Author smears local children's books as 'command-like prose'<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Dutch children's book author Annie Keuper-
\nMakkink has criticized the content of first-grade elementary
\nschool books here as being too strict with command-like prose
\nwithout arousing children's desire to read.<\/p>\n
"Don't just fill their heads with facts," she told The Jakarta
\nPost, adding that memorizing information would not encourage
\nchildren to read.<\/p>\n
Speaking at a workshop at the 1997 Indonesian International
\nBook Fair, Annie said books must be able to enrich children's
\nlives and allow them to learn things which they could not
\notherwise learn by themselves.<\/p>\n
Children's books must be filled with interesting stories about
\nreal things that matter in their lives, she said.<\/p>\n
She underlined that these were books for young children who
\nwere just beginning to learn to read and thus the books would
\nhave to be able to further wet their appetite for reading.<\/p>\n
As an example, she pointed to several first-grade textbooks
\nwhich contained very dry information about national heroes. She
\nmaintained that their should be more story-like descriptions of
\nthese heroes including attractive pictures.<\/p>\n
Annie has written a dozen children's books in her native Dutch
\nlanguage. She has also been a teacher and taught in Klaten,
\nCentral Java, from 1980 to 1983.<\/p>\n
Speaking on how to encourage reading habits among the very
\nyoung, Annie said children should be introduced to a reading-
\nfriendly environment early on.<\/p>\n
She said children could be prepared by frequently introducing
\nvarious sounds commonly found in the vocabulary, adding that
\nreading classes in elementary schools should also involve
\nsinging, as it would accustom children to stories and reading.<\/p>\n
"I also hope Indonesian parents read stories to their children
\nbefore they sleep or in their spare time," she said.<\/p>\n
During the opening of the 17th book fair on Saturday, Minister
\nof Education and Culture Wardiman Djojonegoro lamented the
\nnation's poor reading habits despite the decline in illiteracy.<\/p>\n
He said people had yet to truly understand the meaning of
\nreading a book. (09)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/author-smears-local-childrens-books-as-command-like-prose-1447893297",
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