The importance of Story

So the other day my friend confided in me that she really dislikes reading outloud. I mean alot of people have that fear but she is insecure about her english skills. She immigrated here from the UAE when she was ten and her language skills are probably better than mine, but i dont think that she knows this. Anyway she used to hate reading all together, and i tried to help her a few times. As i did, and as she got the words one by one, i felt really excited for her. I tried to share with her some of the tricks my teachers taught me. Every one i know knows my love for books. And i have always been above my level when it comes to my reading skills but even i get scared. Even i have to pause sometimes when pronouncing a word i have never seen before, and there are alot of those words. So i tried to soothe her worries by explaining my own set backs. For instance when i was younger i could never get the difference between "their" and "there." why are they seperate spellings instead of a seperate words altogether! i never got that. My grade 2 teacher, who was an amazing teacher by the way showed me a little trick im sure everyone knows by now " There" is the reponse you give when you ask "Where?" so "where is everyone?" " Over there" the only difference in those two words is the T. So then by process of elimination you know when to use the other version.

Or when you pronouce a word with a vowel at the end of it "the vowel at the end of a word makes the vowel before it long" i gave her these little hints and tricks and you know what, when she got it i was so excited for her. I began to think... i would love to be an english teacher.

I think that books are just so important that i honestly believe everyone should read, and really understand what it is they are reading instead of concentrating so much on saying the words right. The only way to do that is to gain confidence in your reading skills through practice, after that you can concentrate on the story itself. I mean stories are what make us. You know all those movies you watch, all the songs you listen to, or the T.V. shows you cant go without, are all based on a story!? for instance: Girl meets man of her dreams, finally gets everything she wants. This storyline has been redone so many times its ridiculous, and it came from fables, from stories, from tales that people spoke out loud then felt the need to put into writting because of their importance. Each story has a lesson, they've been used for centuries to teach lessons to the next generation. Now we look back into these storie to get a sense of a time that we no longer live in. A generation we would never have gotten to know otherwise. The way people lived, what they said, how they were treated, what they precieved as good or bad. We learn from books! and when i hear people say that they dont read i cant understand why not!

I mean the day and the life of high society is now in our reality shows, or Gossip Girl for instance, you think its the first time thats been done! umm Jane Austin!! she had social commentaries gallore based on the life of high society in England. Without these old story lines we wouldnt have these shows, or these movies. The storylines you cant get enough of are all at the library i can assure you. and people just dont read them. most of the time i do think its because they are uncomfortable with it. They have not been taught how exciting it is to get lost in anothers reality. I dont think they have been taught really how to read. its been a bore to them, almost like something that they have to do instead of what they want to do. I dont think that they are at all comfortable with their own skills, and their imaginations have been somewhat taken away by the media. Why read the "Vampire Diaries" when you can watch the show. My question is why watch the show and only get to see the characters as the director does, instead of reading the book. Your imagination may be so much better then that of the director or the actors protraying each scene.

I think i would love to teach english. Of course my grammer would have to improve quiet a bit before i could, it still sucks pretty bad as it always has but if i could instill the importance of literature into maybe 1 kid a year.... wow... what a feeling that would be. I bet my grade 2 teacher felt the same way because after all of those little tricks she taught me, my reading skills when from a Grade 2 level to a Grade 4 level. Just because she instilled a bit of confidence in me, and a bit of excitement in the whole process of picking a book and getting to know the characters. I remember we used to have these little reading breaks. We would go into the library and pick whatever book we wanted, then we had to find the most comfortable spot in the library to us. We would be aloud to read for a while, probably about an hour. Then we went back to class, but we didnt have to tell her what we read or why, just: what book did you chose? what do you think about it? now i dont know if that was the way to do it or not but it worked for me. Who doesnt love to give their commentary about a book? good or bad? She used to do the same thing with Aart, i remember we would have these little art sessions, we could draw and paint whatever we wanted never had to explain ourselves, and she would play the beetles in the background because it was her fav. band. Im horrible at Art, like really really bad, but after that i wanted to be a freakin artist lol. i loved it, because we were given this creative freedom. In art and reading and writing, we were always given that freedom to just create and enjoy, and i mean i never saw the importance of that but now, with all these kids hating English i cant help but think that they all need a little bit of that time. To understand the importance of it, and maybe just to be given the freedom to enjoy it instead of always being concerned with character sketches and reading aloud, and book reports. All of that is important too, but i think that they all do need that hour or so to just enjoy it.

anywho, those are my thoughts for the day on that!