Book bonanza at the Saligao Institute (by Giselle Lobo) Christmas came late but it arrived in style at the Frank Simoes Children's Library at the Saligao Institute.
For all you book lovers of Famous Five, the Five Findouters, Malory Towers and other Enid Blyton classics, come to the Saligao Institute and rediscover the joy of reading. Gita Simoes who continues to maintain a keen interest in the library has sent down two boxes of these delightful books and, starting from the month of February, these books will be there for your reading pleasure. I hope that this news rekindles the desire of children and parents alike to develop that most enjoyable of habits -- the reading habit. In today's day and age, the television has become the most important member of the family. There is a constant complaint that family members do not communicate with each other. The art of conversation has come to an end but we cannot conceive a life without TV. But what did we do before television? People read newspapers, books and magazines and after reading them they were eager to communicate what they thought and felt. Books and reading gave us a chance to develop our language skills, our thinking power and our own creativity. IN addition, books could be re-read as many times as one wanted to relieve the pleasure of that story. For parents, reading to your children offers you the experience of communicating with your child at his or her own level. As you read stories to your children, both of you enter a world which belongs to just the both of you. There is a chance to share not just the story being read, but each other's idea and thoughts. Children ask questions of their parents and thus develop their ability to reason and make corrections. Many parents fear that with encouraging children to read, studies will suffer. Actually the opposite happens. As children learn to read fluently and faster, their ability to read their text books and memorize improves. Many studies have shown that the children who read a lot have better vocabulary. If they know the meaning of more words, then they can use these words in sentences and their ability to express themselves becomes better. Talking or writing in grammatically correct English is yet another advantage of reading a lot. One of the major problems facing children in school today is the difficulty in framing grammatically correct sentences. Phrases like 'he wanted' or 'many childrens' or 'I told to her' are common in exam papers. The child who reads a lot, reads grammatically correct English and is therefore more able to write and speak correct English. So parents, what are you waiting for? Bring your children down to the Frank Simoes Children's Library (at the Saligao Institute, Goa) and become members for just Rs 100 per year. The library is open Monday-Friday, 5.30 to 6.30 pm. You can borrow a book everyday if you want, and enter the world of books. Feedback to Giselle Lobo via <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, FOOTNOTE: Giselle Lobo is a returned-expat, earlier in the US, who has spent the last few years promoting the Children's Library at the Saligao Institute. This voluntary initiative also conducts a 'reading hour' each Wedneday at 5 pm.
