The correct emotional disposition and good preparation will make reading aloud a wonderful experience that both children and us will enrich us greatly. We will now see some practical aspects about how to read aloud to children.
Enthusiasm in homework
When we go to read a story to a child It is convenient that we be familiar, previously, with the story and, of course, that we liked what we have read.
On the one hand, we will avoid dislikes by having chosen a book that is not suitable for the tastes or maturation of our son and, on the other, we can better perform the task of reading aloud. It is imperative that we are excited what we are going to read to you.
At the beginning of the reading we must stop to study and be aware of our body posture, our look and expression, our visual contact with the child and the way in which we have the body directed towards him, so that we transmit closeness, presence open to him and a feeling of relaxation.
And, when we start reading we must listen to us and also make us aware of the rhythm, tone and cadence of our words. We are going to do something important and it is worth doing well.
There is no single way to read a story well, each person will do it differently, but if there are general guidelines that we should all follow: expressiveness, good diction and emotion.
Reading aloud
Our voice is music in our children's ears when we read them a story aloud. The voice and the pauses and the emphasis that we put will form a melody that, especially with the little ones, will be indissolubly identified with the story, so much so that it is convenient to follow the same melodic patterns in each rereading.
If we highlight the melodic line of reading, the child will remember his own words and history better, even enjoying those same tones and rhythms will be part of the pleasure when we read it again.
Actually reading a story out loud is an artistic representation and both voice and body expression are part of the show. Taking care of these aspects we can make the story much more entertaining than if we read linearly or inexpressively.
The look
A story reads with the look as much as with the eyes and we must take advantage of the pauses to maintain eye contact with the child, transmitting how much we enjoy the activity.
But we must also use the eyes as the most expressive part of our body and our face. With our eyes we will transmit the emotions that are part of the story: surprise, fear, joy, doubt, adventure ...
The voice
Of course we have to use the voice to convey the emotions and situations of the book, but it is not necessary to fall into histrionics either. You have to mark every aspect of the story and modulate it with emotions, making reading more attractive.
An accurate advice, do not use your voice with an excessively childish or paternalistic tone. The child listens to us and we know how to read, but he is not stupid, he is our audience.
With the voice we also narrate. When the environment is silent, like when children walk through a forest, we will whisper. When a danger approaches, we will use a resounding tone and when the protagonists face the uncertainty, we will also slowly mark the meaning of the phrase. It is not necessary to be a great actor, just let the author guide us with the plot itself and the text.
Each character deserves a voice of its own, but not ridiculously. An ogre, an elf, a good fairy, the evil stepmother, the cheerful girl, the brave little tailor ... each one will have a different tone and, in this way, the story becomes a theater and the child will enjoy it very much, learning to identify to each character perfectly.
I have to tell you that this topic, as I go deeper, seems increasingly interesting to me. I am not finished, tomorrow we will talk about general aspects of reading aloud and what it will bring to our children that we get used to read them out loud.
