Between The Lines: Vocal heroes: how children of all ages benefit from being read to
I recently read an article about a woman whose marriage improved after her husband read aloud to her while she was sick in bed. Everyone loves being read to, no matter one’s age. Hong Kong has an emerging read-aloud culture. In the beginning, parents and teachers only read to children who were learning to read, to help them sound out words and decipher new vocabulary. There wasn’t much reading aloud to children in the early and toddler years, and even less reading aloud to children who had already learnt to read on their own. In the past decade, through the efforts of both government and non-governmental organisations in Hong Kong, parents and teachers have embraced the ideal of reading aloud from birth. This ideal is so important that the American Academy of Pediatrics has issued a policy stating the three essential things that every baby needs: to be vaccinated, to be breastfed, and to be read aloud to. In order to further develop a strong culture of reading aloud, parents in Hong Kong need to continue reading aloud to children who can easily read by themselves. Modelling best practices is the greatest ben
Between The Lines: If ever there was a classic children’s book, Alice in Wonderland is it
This year is the 150th anniversary of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. You need not have read the book to recognise the iconic images of a spunky girl in a blue dress, a peculiar rabbit with a pocket watch, the Mad Hatter and the Queen of Hearts. The story includes a number of unforgettable quotes that are nonsensical and sometimes profoundly philosophical: “I give myself good advice, but I seldom follow it”, “I can’t go back to yesterday because I was a different person then”, and the infamous “Off with their heads!” The origin story is as well known as the fantastical tale itself. The author spent a summer with the Liddell family and told stories to the three daughters on a river outing. Alice, one of the daughters, enjoyed the story so much that she asked Carroll to write it down for her. He worked on the manuscript over the course of the next couple of years. When it was published in 1865 with illustrations by Sir John Tenniel, Alice became an instant sensation. The equally successful sequel, Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, was published in 1872. To commemorate this annive
POPA CHANNEL: 菜姨姨專訪 – 如何訓練小朋友耐性及專注力
菜姨姨接受POPA Channel專訪，與家長們分享為何由零歲開始親子共讀，能有效練小朋友耐性及專注力！ 訪問共分為以下6節： 1. 如何培養小朋友對閱讀的興趣？ 2. 家長應以什麼態度去實行親子共讀呢？ 3. 小朋友成日聽故事聽到一半就走咗去，如何訓練小朋友耐性及專注力？ 4. 當小朋友已經對書本有興趣，如何引導佢哋由伴讀到可以獨自閱讀？ 5. 如何為小朋友選舉適合嘅讀物呢？ 6. 部分童書情節中有好多不當行為，例如「講大話」、欺凌行為等等，家長應該點樣處 理？
Between The Lines: ‘Benign neglect’: giving kids the scope to learn, make mistakes and grow
“Benign neglect” is the phrase that best describes my parents’ approach to parenting in the 1970s. What today might be called “free-range parenting” or actual neglect, back then was just childhood. I grew up in a rural part of the American state of Pennsylvania; our home bordered a cornfield and a nature preserve with a creek running through it. My sister and I were friends with two girls who lived beyond the woods on one side and another girl across a barely paved street that we were free to cross on our own from an early age. In fact, the five of us were free to do just about anything we liked. We could wander the woods, play in the creek, build forts in the goat shed, watch as much television as we liked and eat anything we could scrounge for ourselves from the kitchen. I never wore shoes and my feet were as tough as leather from walking barefoot down our gravel driveway all summer. I was dirty, dishevelled and, being the oldest, blamed by the other girls’ parents for corrupting the language of their children. We spent days writing elaborate plays, producing gymnastics shows, attempting to make a whirlpool in th
Between The Lines: Hong Kong kids can benefit from reading quality books
Numerous studies point to the same finding that children who love to read grow up to be more astute, aware, compassionate, resourceful and resilient than those who don’t read for pleasure. Parents and teachers should pause and give thought to what they want to accomplish in getting children to read. Finding joy and comfort in reading is not the same as having aptitude for language and reading comprehension. Once we embrace the idea that the goal is to develop a child’s passion for reading, and that strong literacy skills are just a necessary by-product, then the path to achieve it will be clear. Parents and teachers play important roles in children’s reading journey, by modelling the reading habit and providing easy access to quality children’s books. Children whose book diet consists only of popular mass fiction may not develop the stamina, comprehension and concentration needed to tackle reading assignments in middle school and high school. A strong foundation laid with quality books during each stage of a child’s early years is needed in order for them to appreciate English literature studies, especially when it
Between The Lines: Religion in Hong Kong schools: teach it, don’t preach it
