Reading Tips 4 Parents

Encourage your children to read! Building strong reading skills and an interest in reading is one of the most important things parents can do for their child's academic development.

There are many ways to help children develop an interest in reading:

Let the child choose a book to read. Fiction is fine, but non-fiction titles – biographies, science, and history – are also great topics.

Show that you like to read. Set aside some time each week to read a book of your choice.

Read a story to your child. Try reading a chapter each night at bedtime for a great evening routine.

Visit your public library. It's the world's best summer entertainment deal!

Let your child build his own library by setting a shelf aside for his or her "special" books.

Do you have a reluctant reader? These strategies can help:

Look at a book before your child starts reading it. Guess what might happen and who the characters might be. When the child finishes the book, let him or her tell you whether your predictions were accurate.

Build your child's vocabulary. Introduce new words each day and use them!

Music and rhymes help young children develop strong reading skills, especially when reading aloud.

Encourage reading with a reading chart using stickers or other indicators of your child's progress. Remember, too, that there is no substitute for praising success at reading.

SECTION 3. LITERATURE

Task 1

1.1. Read the article, learn the literary terms.

Forms ot literature

The novel is a long work of fiction that tells about events in the lives of real or imaginary people. Most novels reflect the author’s outlook on life. There are many kinds of novels, dealing with a great variety of subjects. For example, Eleanor H.Porter’s sentimental novel ‘Pollyanna’ describes the adventures of a young girl who always sees the good side of life. James Joyce’s psychological novel ‘Finnegans Wake’ explores the dream world of an Irish innkeeper. A novel is a modern version of earlier forms of literature. Many of its features come from the epic, a serious narrative poem about a heroic figure. Others stem from the medieval romance, an adventure story of kings and knights. The novel also grew out of the character of the 1600’s, which portrayed familiar types of people.

The short story is a short work of action that usually centers around a single incident. Because of its shorter length, the characters and situations are fewer and less complicated than those of a novel. A short story may range in length from a short-short story of 1,000 to 1,500 words to a novelette, or short novel, of 12,000 to 30,000 words. The short story has many qualities of the ballad, a story in verse form. It is also related to the folk tale, a story handed down by word of mouth from generation to generation. Many characteristics of the short story come from earlier literary forms that tried to teach a lesson. These forms include the fable, a story^: about animals, and the parable, a story with a religious lesson.

Drama is a story written to be presented by actors on a stage. It usually includes stage directions describing the appearances and actions of the characters. A drama takes the form of dialogue, or conversation, between two or more persons. The two major forms of drama are tragedy and comedy.

A tragedy is a serious drama that ends in disaster. Aristotle laid down the basic principles of tragedy in his ‘Poetics’. He wrote that the purpose of tragedy was to make the audience feel “pity and fear” for the character. The hero of any ancient Greek tragedy was a great person who suffered because of a tragic flaw, or error in judgment. The meaning of tragedy was later extended and included the story of any person who faces misfortune. A comedy is a light, amusing drama with a happy ending. The characters in a comedy entertain rather than disturb the audience by their actions. Comedy includes many forms. Low comedy uses noisy, boisterous action and ridiculous situations. High comedy gets its humor from clever, witty dialogue. Satire pokes fun at the foolish things that people say and do. A comedy of manners ridicules the social habits of a period. A tragicomedy tells about a serious situation that ends happily.

Poetry usually has meter and rhyme. Poets use meter when they arrange words in a pattern with a definite rhythm. They use rhyme when they repeat sounds within lines or at the ends of lines. A poem that does not have a regular metrical pattern or rhyme scheme is written in free verse. There are three main types of poetry: lyric, narrative, and dramatic. Lyric poems are short and songlike. They emphasize the thoughts and feelings of the poet or speaker. A lyric poem may be discussed in terms of either its subject matter or its form. When we call a poem an elegy, a lament for the dead, we are discussing subject matter. When we say that a poem is a sonnet which is a 14-line poem with a definite rhyme scheme, we are discussing form.

Narrative poems tell a story. An epic (heroic poem) describes the actions of a majestic hero, such as the Trojan warrior Aeneas. A ballad (short story in verse) has a more commonplace tone.

Dramatic poems, like dramas, tell their stories through the speech of the characters. A poem with only one speaker is called a dramatic monologue. A closet drama is a play in a verse form written to be read but not staged.

Nonfiction includes most of the writing we read in newspapers, magazines, and textbooks. Some nonfiction stands out as creative and imaginative literature.

The essay is the broadest form of nonfiction. It allows an author to record thoughts about any subject. Informal or personal essays reflect the author’s personality. The essay, or articles, present their material in a more direct and impersonal way.

History records the life of a people, a country, an institution, or a historic period. A biography describes the life of a person. It is the most popular form of nonfiction today. An autobiography is a person’s own account of his or her life. A diary is autobiography written from day to day how the events in a person’s life occur.

1.2. Fill in the appropriate word in the passages below.

Biographies, fantasy books, easy to read books, characters, historical fiction books, realistic fiction books, plot, picture books, nonfiction books, folktales, point of view, fables, detective stories, theme, fairy tales, myths, poetry, manuals, fiction, setting, main character, portrait.

Types of Books

1. _______________ are stories written around one or two themes with the illustrations being an integral part of the book.

2. _______________ are fiction stories that are written at a level for beginners.

3. _______________ are a type of fiction that contain elements such as characters or settings that could not exist in life as we know it today. Examples include characters such as dragons or animals with human characteristics. Settings might be magical or other-world.

4. ______________ are those that give a historically accurate portrayal of life during a particular time in history. They have a strong sense of place and time. This type of book has a call number of “F” and is located alphabetically by author’s name within the fiction section.

5. ______________ are stories that involve a suspenseful event (often a crime of some type). The reader uses clues from the story and gradually discovers who has committed the crime to solve the mystery by the end of the story.

6. _______________ are those set in present-day. Characters encounter modern day difficulties and dilemmas.

7. ___________ includes mysteries, adventure stories, humorous stories, and much more.

8. _______________ are informational books written by credible authors.

9. ____________ explain how things work, tell facts about many different topics, and show us how to do various things.

10. ______________ are stories that have been passed down to us over the years by real people. There are many types of folktales, including fables, tall tales, myths, and fairy tales.

11. ___________ are brief stories that teach a lesson or moral. The characters are usually animals, but they are given human characteristics. An example of a fable is “The Fox and the Grapes”.

12. _____________ usually have magical elements with characters that could be fairies, giants, or elves. Many times magical deeds are performed.

13. ____________ are stories that serve to explain some phenomenon of nature. Many incorporate gods and goddesses within the story.

14. ____________ books are those that include verses or poems.

15. ____________ are histories of a person’s life or parts of his/her life.

Date: 2015-02-03; view: 1295