Students' Best Friend a Good Listener
By Aunshuman Apte
Rockville, Maryland
07 August 2007
Today it is story time at Thurgood Marshall Elementary School near Washington, D.C. Meet the audience: Dune, the Labrador. He is all ears for the story that seven-year-old Del Toro is reading him. The two met a year ago and now they regularly spend story time together.
Del and Dune are part of a literacy program called Reading Education Assistance Dogs or READ. Launched in 1999, READ is now in schools and libraries across the United States.
Dog trainer Janet Golden says reading to dogs creates a relaxed environment for the children. "They will read to Dune. Dune is non-judgmental. He listens. He is not going to make fun of them."
Third-grader Rebecca Torvik agrees. "If every kid could, then I think everyone would like to do it because it is so fun."
Literacy experts say children become visibly relaxed and their blood pressure drops when they read to therapy dogs. Rebecca is now closer to the reading level of her peers after spending more than a year reading to Goldie. Her mother, Lisa Torvik, is delighted with the results. "I like the smile that I get everyday. You know, when she comes out of there she always has a big grin on her face."
That is the point -- using dogs to inspire children to read.
學生最好的朋友和聽眾
今天是華盛頓馬歇爾小學的講故事時間。聽眾是:Dune, 拉布拉多獵狗。它正在全神貫注地傾聽7歲的Del Toro講故事。他們一年前認識,現(xiàn)在像往常一樣一起度過講故事時光。
Del 和 Dune是稱為閱讀教育輔助犬(簡稱READ)文化節(jié)目的成員。READ 是在1999年開辦的,在美國各學校和圖書館提供服務。
馴犬師Janet Golden 說,閱讀給狗聽可以為孩子創(chuàng)造放松的環(huán)境。“他們都讀書給Dune聽,Dune是不帶有批判性的,他聽著不會取笑他們。”
三年級的Rebecca Torvik 同意此說法,“如果每個孩子都可以這樣做,我認為每個人都愿意做,因為它很有意思。”
有學問的專家說,當孩子們讀書給治療狗聽時,他們會放松下來,血壓會下降。
Rebecca花了一年多時間讀書給Goldie聽,現(xiàn)在她的讀書水平接近于她的同伴。她的母親Lisa Torvik對這個結(jié)果非常滿意。“我喜歡我每天的笑容,你知道,當她出來時總是臉上總是帶有非常大的微笑。”
這就是要點——利用犬鼓勵孩子閱讀。