Saturday, September 12, 2015

Day 12

Let's talk about reading. Let's talk about books.

I've always loved to read much more than listen. That was may portal into Dutch, and later back into English. Children's stories, Fairy Tales, the Narnian Chronicles, Science Fiction . . .

I firmly agree with Stephen Krashen's ideas on compulsive reading.

That said, I find myself not enjoying reading as much as I used to. No doubt tastes change. Naturaly I'm not as interested in children's stories. Diminishing eyesight pays a role. It's a nuisance to have to use reading glasses. You get out of the habit too.

So what are the considerations as regards reading Japanese material?

At present, I like the idea of completing a book, so it needs to be quite short. I quickly get frustrated when I don't understand enough (not everything) or when the font is too small.
I'm Going Camping by Akiko Hayashi, 1984
The content needs to be interesting. The plot and the sentences ought to be straightforward. Five lines of text on a page feels just right. Illustrations every alternate page are useful. The above book worked well for me yesterday. If I want to be succeeding in 'reading' a book in the conventional manner, then this is the level it needs to be at for me.

Other books can work too, but it requires more care and attention. Books at a higher level need to be tackled appropriately. You need to have a doable task in mind for each one, depending on the book itself. You need scanning and skimming tasks, i+1word and sentence extraction, underlining of known content etc.

Tackle each book on a case by case basis, it seems to me. Take a look at it and decide: How can I use this to improve my language knowledge most quickly and most enjoyably by using this?





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