Unearthing a reading culture

Malawians have lost what once used to be a great reading culture, when we used to have the Malawi Book Service and public libraries in most places. Children today watch television and read only school textbooks as Cheu Mita finds out.

In his book, Henry Ford Mjirima mentions the joke about Ugandans and reading; that if you want to hide something precious from a Ugandan, put it in a book. The same can be said of Malawians.

Believe it or not, psychologists were right when they said that what you do for a child in the formative years is something that the child grows up with. For instance, associate professor at the College of Medicine, Linda Kalirani Phiri, emphasises that the times that her mother bought her books and expected her to read them, are what made her an avid reader.

Nowadays she cannot stay without having a good read by her side.

“My mother bought lots of exciting books, as young children she would buy us books that were easy to read with tons of pictures. She was interested in what we were doing. Once you are done reading, she would always ask you to review what you read,” says Kalirani Phiri.

Mjirima argues that a literacy-keen family, where story books are read, stories told, homework is checked, topics debated is likely to produce literate children  who love reading and finding out more about history, geography, how the body works, how machines work, and countless other things.

Vincent, a pupil at Ladybird Primary School, says: “At our home, reading is a rule we observe very strictly every day. TV is out of bounds until we have finished school work. Our parents give us their own homework based on pleasure reading of books of fiction. Sometimes, we all engage in a discussion of what we have read. Our parents also tell us interesting folk-tales in our mother tongue.”

Experts extol reading aloud to children, directing most of their effort at parents of preschoolers. However, Jim Trelease, the foremost read-aloud specialist, says there shouldn’t be a cut-off age for reading to your kids. Children of all ages benefit academically when they’re read to, because it allows them to experience a wider range of books than they could handle alone and gives them constant “commercials” for the joys of reading. You’re not stealing reading time from them, either; studies show that children who are read to read more on their own than children who are not.

Sheila Wray Gregoire wrote that many families huddle together right after dinner, or for 15 minutes before bed. If children are reluctant, let them extend their bedtime if they listen to a book. Pretty soon they’ll be eager to hear what happens next!