Our reading habit - our wealth thoughout our lives

We have at least 30 minutes reading time every night before the children go to bed. Many thanks to my colleague Annie, who reminded me that reading was very important 4 years ago. I have to salute to Annie again because she introduced Letterland to me.

When Tyler was just 2 years old, I was on maternity leave. I had no pressure from work so I could try to build our reading habit. I bought Letterland ABC which introduced the 26 alphabet letterlanders and the 5 vowel men. I read a page with Tyler each night to learn a Letterlander. Since the pictures of the book was colourful and attractive, he liked reading it very much. Not only keeping the reading habit, but also learning phonics at the same time. Tyler was able to read the letter sound of the 26 alphabets and the 5 long vowels in one month. (Different child has different progress. Faye's progress is okay while my Trevor boy still cannot read with me for more than 5 minutes up to now.)

We did not buy any children books during the past 4 years. There are only second hand books at home. The major reason is that I am a very mean woman. Besides, the quality of the cheaper Chinese books are not good at all. There are too many difficult characters in the books. 青田 series is quite good, but the illustration is not attractive at all. We don't like books from Taiwan, although their quality is quite high. We don't like reading the Taiwanese pinyin. Besides, the language used by Taiwanese are quite different from that by us. We gave up Chinese books at the very beginning (but it was wrong!)

Including my domestics helpers' one, we have 6 public library cards. We can borrow at most 36 books at a time. I do not do this very often since 36 books are very very heavy. I visit the library every Friday night. Before I go, I ask Tyler and Faye which books they want to keep at home. After considering their opinions, I return some books and borrow some new books. Each time I borrow 10 to 15 books. I choose 1 to 2 phonics books. I like SandCastle First Rhymes series (J428.3) and Ladybird Phonics (J421.5). The illustration of the former one is better while the story base of the latter one is more attractive. With the help of Letterland, they can blend* some simple words like yes, clap, cat, god, etc by themselves at the age of 3 to 4.

*To blend a word is to mix each of the letter sound, e.g. m-o-p into the sound 'mop'.

Besides phonics books, I also choose a lot of English picture story books like Usborne farmyard tales. Although Faye cannot blend and understand the meaning of the words, she enjoys reading the pictures and construct the story by herself. She enjoys reading in her own way. I don't care whether her story matches the book. I only want to build up her interest in reading books. I pick those books with attractive illustrations so that she can expose more to pretty drawings. Of course, if I have time, I must read to her.

In addition to story books, non-fictions are also very important for broadening their horizon. Some of my favourites are A day in the life of ... series and Interfact ladders. The content is simple and short. You will not feel thirsty after reading the whole book.

In choosing English books, don't be scared by the books with many words like Interfact ladders. If you read carefully, you will find that there are more than one font types. The largest fonts are for young readers. The smallest fonts are for proficiency readers. Each set of fonts tells full contents of each level. For example, there is only one simple sentence on the top each page of Usborne Farmyard tales. It is easy enough for yound children to understand.

I have been using the public library for over 4 years. To choose books for my kids, I will target at 3 to 4 shelves, glance the books and pick up those who are not so old, not so dirty, with pretty illustrations and suitable font and fontsize. If I have time, I will go through the story to filter those books with unsuitable contents.

There are always 36 library items (CDs and books) at home. I don't expect my children to read all the books. This is just like a small library at home. They can pick the books according to their interest. Now Tyler can read most English books by himself. He develops deep interest in reading, especially those about space and drawing. There are not enough suitable books in the library for him. Luckily, a friend recommend a site to me. We can order good quality English books on line at unbelievable low price. But the problem is that you have to have a UK mailing address. Take a look if you are interested.

After insisting the daily reading habit for 4 years, I am quite contented to see how they are fond of books. There are always book report forms at home. Sometimes, they will do book report. Tyler teaches Faye what to copy in different boxes.



Besides, receiving a certificate from the library every year is also an encouragement to me. I hope they will keep their own reading record when they are older. There will be many homework when Tyler promotes to P1. I hope he still can spare time to enjoy his reading other than our bedtime reading. I wish very much that Trevor will eventually love reading books (not playing with them!)