The importance of reading books
Children in Ireland spend an average of 5 hours & 40 minutes in school which is relatively low compared to schools in China (9 hours), Korea (8 hours) or France (8 hours). Primary school children in Ireland spend 1043 hours in an academic year which is also the lowest. Children in China spent double that amount of time at 2090 hours. Given that children spend more time at home than in schools, wonderful opportunities for mother or father tongues to flourish are created.
The skill of reading is so vital, especially in Mandarin Chinese as the name for people who can’t read is pretty awful – 文盲Wénmáng, directly translated as literacy blind, meaning illiterate.
Dublin School of Mandarin Chinese has a mini library (dsmc.libib.com) where parents and students are encouraged to browse online and borrow books to read at home. They can collect and exchange the book/s in class on Saturdays and obviously, this has not been happening this year as we were forced to have our classes virtually.
Dublin School of Mandarin Chinese has a mini library (dsmc.libib.com) where parents and students are encouraged to browse online and borrow books to read at home. They can collect and exchange the book/s in class on Saturdays and obviously, this has not been happening this year as we were forced to have our classes virtually.
Thanks to technology, immersive readers can ease that challenge.
In addition, technology has brought so many resources at our fingertips. Parents can cultivate “screen time” and turn it into the learning time. I love the online library that stores a huge number of e-books and animated books in Mandarin – 兒童文化館 children.moc.gov.tw.
I am sure there is something similar in your own language. YouTube is another good resource for spending time online in the target language.
In addition, technology has brought so many resources at our fingertips. Parents can cultivate “screen time” and turn it into the learning time. I love the online library that stores a huge number of e-books and animated books in Mandarin – 兒童文化館 children.moc.gov.tw.
I am sure there is something similar in your own language. YouTube is another good resource for spending time online in the target language.
Evan Furlong
Dublin School of Mandarin Chinese
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