Importance of reading

Reading gives us the wings to fly from our own world to another. It's human nature that when we read a book we obviously put ourselves in the story. Empathy is a quality that is much required to be inculcated in young minds. By reading, children can develop empathy which is the key element to nurture humanity. They will experience the lives of other characters and also gain a deeper understanding of emotion in the real world with other people. Reading also gives authentic information about the world around them. It doesn't require any prompts to be curious, understanding different people, cultures, places and events.

At Manchester International School, we never start our day without DEAR (DROP EVERYTHING AND READ) time. During this DEAR time, the young readers are independent to choose their favourite book and read it at least for 20 minutes every day. Our school has a resourceful library with books of multiple languages to fulfill the urge of learners. The book week celebration is conducted every year not only to celebrate reading but also to honour the great authors and poets. During this occasion, children will be motivated to write stories, poems and comics. This activity sparks to bring out the little authors or poets in them.

Working as a community, we always recommend our parents to spend some time either reading for or along with their kids; this will help the children to develop vocabulary and communication skills. Each child’s reading choices may differ but our objective is to sharpen their mind, and develop imagination and analytical thinking. To experience reading with their loved ones at home we send a storybook every week from our school library.

Our parents are happy that we don’t see reading as a special program as it is completely blended into our curriculum. It includes differentiated reading strategies and authentic assessments to produce future readers. The skills children learn early in life will help them well into adulthood. That is the reason; reading is introduced in the early years of our school through the Jolly Phonics program. We have Phonics experts to plan creative learning engagements to inculcate the habit of reading in young minds. We make sure that it is our responsibility to develop the children with the required skills to read as well as to cultivate an attitude for their life. In Manchester International School, reading is a natural, fun and exciting activity for our children that brings lots of joy, awareness and a sense of accomplishment into their lives.