Podcasts: A free resource for listening to good children stories

With the advent of podcast, its ever-growing popularity and usage, an abundance of shows about children books is available on the internet. A podcast is an audio show, usually spread across a series of episodes, available on internet, which can be accessed on phone or computer. Podcast can be a perfect way to strengthen your love of literature. Listen to good children literature with your child. It gives an opportunity to listen to a book by a skilled narrator who can bring out emotions and humour of the book. Listening to a book can help your child learn correct pronunciations, punctuations and new words while enjoying listening to a good story. Some podcast shows not only read aloud books to you but discuss the books and talk to authors also.

Reading aloud to older children

I thought that perhaps reading aloud to tweens/teens was too juvenile a practice, but a little research revealed the opposite.

Jim Trelease is an educator and author who stresses reading aloud to children to instil in them the love for literature.

Per him, reading aloud to your child is like an advertisement for reading. When you read aloud, you are creating a child’s interest in reading. A child who has been read to, will want to learn to read herself. She will want to do what she sees her parent doing. But if a child never sees anyone pick up a book, she is not going to have that desire.

Reading aloud to older children-even up to age 14, who can comfortably read to themselves- has benefits both academic and emotional, says Jim Trelease.

People often say,” My child is in fourth grade and she already knows how to read, why should I read to her?”

The reply is, “Your child may be reading on a fourth-grade level, but what level is she listening at?”

Per Jim, a fourth grader can enjoy a more complicated plot than she can read herself, and reading aloud is going to hook her. Children have no problem with comprehension when they are using their listening skills.

Five eternal TV characters from our childhood that will make a good read aloud to our kids

With the nationwide transmission of Doordarshan in early 1980s, came these characters into our lives and became inseparable part of our childhood memories.

These are characters from books written by renowned authors like R.K. Narayan, Rudyard Kipling, Devaki Nandan Khatri, Enid Blyton etc.

Read these books with your children. Not only will this give you an opportunity to relive your childhood but to introduce your children to classic literature, to great Indian and English writers and to some strong positive inspiration.

1.       Our beloved ‘Swami’ from Malgudi days:

Malgudi days, based on R.K. Narayan’s book of the same name, presents an imaginary city of Malgudi in full colour, revealing the essence of India and of human experience. The author in his book captures the readers’ heart with 32 short stories and each story portraying a facet of life in Malgudi.