All my readers must be knowing by now that February is my favourite month.

Apart from my birthday and strawberries and flowers, this month celebrates one of my favourite activities : Reading Aloud.

”Did you know that #WorldReadAloudDay was celebrated on 3rd February? ”

This is not as frivolous as World Pakoda Day, which is on July 30th this year . Nonetheless, I was shocked to learn that there was a day dedicated to reading aloud. I mean, I read aloud every single day!

I look forward to reading to Ms. Papaya every night and I enjoy it as much as she does. It’s such fun to cuddle up and read aloud with her. Sometimes we read every alternate word, or every alternate line. Sometimes a sentence leads to another story or anecdote.

Undoubtedly, reading aloud is a fun activity.

The benefits of reading aloud to children

Reading aloud has the benefit of grabbing their attention. After all, when you modulate your voice, and talk like Mr. Mouse or Mrs. Hen, make the tapping sound at a door or zoom like a plane, the story comes alive. And especially for the little ones who are learning to read, this experience perks their curiosity. It isn’t long before they want to read those words too !

And reading is a way of learning, so reading aloud also encourages learning .

Why older people should read aloud too!

But while WorldReadAloudDay is meant for making readers and learners out of little ones, I find that reading aloud helps older children and older people too!

I’m talking about white-haired, short-sighted older people like me who prefer reading in silence. Very often I find that when one reads in silence, one speed reads. This means that words are often skipped. Of course,  words like ‘and’, ‘but’ and ‘the’ are skippable and reading each and every word doesn’t always enhance the reading experience. But I find that in my desire to read fast, I often misread. For instance, I was for the longest time, reading a movie title like “Love, Sex and Dhokha” as “Love, Sex and Dhokla”. It was only when I read it out loud did I realise the movie was not about cooking or love but a movie about love, sex and betrayal told through a candid camera.

Similarly, when I am speed reading my Twitter Feeds or even newspaper headlines, I find that I have completely misreadcertain words and hence misunderstood the content!

Reading aloud also helps with pronunciation. For instance, for the longest time, I thought that the word ‘lascivious’ was lasvicious. This was because I had only come across the word while reading. It was only when I heard Yo-Yo Ma use the word, ( as late as two years ago) did I realise that I was saying it wrong all the while.

An added benefit of reading aloud is fluency in speaking. Reading aloud helps you practice articulate your thoughts and when you have to tell a story, your narrative won’t be beset with ‘umms’ and ‘aahs’.

Lastly, I find reading aloud a great blessing to old people who can’t read anymore or for those convalescing. Hearing a book while you are sick is calming. Feeling the presence of someone sitting by your bedside while you recuperate is reassuring and helps in a faster recovery.

So even though it is no longer #WordReadAloudDay I would strongly recommend that each of us makes every day a Read Aloud Day and reads aloud at least once in the day.

Do you read aloud? Do you like reading aloud ?

Do let me know your thoughts on having a day dedicated to reading aloud or even commemorating the pakoda for that matter.

Ciao

Photo by Samson Katt from Pexels for the Featured Image