents laughed because we had encountered big words we couldn’t read or pronounce well. I still have words that I read better in my head, but we are all learning isn’t it😜? We will keep at it until it has become second nature for the kids to love books just as much as we do.