Reading books is not only fun, it's also one of the best ways to develop one's language skills. I tend to drone on about it to anybody willing to listen, especially to the parents of my students, and then, inevitably, I get asked this eternal question. How to persuade children to read books?
The answer is painful. Not because it is so difficult, no. But there are two conditions, and in most cases, when parents hear them, I can see the answer on their faces right away: "Not going to happen."
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When I was very young, I wanted to be a boy. In all the books I read and all the films I watched, boys had such interesting lives, much better than girls. They had adventures, they fought, they changed the world, they protected their beloved. And the girls? Well. They mostly stayed loved and protected, while watching the boys do all those fantastic things.
Now don't get me wrong. I adore a male hero loving and protecting his girl; anybody who's read any of my books will have no doubts about...