Five Ways To Get Kids Interested In Reading Within A Hi-tech Society

By Author: Scott C. Waring
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Getting children and teens to actually sit down and read a book has become increasingly more difficult now that so many new hi-tech devices have been introduced all around them. These electrical gadgets will at first seem like an adults or librarians adversary, but in actuality, they are the tools of the future. These new tools will stimulate the students to read more and excite them to such levels that they will actually take the initiative to look up information about what they have been reading. We just need to start using them. This seems odd surely, but nonetheless it is true in todays society. Nobody sees this more than me, an avid lover of literature and author of Wests Time Machine and Georges Pond. I have experience as a librarian and am currently an ESL teacher in Taiwan.

Use Your Cell Phone: What I mean is most cell phones like my iphone can download novels, magazines, newspapers and even comic books. So when you are with your children at a function or waiting area and the kids have nothing to do, give them your cell phone and ask them to read the books you downloaded for them. Warning, make sure to remove ...
... all games or this will backfire. There are a lot of books that kids can download for free, or even some books on Apple itunes for less than one dollar each. Also some smart phones allow the reader to enlarge the words so it can be easily read. This also saves the environment at the same time by not using hundreds of pages of paper. You can even find downloads of books for free. I will show you how soon.

Find Some Free eBook Websites: Yes they do exist. Not everything I am mentioning costs money. There are many websites that offer all the classics and much more for absolutely nothing. These sites are totally legal. This is a great way to allow an elementary or teen student to choose his or her own books to read. This way they do not feel as if they were pressured to read something that they did not pick out. Look up Google Books on the Internet, which has over one million free books to read, but you need a wifi connection since you cannot actually download them. Another being http://www.free-ebooks.net which does allow you to actually keep and download the novel onto your device. I use this one because I like to keep the book in case someone else in my family might also find it interesting.

Help The Student Create a Free Blog: Sure you want them to read, but to what ends? Having a blog on the Internet gives the students a place that they can express themselves fully and freely without worries about them playing on-line games. Also you as the parent or librarian should openly express amazement at the students reading and writing skills to get them interested in making a blog. Eventually to keep them focused on reading, you want to push them towards writing their own stories on their blog. Getting their work published this way will make them identify more with the authors of the books they read. Students can even write reviews of the books that they read and publish those reviews on their blogs. To find such a website, just search these key words, Free Blog.

MP3 Player For Audio Books: This sounds insane with all the music downloads that they may use, but if your are sneaky about it, you can make sure that there is a minimum of music with loads of books on in. This MP3 device must have 2GB of memory or less. So little memory you ask? Yes, the smaller the better, because we want books on it, not music. If you put a few audio books on it for your child, then it will take up most the memory, leaving little room for music. A little music should be fine, but the focus should be on the audio books. Then allow the person to listen to them when exercising outside or when they go to bed. Bedtime is best because they are not distracted and cannot go anywhere that might divert their attention. It is also best if you are the one to download the audio books to insure that it exists on the MP3 devices. Just Google Free Audio Books for loads of great classics. Audio books dont allow you to read so much as excite you into wanting to read more.

Consider Buying an eBook Reader: There are several tablet computers for reading only that easily allow the user to download millions of great novels and more to read. These devices can be easily held in bed and read at night, not damaging the eyes even when the bedroom lights are off. The font size can be enlarged, making them even easier to read than the paperback version. There are two such devices that fit in this category. Those two are the Kindle tablet and the Nook tablet. I highly recommend the Nook due to it being newer and the lower part of it being a color touch screen, allowing you to flip through colorful book covers with a flick of your finger. Why are these better than a full Tablet computer? Because they cannot play games and are only made for reading. The Nook however also allows you to use wifi to hook up to the Internet for downloading books. They also do not allow you to surf the web, but only connect to bookstore and book download websites. Kids will love these devices and yet since they do not play games, they will not influence the kids with the games violent tendencies nor allow them to surf the Internet.

I know some of these suggestions cost money, but you have to understand it is an investment into the student, not just an expensive toy. By helping the student become familiar with such hi-tech reading techniques, you are also helping them to avoid a fear of hi-tech devices that so many people have today and building upon their reading skills. In our hi-tech society, we are asked to use many different technological devices as students and employees. Lets make it easier on the kids by helping familiarize them with these new devices early on.

I hope you find my techniques useful. If you have time, please have a look at my novels Wests Time Machine and Georges Pond. Also my two new novels Dragons of Asgard - UFO Sightings will come out in March of 2010. They come in both hardbound and softbound covers and even come in ebook form at all on-line bookstores. My name is Scott C. Waring and I focus on changing the world, one word at a time.
About Author:
My name is Scott C. Waring. I wrote novels Wests Time Machine and Georges Pond found at all online bookstores. Look for Dragons of Asgard and UFO Sightings by SCW coming in early 2010.
West's Time Machine
George's Pond