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The Lost Pleasure of Reading Aloud

spectator.co.uk

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Re: The Lost Pleasure of Reading Aloud

#31

Post by clord »

Just finished reading the hobbit and lord of the rings to my 7 year old. I absolutely loved it, and he's a full blown Tolkien nut now. Previously we read through Harry Potter.

By the end I noticed I have really developed a voice. He has developed a richer vocabulary (dad what is "clemency") and is better at reading between the lines. Certainly enjoyable and educational for everyone. Looking forward to the next series we read and will miss this when he starts reading this stuff on his own. Was thinking of volenteeering at an old folks home.

Re: The Lost Pleasure of Reading Aloud

#32

Post by roceasta »

ashark wrote: post #23
petercooper wrote: post #13

I love reading, but since having kids (I'd never had to read aloud before) have discovered I find the sensations around reading aloud to be extremely unpleasant. Anything that rhymes/has a sing-song meter is OK.. but I find normal prose gruelling and can't wait for it to be over. It feels like a sort of claustrophobia, but trapped by the slowness rather than physically. I often end up paraphrasing or dropping unneces…

The fun for me's in getting all the intonation and emphasis just right. You don't have to "do the voices" or anything over the top, but just try to read it how a good narrator might. Try reading them adult books (if you're not already—and especially classics, they tend to have really nice prose that you want to run your eyes over several times just for the sensation, anyway) or classics of children's literature (e.g.…

>intonation and emphasis just right.

Yes. The emphasis carries a lot of information in addition to the simple text. I find it hard to do when reading aloud from a book I haven't myself read before. In fact I think it's one reason I tend to pick my personal childhood favourites to read.

Perhaps this is lazy. I wonder if other parents do the same?

Re: The Lost Pleasure of Reading Aloud

#34

Post by ashark »

roceasta wrote: post #32
ashark wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fun for me's in getting all the intonation and emphasis just right. You don't have to "do the voices" or anything over the top, but just try to read it how a good narrator might. Try reading them adult books (if you're not already—and especially classics, they tend to have really nice prose that you want to run your eyes over several times just for the sensation, anyway) or classics of children's literature (e.g.…

>intonation and emphasis just right. Yes. The emphasis carries a lot of information in addition to the simple text. I find it hard to do when reading aloud from a book I haven't myself read before. In fact I think it's one reason I tend to pick my personal childhood favourites to read. Perhaps this is lazy. I wonder if other parents do the same?

It's a skill you get better at. Correctly guessing most of the time, looking a little ahead when you can, that kind of thing. Like sight reading music, really. Combination of well-trained intuition that mostly gets things right and sneaking a peak at the next few notes or bars when you have the opportunity. Definitely works some different mental muscles than silent reading.

[EDIT] I've read my kids a couple old favorites, though not ones I've read recently. In part I've used them as an excuse to get through entries my personal to-read list, in fact. Multitasking! Especially when they're really young, they don't know the difference. My 4-year-old's super into Ovid right now, which is awesome. Have to skip the too-sexy or ultra-violent (or, uh, both) bits, but it's working alright.

Re: The Lost Pleasure of Reading Aloud

#35

Post by SubiculumCode »

petercooper wrote: post #13

I love reading, but since having kids (I'd never had to read aloud before) have discovered I find the sensations around reading aloud to be extremely unpleasant. Anything that rhymes/has a sing-song meter is OK.. but I find normal prose gruelling and can't wait for it to be over. It feels like a sort of claustrophobia, but trapped by the slowness rather than physically. I often end up paraphrasing or dropping unneces…

Well put it this way, if authors read out loud what they wrote more frequently, they'd probably better streamline their prose.

Re: The Lost Pleasure of Reading Aloud

#36

Post by komali2 »

jmcgough wrote: post #29
komali2 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Snow Crash is amazing, this is a fantastic idea. Do you get into it with character voices? I feel like I could up my D&D DM exposition skills with this :P

Yes! I used to do stage productions in school, so I love getting really into the characters and giving them unique voices.

Same! If you're into it I highly recommend trying out a tabletop RP game, I recently discovered how much of a blast they can be. Tickles my acting tooth :)

Re: The Lost Pleasure of Reading Aloud

#37

Post by j_s »

Just wanted to say I really appreciate all the personal anecdotes people are sharing; the personal stories aren't often shared in this quantity in one discussion here and doing so somehow changes the entire experience in a very positive way. Up-votes all around!

Re: The Lost Pleasure of Reading Aloud

#38

Post by mbroncano »

Although still a WIP, I found out that reading to my (mostly bilingual) kids in the non-dominant language is helping them mastering those subtle cues that previously gave them away as non-native speakers. A lot of those issues are pretty difficult to identify upfront e.g. homophones and reading aloud makes them evident to them. Correct entonation and cadence come along naturally now too.

Re: The Lost Pleasure of Reading Aloud

#39

Post by a_e_k »

ashark wrote: post #23
petercooper wrote: post #13

I love reading, but since having kids (I'd never had to read aloud before) have discovered I find the sensations around reading aloud to be extremely unpleasant. Anything that rhymes/has a sing-song meter is OK.. but I find normal prose gruelling and can't wait for it to be over. It feels like a sort of claustrophobia, but trapped by the slowness rather than physically. I often end up paraphrasing or dropping unneces…

The fun for me's in getting all the intonation and emphasis just right. You don't have to "do the voices" or anything over the top, but just try to read it how a good narrator might. Try reading them adult books (if you're not already—and especially classics, they tend to have really nice prose that you want to run your eyes over several times just for the sensation, anyway) or classics of children's literature (e.g.…

Probably my favorite to read out loud that way is A Christmas Carol. Dickens originally wanted to be an actor, found fame as a writer instead, and brought the two passions together by ging public performances reading/reciting his stories. You can really tell that A Christmas Carol was meant to be read out with a bit of zest.

Re: The Lost Pleasure of Reading Aloud

#40

Post by ben_straub »

We've been reading aloud to our kids for _years_ now, and it's a great way to all share an imaginary world together. A great resource we found is the Read Aloud Handbook [1], which includes an enormous list of great books, and the appropriate age at which to first encounter them.

Also, since my son had an extended stay in another state, we recorded ourselves reading books aloud to his sister, packaged them into audiobooks, and put them on his iPod. This really helped us feel connected as a family. I wrote a blog post about how to do it [2].

[1]: http://www.trelease-on-reading.com [2]: https://ben.straub.cc/2017/05/12/audiobooks/

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