Bloganuary writing prompt

Write about a few of your favorite family traditions.

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My Mum

My Mum was a great reader, words were her world, and I have probably inherited her habit of reading several books at the same time. We thought a lot, and talked about, characters, plots and history. Our other passion was cinema, I remember, with longing, our little “art et essais” shop in the neighbourhood. There we watched new and older masterpieces, and “court métrages” we could not see anywhere else.

Full of Books

I remember the shelves my dad built, in our apartment in the old town. They were full of books, novels, but also history books, books about cinema, music, paintings. I browsed through the books, including those, half hidden, that were not for a child’s eyes. There was a treasure there, that, sadly, we could not preserve. I wish I could go back, tell her more how grateful I am now for what she taught me, the love of books, the spirit of discovery, and, of course, the pleasures of writing.

Inspired also by the Three Things Challenge #M585

About Reading

“Educators have debated for years about which method is best to teach reading for the English language. There are three main methods, phonics, whole language and balanced literacy. There are also a variety of other areas and practices such as phonemic awareness, fluency, reading comprehension, sight words and sight vocabulary, the three-cueing system (the searchlights model in England), guided reading, shared reading, and leveled reading. Each practice is employed in different manners depending on the country and the specific school division.

In 2001, some researchers reached two conclusions: 1) “mastering the alphabetic principle is essential” and 2) “instructional techniques (namely, phonics) that teach this principle directly are more effective than those that do not”. However, while they make it clear they have some fundamental disagreements with some of the claims made by whole-language advocates, some principles of whole-language have value such as the need to ensure that students are enthusiastic about books and eager to learn to read.” (source)