This is the most inspiring and interesting workshop I have ever attended. “Reading should be fun, learning should be fun.” By emphasizing having fun during the reading process, Julie’s way of teaching a young child is very different from what I experienced when I was a young child. 
“Astronaut! Chimpanzee!” If you live inHong Kong, you should be familiar with this kind of advertisement. While most of us think that young kids should learn as quickly as possible, Julie tells us “no”. We should not force knowledge or information on our kids or he/she will lose their interest and motivation to learn.
Julie tries to kindle a child’s interest in reading by telling stories out loud, engaging the child in conversation and playing games. You
can imagine that children learn a lot of things through this way, such as acquiring new vocabulary and story sense or comprehension. However, these are not the main reasons why Julie is such a proponent of reading aloud. The main reason Julie uses games and storytelling is because they are fun! This does not mean that Julie does not care about children’s intellectual growth, but rather she believes that once you have sparked the child’s interest and imagination, they will naturally become book lovers and be motivated to learn and read more by themselves.
I have received much positive feedback from parents who have attended Julie’s workshops so far. One of them said that Julie’s skills and philosophy really surprised her. After using them, her children are now enthusiastic towards reading and they start reading by themselves. Julie’s way of teaching is obviously better than the old way where we only taught by squeezing knowledge into a child’s head.
Jimmy Yim – Interns, Bring Me A Book Hong Kong
