Books, “…a real teacher loves books.”
..A belief of Vasily Sukhomlinsky.
And I do. Books have been my constant friend since I was about 16 years old. I wish I had developed the love of reading before that age but alas, I came to love it later in life—at least compared to my younger sister. She started very young and hasn’t stopped. She is constantly learning and making connections. I always feel one step behind her knowledge; but luckily, she is very generous with her mind.
The video above is a story written by Sukhomlinsky. He wrote many simple stories he shared with his students and then encouraged them to make their own, which they did in abundance. There are many examples of children in his school creating stories, poems and songs and writing and illustrating them.
“If the child has not been taught to love books from childhood, if reading has not become something the child will need to do for the rest of its life, the years of adolescence will be empty, and badness will appear as if from nowhere.” My Heart I Give to Children, p 317
Books should never be presented to children as something laborious or negative. They should never be used to brow beat or cajole a child into learning. They should never be forced to sit and listen to or read a book. Books are indeed a window to the world of knowledge and children should always be allowed to choose what they read and how many times they read it. Reading can be learned as a by product of living. Letters and therefore words are important to the child as they interact with the world. They will see in this way that reading is imperative to satiating their need to know as much as possible.
“I did not think about the scientific base of our creativity, but it is precisely the creativity of children which assists educational work and studies, all of which is far from that which may, to some extent, replace the tried and true methods of teaching reading and writing. This creativity was born among the fields and meadows, in the shade of the oak grove, at summer sunrises and winter twilights.” My Heart I Give to Children, p. 122
He goes on to explain:
“This conclusion is as follows: the earlier the child begins to read, the more naturally reading is connected with its entire inner live, the more complicated are the thinking processes which go on during reading, and the more reading gives to intellectual development. The child that begins to read before it is seven has gained a very valuable skill: its visual and mental perceptions of words and parts of sentences go beyond mere pronunciation of sounds. When reading, the child is not chained to the word. It can divert its gaze from the book and think through the meaning of the sounds. In such a fashion, the child reads, thinks, and imagines simultaneously.” My Heart I Give to Children, p. 135-36
Of course, it’s possible your child won’t learn to read in this first year of school, but my aim is to introduce them to letters in a natural way; a way that will solidify their understanding of how reading English works and have a desire to take it further.