IPES FA- PROFESORADO DE INGLÈS

PPDD: EJE DEL SISTEMA ESCRITO II

PROF: MARIANA LUCÌA AZCURRA
SEGUNDO EXAMEN PARCIAL 2022
ESTUDIANTE: Pal Priscila Maitén.

Why we should read to children

I recall the first time I decided to purchase a book. I was 16 and had a voracious desire
to explore those hidden worlds inside covers. The purpose of this essay is not to discuss
the book I decided to buy, nor to reveal whether or not I enjoyed reading it, but to focus
on the push that induced me to carry out this small act (to buy myself a book),
triggering a search for self-knowledge through the richness that literature provides, and,
perhaps more importantly, to reflect on the essential labor of teachers who serve as vital
connectors with these worlds.
I was in my third year of high school when I first enjoyed reading in school. It wasn't
our reading; rather, the teacher read us a story every week while we were studying Latin
American literature. Some of the stories I enjoyed listening to the most, not only
because of the authors' style and imagination, which kept us all in suspense and
motionless until the end, several of them tragic or impenetrable, were: "the night face
up," "axolotl," "circular ruins," "continuity of the parks," and "don't blame anyone." I
couldn't say for certain, but I genuinely think this opened a door for me that can’t be
close anymore.
I would like to emphasize the significance of this act, when someone reads to us.
Human beings love to be told stories; long before there were books; tribes gather in a
large circle with a central fire; and this ancient social practice has evolved to the present
day. Even today, people all over the world enjoy being told a story. What better starting
point for relating to reading than being enchanted by stories? This is what my teacher
began to do. One story per week. No comments after, no homework. Just read.
As a matter of fact, context is critical in childhood; the stimulus that encourages
children to read often begins at home, but that stimulus is not always present. I never
saw my father reading a book, not even a brochure, or an instruction guide. My mother
only read the Bible and studied theology for a few years, but she never read a book of
literature that was not related to religion. Perhaps you can label me as prejudiced, but
the point is not to expose this with a negative connotation; rather, I try to reflect on the
stimuli at a young age, or the luck of it, and the importance of someone teaching you
and reading you as a way of invitation to read as well. The fact is that my parents never
read me a naptime book or shared a book with me as just another topic of conversation
because reading, and reading for pleasure, was not part of their reality, either mine. It
was out of my reality until I was nearly an adult. If it hadn't been for the teacher,
especially her, who read us a story a week, I can't say it sternly, but I think it's very
likely that things wouldn't have changed too much for me.
When you are a child you cannot imagine the magnitude, perhaps even the greatness, of
this social activity. It might seem that reading to children is more of a pastime or
bedtime necessity than fundamental learning. However, there is much more [to reading]
than just convincing children to go to sleep. Reading can be mutually beneficial and
productive, without mentioning the incredible benefits that this activity could bring to
the relationship. Spending time reading with kids can evoke the intimacy that allows
them to trust and listen to what you say.
As a result, teachers bear a great deal of responsibility and they must be aware of the
various realities that collide in a classroom. To be able to detect when there are no signs
of this activity in the family nucleus and to create a bond between children and
preliteracy. Sometimes teachers are the ones who connect the reading and install it as a
necessity in children's context, through tasks and jobs that involve the adults to read
with them.
If we only have a teacher as a reading facilitator, who will share their knowledge with
children, the choice of the selected material must be an important point to discuss.
Taking into account several factors such as age, social characteristics of the
environment and moreover, how accessible or inaccessible is this material for those
children. The reading act and process does not finish when you end the story. Reading
should encourage children not only to read, but to discuss, imagine, tell and retell
stories. To explore their areas of agreement and disagreement with the material. To go
on their own ways and find their own interest, and read.
We can all agree that one of the roles of teachers is to contribute to children's
independence. When you are a teacher you do not need to have a vocation, but you have
to be passionate and you need a vast knowledge of your discipline, in order to enrich
teaching. The more prepared and aware teachers are of their work, the more motivation
to read students will acquire. It is necessary to consider the needs and expectations of
the students or if it is simply mandatory to teach literature. Although that it is true that
teachers can influence in the taste for reading and the books that we are going to want to
read, it is important to accompany, guide or recommend, without imposing, which can
be very difficult for the teachers who sometimes must separate themself taste and think
objectively about the needs of their students which I mentioned.
One of the priorities not only as teachers, but as an educational community is to
determine the aim of teaching literature and reading to our students. The Org: Children's
Bureau, is committed to teaching at an early age for the development of independence.
An investigation that this organization made warns about the most notable benefits of
reading to children, including: Supported cognitive development, improved language
skills, preparation for academic success, developing a special link with your child,
increased concentration and discipline, improved imagination and creativity and
cultivate lifelong love of reading.
Thus, next to the emotional aspects of reading to children, there are so many
other benefits that I would like to add to the first list, the emerge of the ability to think
and understand; it is the construction of thought process, including remembering,
problem-solving and decision-making, from childhood through adolescence to
adulthood. Reading is one the most important life skills for children to learn. Not only
because we assert that it is vital for future academic and general life success, it is also
something that can be super enjoyable.
At this point it is clear that teachers play a central role when we talk about promoting
reading. It also seems like a kind of lottery when and where you are when you are a
child, and especially those who will be in charge of teaching you. Figuratively speaking,
teachers could be the main characters in our stories or just pass by. To think today about
what actions promoted or induced me to decide for myself to buy a book, is to observe
again, but under a different specula that recreates the path or paths, with my own
decisions and other decisions too, and also an infinity of personal and external
conditions, which resulted in a desire to want to read. As if this were not enough,
reading discipline, not only driven by obligation but also by motivation, must invite and
involucrate us to read to children.
Founds:
http://www.all4kids.org Children’s Bureau Org.
http://www.booktrust.org.uk Getting children reading.
http://www.insights.gostudents.org Go students.

To improve:
• Discourse organization: The idea and structure of the essay is clear. I
think you should focus on edit and polish certain passages which can be
confusing. In the intro, try to talk about your essay without sounding too formal:
“I don’t intend to write about…” instead of “the aim of this essay”, for example,
keeps a more steady register.
• Grammar and punctuation: Check a few things: tenses, subordinate
clauses that are standing on their own, collocations, parallel structures (when
you enumerate, everything you mention must be the same structure, like all
words, or all to-infinitives, etc.) and punctuation (especially commas).