I loved the part of a school day when the teacher asked us to 'just read quietly', either while she did some marking or went out of the classroom for something.
It happened frequently at junior school, sadly not so often at secondary school, although I lived for our twice weekly double period of English literature and language. Even then I could lose myself in the reading. The reading out loud for the class, taking it in turns to read paragraphs was not fun. It broke the stories up too much and made remembering them more difficult as I got nervous when it was almost my turn, purely because of the anticipation of jumping in at the right time . I prayed for short paragraphs and easy to pronounce words ... and rarely got them.
These days of course I can read as much or as little as I want, indoors or outdoors, and indoors is always preferable on a hot day. I don't have to read out loud for the benefit of anyone else, occasionally I'll read a poem out loud if I'm enjoying the flow of it, but with only Ginger listening in there's no worry if I stumble over a word. 😄
Sue xx
My need for books, once I had learned to read, was so great that I once stole a book (aged about 6) from infant's school as I wanted to read more. I think Mrs Williams noticed, but bless her, said nothing . . . I get so desperate to read if there is no distraction, even the back of a sauce bottle will suffice! I still need to learn as well, and that keeps my brain occupied when I don't have a book, thinking things through.
ReplyDeleteJust surfaced from a complete (28 book) series of whodunnit novels sent by a friend. Very kind of her, and good stories, but it's nice to be able to choose what I shall read next again.
"Reading Round the class" was just so annoying and so slow.
ReplyDeleteYou have a good memory, I can't remember much about reading at primary school at all except for being allowed onto the Schools Mobile library to choose some books when we were the oldest in class.
I absolutely hated the Reading Aloud lessons. If there is a way to kill a child's interest in a book, it is to get 27 children to each read a sentence in turn. I was a confident reader, but my heart ached for friends who stumbled with embarrassment as they encountered new words . I still recall my daughter being desperately upset because she had to read a passage including the word FUCHSIA. And her somewhat thoughtless teacher said "if you don't know a word, sound it out" I am so grateful that both my girls, and their children, all adore reading now
ReplyDeleteReading round the class was so boring. But a good way for the teacher at secondary school to assess our skill, I suppose. I do a reading at our church zoom service several times a month; I do check for difficult names and practise them out loud. On the day I find I've put so much effort into getting them right that I'll stumble over simple words in the next sentence!
ReplyDeleteI have loved reading since I was a small child, but dreaded reading aloud in class. Back then, I loved the Scholastic book company that would come a few times a year with fresh books we could buy. It was like Christmas! Now I work at the local library and am surrounded by books and I want to read all of them :) It will take me a lifetime.
ReplyDeleteI love to read too.
ReplyDeleteNot a bad life.
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