Speed Reading - Where Do You Start?

By Gail Jones

No one really knows when speed reading was first used, but it might have been a long while ago. For centuries, reading was the privilege of a small group of the most highly-educated people in the world, the overwhelming majority of whom were monks and priests. This small, select group of men protected their privilege and were loathe to train the general populace to read. Moreover, all through those centuries there were relatively few books to read compared with nowadays. Books were also very costly as they all had to be written out by hand. Possibly the only fact that has not changed is that the Bible was the most common book in existence and even now the Bible is the most prevalent book.

The world is quickly becoming a place where people are slowly but surely turning their backs on books and becoming fixed in front of monitors or television screens. In such a world, parents must not ignore the importance of developing a zeal for reading in themselves and their children. Reading is a habit that should be established when the child is quite young, so what can you do to encourage this habit?

Well, there are a number of strategies you can employ, although one of the best to lead by example. Read with your child every day, even if its only for 10-15 minutes. Permit your child to see you reading. By this I mean, don't only read in bed before you go to sleep, but in place of watching television from time to time and read your children a bed-time story. Encourage them to read too. You could also:

Enroll your child for reading lessons, if you really don't have much time or your child is a little slow at reading. There are many well-structured after school reading classes that aim to make books more appealing to children. They help children with enunciation, idioms and metaphors. These lessons can be fun with animated characters and pictures, especially for young children,. They often make use of picture books, nursery rhymes, comical songs and short stories to enliven the imagination of younger children.

You will have to learn how to stimulate your child's interest. If your child has a preferred character, pick a series of books that feature this character. Try to encourage your children to read proper books not comics. The language in comics usually leaves a great deal to be desired with its slapdash English and street slang. Instead, go for series of books like Harry Potter or Tarzan.

You should build yourself a library of your own books. This may sound a little impressive, but after all, a library is only a collection of books. Begin with a good-looking bookshelf that you can easily build on. A talent like reading cannot be learned in only one place, so you cannot afford to leave all the hard work to the day-school or even the after school programs. You have to collect books that you think your child will like too. Use the Internet as a source for learning about the modern reading games that will attract little children to the excellent and ancient art of reading,

Once you child is engrossed in reading for its own sake, you might read up on speed reading. Speed reading is best suited for educational study and background reading. It's extremely suited to cramming or studying for examinations. It is ideal for school and university. Nevertheless, the first task, before you can think about speed reading, is to get your child reading in the first place.

About the Author:

0 comments:

Guides Complete