Partilho aqui parte de um documento que dá importantes indicações para se ser bem sucedido ao ler em voz alta um livro para crianças e fá-lo de um modo simples mas focando, na minha opinião, factores muito importantes a ter em conta antes, durante e depois da leitura em voz alta.
1. Selecting books to read aloud
Try and ensure that the stories and activities you have planned
are appropriate for the age group you will be reading to (for example, picture books with limited text are likely to appeal to children between four and seven, stories with short chapters to six to eight-year-olds, ‘choose your own adventure’ work with 9 to 11-year-olds).
The most important thing to remember is that enthusiasm counts for more than experience.
Make sure that the stories you choose are ones you yourself like and will enjoy reading.
Also be sure they are
good stories to read aloud.
It is essential to practise reading aloud any books you intend to use a few times in advance of the session. This will make your reading voice more confident and improve the children’s experience of being read to
try them out several times on your own first.
How do they read? Imagine the characters, their intonations and so on. If you feel you need to differentiate
between the voices of different characters, you need not change the accent or pitch of your voice, but instead might want to talk more hesitantly for a timid character, more confidently for a hero, and so on.
You could try to think about yourself telling a favourite anecdote to your friends, and apply that style to the
stories you’re reading.
Practising on friends, colleagues or younger relations will provide you with valuable feedback.
2. Once you start to gain your confidence in front of children, try a bit of dramatic acting.
If there is a scary moment, try gasping and looking frightened – childrenwill think it’s funny if you look more frightened than they are.
You could also use silly voices for different characters (kids will love it) or change the tone of your voice (shouting, whispering, singing) wherever relevant.
This really keeps the children’s attention and should be more fun for you!
3. As you practise reading, look for parts of the story that children can join in with, for example repetitive phrases such as “There’s a shark in the park!” or “I don’t like peas!”
Also, look out for themes you can ask questions about, for example “Who’s seen a shark?”, “What’s your favourite thing in the park?” and “What food
don’t you like?”
4. If you have a long story and some sections seem un necessary, it’s fine to skip them, but decide exactly what you’re missing out in advance.
Try and find stories that are no more than five or ten minutes long, to keep children’s attention. It is easier to read three stories of five minutes each than one of 15 minutes.
5. Make sure that there are as few as possible distractions around you: if inside, sit
in front of a wall rather than an interesting bookshelf or a window; if outside, find a spot on the grass away from fountains, picnic benches or similar if possible.
6. Place your chair on a level slightly above that of your audience and make eye contact with everyone.
You should be able to see all the children from where you are sitting or standing.
7. Move them around if necessary: ask the teachers if there are any particularly disruptive children, and sit them in the front row so you can keep an eye on them.
Paying them attention before you begin the story can help them to feel less like they need to compete with you for attention during it.
8. It is important to let children know whether and how they are expected to interact with your story.
Some storytellers like to have complete silence before they begin, so that the children are concentrating and focus
ed on the story and the person reading it.
For small children, you can encourage them to be quiet by using
imaginative props, for example a little bell can be effective. Say that beforeyou begin, you’d like everyone to be able to hear the story, so you’re going to try a “
quiet spell”.
Get children’s attention and cooperation by saying that everyone needs to concentrate for the magic to work, and once you have relative silence, ring the bell and begin the story.
Alternatively, if you prefer the children to feel relaxed, or you have a very quiet group, you can
begin the session by letting them make some noise!
This will help children to feel less shy and more confident about speaking up withquestions and comments later in the session.
A great opener is to introduceyourself by name, then ask the children to shout “Hello James!” (or whatever yourname is). Afterwards, tell them you think they can do better, and get them to tryagain, louder this time. If you’re feeling very brave, you could try telling them that you have incredible hearing, and that they should all shout their name at once.
Count them in: one…two… three…. and prepare to be deafened!
9. Generally speaking, the more interactive you make the session, the more children will enjoy it.
They will love being given the chance to speak out, and this will also help keep their attention focused. Be as expressive as possible –
if you’re having fun,the children will too!
10. Don’t feel that you have to stick purely to the text on each page.
Talk about the pictures, what they can see (take time to hold the book up for everyone to look), what they think is going to happen on the next page and so on before you read them the actual text. You’ll find this very easy once you get started.
11. Sound effects, actions and repetition
Farmyard or jungle stories are an obvious opportunity for sound effects – ask children to make the noises of each animal as they appear in the story.
Other good sound effects to demonstrate for children before asking them to help are the wind (whistling and blowing), somebody or something running (stamping of feet), sudden loud noises (hand clap or shout “bang!”), aliens (high-pitched beeps and gurgles) or cars (brrrm brrrm sounds).
Use your imagination or even any props you might havem available.
