Dharamshala: With the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown, many educators have been taking virtual classes to ensure that the children continue to learn even at their home. To ensure uninterrupted learning for older children, the DoE has been organising online classes to cover the major subjects. However, it is also imperative that we extend our support to our young children by the means of story-telling, Read-Aloud and Playing games.
The Department of Education has initiated a Read-Aloud program through Tibet TV. The ‘Early Grade Reading’ Mentor, Ms. Sonam Gangsang has read six different children’s book in the Tibetan language so far.
The names of the storybooks are:-
- Sammy the snail
- Tiger skin rug
- Bheema the sleepy head
- Mrs. Woolly’s Funny Sweater
- Two pots
- The fat cat
The EGR mentor has not only read-aloud the books, but she has also explained the following:-
1) WHY READ ALOUD
Reading Aloud is an effective way to
- Motivate children to read on their own
- Promote high level critical thinking
- Help in Vocabulary development and expose children to challenging text
- Develop a positive emotional outlook about reading
2) HOW TO READ ALOUD
- Select books keeping in mind the children’s interests, experiences and listening comprehension
- Read and familiarize yourself with the book
- Prepare yourself for questions and discussions
There are numerous authors and children’s educators who have read-aloud the English book and these read-aloud are easily available in youtube to watch anytime. Hence, the Department of Education has particularly focused to read-aloud the book in our Tibetan language to ensure our children get more exposure to the mother tongue and in that way, they show greater interest in learning to read, write, speak and think in Tibetan language.
With this read-aloud program, we hope that more young children get the opportunity to listen to a story and especially, the educators and parents understand the strategies of reading-aloud effectively and they implement in it future when they read-aloud to children.
-Filed by Department of Education