How to make children enjoy reading has always been a topic of conversation among parents. Matsui Nao, who enjoys the reputation of "the father of Japanese picture books", believes that to make children like books, it is not by words or pictures, but by ears.
Language is a family's most valuable asset. Parents personally tell stories to their children, which can bring a unique experience to their children. Because language has feelings and temperature, the most important and precious thing in the family is the rich language communication between husband and wife and parents.
Valuing your child's happy feelings about picture books //
Picture books have no "use" for young children, not to learn things, but to feel happy.
Picture books are not textbooks, let alone encyclopedias, they should be the source of happiness for children.
Reading is not practice, but enjoyment. Especially when children are young, adults should spend more time to let them read happily.
Picture books are books that adults read to children //
The content of a picture book can constantly inspire dialogue. Reading picture books to children is the best way to communicate between parents and children, and it is also one of the best ways for parents and children to talk.
Even if the child can already read on his own, the adult still has to read to him continuously, which has a non-negligible effect on the child's growth.
Parents take 10 to 15 minutes every day and choose vivid and interesting picture books to read to their children, and the children will be happy and satisfied.
Questions in reading are not meant to "test"//
Picture book reading is enough. However, many parents feel that they do not ask their children a little question and will worry about the effect of reading.
In fact, combined with the child's staged mastery of the question words, you can also give parents some small suggestions:
3-year-olds are basically able to answer questions such as "who, what, what place". Therefore, when we ask questions, we can ask questions from the elements of the story, such as after reading "The Runaway Rabbit", we can ask the child, "Whose story is told in this book?" What did the bunny do? Where is he going? And for some of the details inside, such as what the child has become, there is no need to ask him to recall it in order.
4-year-olds can basically understand concepts such as "when, how" and other concepts that indicate the state of time and things, and can also add some such questions when asking questions. For example, when reading "Guess How Much I Love You", ask the child: "When did the little rabbit talk to the big rabbit?" (Children will also have such a life experience, when they go to bed, they don't want to go to bed like this, but like their parents can talk to themselves for a day and read a story.) What did the little bunny and the big bunny do?
By the age of 5, most children will be able to answer the "why" question. Why did Mom always say," "David, no," why Did Little Mouse not want the little vest worn by the other little animals at first; why did Grandpa return to little Aspen's house after he became a ghost? Under the appropriate guidance of parents, children may have unexpected answers.
But remember, ask questions to enjoy the story deeply, not to embarrass the child.
Language, body, and emotion connect when reading//
Communication can be verbal, it can be emotional, or just physically moving.
Verbal communication, even without too much dialogue, when the father (mother) or deep or gentle voice, carrying the wonderful meaning conveyed by the text symbols, enters the child's ears and brain, let the child harvest, in addition to the understanding of the content, there are also parent-child feelings.
Physical communication is also necessary. For example, children lean on their mother's shoulders; sit in their mother's arms like wallabies; lean side by side at the head of the bed, heads gathered together, and enjoy pictures and paragraphs of text together. Unfortunately, such a scene occurs more between mother and child.
One father said that whenever time permitted, he would read to his son who was in kindergarten every night before going to bed, and he would hold his child's hand when he went to school. I listened to this, and I measured the boy's mood, and I thought that the boy would be very, very happy, and I am afraid that he would never forget the picture books that his father read to him, and he would never forget the father who held his hand every night to read to him and the warmth of the big hand.
Picture books are more lifelike in the relationship between such people. Picture books are more valuable as a link between people.
When children grow up, they will gain the great significance of reading //
The words of the picture book have been carefully selected and arranged, and the words are full of emotions and rational understanding of artists and writers.
Parents use their own mouths to say these words to their children sentence by sentence, just like sowing the seeds of language one by one. When a seed takes root in a child's heart, an inseparable intimacy is established between parents and children.
What really binds parents and children closely is not a hukou or birth certificate, but a gentle, humane language. Reading to the children is like traveling hand in hand with the children to the story country and sharing the same happy time full of warm language.
Even after decades, we still cherish these precious experiences and wonderful memories in our own way. When the children grew up, I really understood the significance of the stories I told so many stories in my own voice and my own language.
I also found that by reading these books, I had finished what a father wanted to say to his children when they were young.
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The article is excerpted from the Chinese translation of the author's "My Picture Book Theory"
Slightly abridged
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Nao Matsui
Matsui is an influential master of picture book theory in the world, a member of the Japan Publishing Society, a director of the Japan International Children's Council (JBBY), a reviewer of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, Cultural and Asian Cultural Center, and the vice president of the China-Japan Children's Literature and Art Exchange Center. In 1963, he won the "Sankei Children's Publishing Culture Award" for the monthly picture book magazine "Friends of Children", in 1965 he won the "Sankei Children's Publishing Culture Award" for the picture book "Momotaro", in 1993 he won the "Mobil Children's Culture Award", and in 1996 he was commended by the Japan Children's Writers association and was awarded the title of "Meritorious Person of Children's Culture".
Nao Matsui is the author of many picture books, such as "My Picture Book Theory", "The Seed of Happiness", "The Eye of Looking at Picture Books", "The Picture Book Era", "Walking in the Forest of Picture Books", "Momotaro", "Carpenter and Ghost Six", "Signal Light Blinking Eyes" and many other picture books. His understanding, practice and dissemination of picture books has influenced generations and continues to this day.