My Experience as a Reader - Essay Example

My experience as a reader The only way to acquire knowledge is through reading a variety of articles, many scholars haveargued that reading is the art of replacing an empty mind with an open one (Slaouti 110). Therefore, the objective of this paper is to describe and reflect on the experiences that I and other readers have gone through. I started reading at a tender age; when I was around eight years old. At this age, many things were not making sense to me as I could not understand why the author was using some of the vocabularies and terms. In connection to this, in most of the occasions, I found myself using a dictionary in order to understand most of the terms in the article. One of the books I liked reading was bed time stories. There is one story I read about a young boy who came from a poor, that most of the days instead of going to school like the other children of his age, he found himself going to the city to sell water. This is because, his mother, the only parent he had; was sick, but she could not raise enough money for the treatment. Despite all the challenges, the boy still managed to be at the top of his class, this impressed the king. The king therefore, decided not only to pay for all his school fees but also paid for his mother’s hospital bills. However, the manner in which the story ended was what captured my attention the most, it ended when the boy who was now around thirty five years old and he became the king of his country. From this story I learnt that we should not let the challenges we face in life bring us down. However, when I joined High school, some of the experiences I have had as a reader are many. For example, in most of the occasions I could not understand what the writer of the article is passing through the article. Most of the times I felt frustrated, therefore I either looked for another book or I could ask my friend to help me understand the information I was reading. As a reader, one of the things that I can ask authors to consider, when writing is the audience which the book or article is addressed to. If it is the teenagers then, it should be written in such a way that the interest of the teenagers is captured whenever they read. Recent surveys have shown that most teenagers do not like reading, this is because of the various games and electronics that are available in the market. As a result, the reading culture has gone down. Most of the researchers argue that if the trend continues then, in the long ran, the country will have a generation of people who cannot read and write (Slaouti 115). In regards to this, most of the parents have been asked to ensure that their children, finish their homework before going out to play. The parents have also been asked to assist the teachers in educating their children, on the importance of reading (Slaouti 115). On the other hand, as a listener, I noticed that, there was a difference between when I read an article by myself and when I listened to someone read it. One thing was clear to me after listening to someone read an article that I had read before, that understanding what is being read, will depend on who is reading the article or the book. Listening become enjoyable, especially if the reader, makes use various tools of reading, such as using good ascent, making sure to vary your sound pitch and tones, also making sure that all the punctuations are followed . That is making sure to pause, whenever there is a full stop or comma. This is because, reading a book without considering the punctuations marks makes the reading boring and as a result, understanding the message that is being passed through becomes difficult. For example, there was a time when of the teachers was reading for us a book on why family planning is important. One of the challenges that we faced was that the reader was reading too quickly. At the end of the reading none of the class members had understood what was being read. Family planning, is an important concept that every citizen should be able to understand. This is because the earth’s resources are continually under pressure from the ever increasing population. Therefore, the government saw it necessary to introduce family planning so that it can be able to budget for all the citizens. I recall that after the reading of the book, an exam was set and three quarters of the students failed the test. After having the test, the principal of the school was so furious, because he could not understand what exactly happened. In order to get the students’ opinion, the principal called us and he started interrogating us on why a majority of the class members had performed poorly. Some of the students said that, the book should be presented in a video form, so that they could understand it easily. However, some students like me, preferred the book to be read again, but this time using a different speaker. The principal decided to read the book to us. After that a test was given and everyone passed the test. In conclusion, everyone has different experiences when reading, some people enjoy reading a lot, while others have lost interest completely on reading. However, one thing should be noted that, the best way an artist can pass information is through writing. However, there are many forms in which the same information can be passed to the next generation like through audio or video. The only disadvantage of these methods is that they are not long lasting. This is because, their storage media are not durable, and therefore the information can be lost very easily. As a result, it is important that we all embrace the culture of reading. Work Cited Slaouti, D. “The World Wide Web for academic purposes: old study skills. English for Specific Purposes, vol. 21, no.2, pp. 105-124. 2002. Print. Read More