Schools should not promote religion, but they should teach it. Understanding history is impossible without an understanding of the religious traditions that helped shape the world. From a purely secular standpoint, even atheists should know and understand what they choose not to believe in. Schools have very different approaches to the question of religious education. In my experience, Hong Kong International School does a relatively good job at weaving religious education into the curriculum. As part of its mission statement HKIS states that it is, “an American-style education grounded in the Christian faith and respecting the spiritual lives of all”. At HKIS, Christianity is taught at all levels and is an integral part of the ethos of the school, but it is not expected that all students will practise Christianity. In the elementary years, HKIS students are taught a basic understanding of world religions with cultural and traditional experiences, both in the classroom and through field trip visits around Hong Kong to mosques, synagogues, temples and other places of worship where children are encouraged to a
Hit children’s author Jon Klassen tells Hongkongers how to write for kids
South China Morning Post – Tuesday, 17 November, 2015 By Kavita Daswani ([email protected]) Jon Klassen was chugging along comfortably as an illustrator for other people’s books – including Caroline Stutson’s award-winning 2010 title Cats’ Night Out – and working as an animator on films such as Coraline. But when he elected to write and illustrate his own books a few years ago, Klassen never anticipated the response: I Want My Hat Back (2011) andThis Is Not My Hat (2012)both sat on the New York Times Bestseller list for more than 40 weeks. Between them, the books have won a host of accolades, sold more than a million copies and have been translated into 22 languages. All for a couple of deceptively simple stories about creatures, and a hat. “I had no idea that these books would do what they did,” Klassen says from Los Angeles. “You don’t know how it’s going to go over.” I like talking about the construction of both books, what the tricks are, the moments where everything clicked. JON KLASSEN He is preparing to give a talk in Hong Kong on Thursday on the creative process in writing children’s picture books. That’s
Between The Lines: Let children play musical instruments, their way
If your evening routine includes arguments, incentives and timers in order to cajole your children to practise an instrument, you might want to rethink your approach. While creating music should be a joyful lifelong experience, the path towards mastery of an instrument can be tempestuous if the motivation is wrong. Music, like competitive sports, Advanced Placement (AP) classes and volunteering has become another near chimera in the desperate sprint towards collage acceptance. For some, music is a ticket to college. But for the vast majority, music practice ranks near the top of the list of topics that induce day-to-day stress in busy households. The path to musical literacy for the majority is strewn with abandoned instruments. Despite having grown up with music teacher parents, I never learned to play an instrument. I was determined the same would not happen to my own children, so I signed them up for traditional music lessons from the time they were small. In my home I have two violins, a trombone and a piano; all abandoned by my children. Perhaps it’s my own lack of resolve in encouraging them to stick wi
Between The Lines: How high-quality picture books can encourage kids to read more
High-quality children’s picture books are the building blocks to a lifelong love of reading. When I disparage commercial products in book form that are based on cartoon characters, my friends protest, insisting their children love storybook versions of their favourite animated TV series. I counter that recognising and enjoying stories about familiar television characters is not the same as filling one’s mind with the artful words and drawings of quality picture books. The difference is that children who are fed a diet of Peppa Pig and Henry Hugglemonster may one day no longer want reading time when they outgrow these characters. What will keep children wanting to read more are stories that evoke emotions ranging from sheer joy to profound sadness, from belly-aching laughter to fear. Max, the boy with the furry wolf suit in Where the Wild Things Are, may be just as recognisable as any cartoon character, but this picture book will be etched in the memories of every child who has come across it because of Maurice Sendak’s choice narrative, flawless wording and visceral illustrations. When children ar
Between The Lines: Reading from the same page
Many will be surprised to learn that Hong Kong has the world’s lowest rate of family literacy – a term used to describe parents (or extended family members and other adults) and children learning together. Just 12 per cent of children in Hong Kong have that experience compared to an international average of 37 per cent, according to the 2011 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study, a survey that tracks fourth-graders’ reading habits at home and at school. The report also found that although Hong Kong children ranked first in a reading test, they were lowest in interest, confidence and motivation. To highlight the importance of family literacy, two charities, HandsOn Hong Kong and Bring Me A Book Hong Kong, are rallying schools, clubs and other organisations in the city to take part in an international attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the highest number of children read to by an adult in 24 hours. The Read Across the Globe initiative is gathering community volunteers to read Farmer Will Allen and the Growing Table, a book by Jacqueline Briggs Martin, to groups of children age