Essay

Learning to read

By Kip A. Cates

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My son just graduated from university in Canada. Like me, he's an avid bookworm who loves English books. He grew up in rural Japan, though, immersed in Japanese. Helping him to become an English reader was not an easy task!

My wife and I started him off with alphabet cards and picture books. Our big break came when he was 8 years old. The first Harry Potter book had just been published. The English edition was long (320 pages!), but had a great plot full of magic, dragons and evil wizards. When I showed it to my son, his eyes lit up!

We decided to make this our bedtime story and to read two pages a night. It was exciting to set off on this adventure together.

After several weeks, however, I realized we had a problem. My son loved the story, but I was doing all the work. He just sat there passively. We'd fallen into an unhealthy pattern -- father reads, son listens. I knew that if I didn't do something, this could go on forever!

Finally, I decided on a strategy. A sneaky strategy. A strategy of lies, drama and deceit.

One night, we sat down to read as usual. I finished the first page. Then, suddenly, I put on a very tired face. "Son, I'm exhausted," I lied. "I can't read any more!" He looked at me in surprise. "We always read two pages," I continued. "And Harry Potter's in danger. Someone has to read the second page. What about you?"

My son mulled this over. He was eager to know what happened next. But he'd never read on his own. He looked at me. He looked at the page. Then, he took a deep breath. "N-e-x-t, H-a-r-r-y w-e-n-t…" He struggled to pronounce each letter. Each word was a challenge. It took forever to finish the page. But he did it. I was really proud!

The next night, the same thing happened. I read the first page. I got "tired." He read the second page. Day by day, he got used to this new routine. Dad: page one. Son: page two. With each day, he gained confidence and his reading improved.

The final breakthrough came soon after. I had a weekend conference in Tokyo. That meant two nights of no reading. When I got home, my son approached me. "Dad," he said. "I have a confession. While you were away, I couldn't wait. I wanted to know what happened next, so I read ahead on my own. Sorry!"

My plan had worked! Thanks to my trickery, my son had taken his first step toward becoming an independent reader. After the first book, he read the other Harry Potter books on his own. He then moved on to Lord of the Rings, Jurassic Park and The Da Vinci Code. He's never looked back since.

Some people say you should never lie to your kids. But sometimes, lies can have an educational purpose!

読書を学ぶ

カナダの大学を卒業したばかりという筆者の息子は、筆者同様、英語の本が大好きな読書家だ。しかし、日本で育った息子に英語を読む楽しみを教えることは、そう簡単ではなかったという。

The Japan Times ST: July 12, 2013