My husband is very dramatic when reading out loud. When he was a child, his grandmother, who was a school teacher, used to read books out loud with him. They would take turns reading a page. I think that is where he learned to read the way he does. He doesn't see anything odd in it, and wonders why people are so surprised when they hear him. I used to feel like I needed to explain to people. I used to tell them that when he reads out loud in church, he doesn't read any differently than when he reads out loud at home.
When people first hear him they are surprised. One woman at church today came up and told us that today was the first time she had heard him read out loud, and that she kind of laughed a little because she had never heard anyone read that way before. But in truth, she admitted that she, (and most people do also admit) actually liked it. We tire of hearing people read in a monotone voice. My husband reads with such emphasis that the things he is reading actually make more sense. I think living with him has influenced the way I read out loud too. I'm not quite as dramatic as him, but I somehow feel more free to read the way I feel it should be said.
One woman we knew said, "I bet your children just love to hear him read and tell stories! I wish I could be a fly on your wall." It is true, my children do love to hear him read out loud and tell stories. So far none of them have picked up his dramatic tone, but I hope that in some way it has stimulated their brain to look at the printed word in a different way.
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2 comments:
"reading with feeling" is something that literacy teachers work with students on, it aids in fluency. I have seen reading specialists who have had students re-read sentences to get the pitch-variances into their delivery, and every elementary teacher at my college had to, as part of their methods courses, read a few books to their classes - two skills had to be demonstrated accurately to pass those assignments: first, reading upside down with the book in the lap while tracking the words with a finger for the class, and dramatic delivery.
your husband has it right.
Also, when I was working in remedial reading classes I heard that when parents read with children it dramatically increases the children's reading ability, and especially when it is a father, for some reason. I read with all my kids and they all were good readers and love to read.
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