Children’s Digest, Superman, Batman and Mary Poppins
Being the daughter of a career diplomat meant that since I was a child, I had to deal with changing cultures, languages and educational systems, until I graduated from college.
We moved to New York City when I was 5 years old, of course I only spoke Arabic then, but two months before I was enrolled in school, I learned English by watching TV, mostly by following the outstanding program, Sesame Street.
I become so enamored with American television because it was a totally new experience for me and I suddenly had a wide choice of children’s channels to watch. By the time I enrolled in first grade, I spoke English almost like a native New Yorker.
However, I was a reluctant reader; I was simply not interested in books, but my dear mother had a great idea on how to encourage me to read. She did so by subscribing to the Children’s Digest magazine — which unfortunately has now ceased publication.
Now, even though it was a thrill for me to receive a magazine in my name by post through the slot of our apartment door, it took me awhile to become interested, but once I did, there was no stopping me from reading it from cover to cover. School also encouraged us kids to read by holding book fairs every semester on the sidewalk outside the school building, which my mother took me to and encouraged me to buy great children’s books.
Then, when I was 9 years old, we moved to the Sudan. By then I didn’t speak, read nor write Arabic, but I could understand my parents when they talked to me in Arabic with a Saudi dialect. My father wisely decided that I should go to an Arabic school as opposed to a British school, since I was young enough to learn a totally new language in a short time.
Of course I had to endure a stream of tutors after school, which was an ordeal for a young child. It been a few decades since then, but I will never forget one teacher who made me actually enjoy reading in Arabic.
He used to come to our house to help me with schoolwork and he noticed how quickly bored and frustrated I would become — so one day he brought with him comics. Yes, Superman and Batman comics that were translated into Arabic by a publishing house in Beirut. At first I was afraid to tackle reading the difficult Arabic text, so I just looked at the pictures.
Slowly however, I became eager to know what they were saying, so with my tutor’s help, I read through them and they took me to another world. That teacher knew how to make a kid interested in reading, by being resourceful and not just by sticking to boring old school books. I forget his name now, but I am eternally grateful to him.
The Sudanese loved reading and had a healthy educational system at the time, but their TV was rather primitive. So, lacking good TV to watch, my brother and I resorted to reading, when we were too tired to get into trouble or climb over the neighbor’s fence to play with their kids! There was a little newspaper and magazine kiosk down the block from where we lived that my brother and I frequented on a weekly basis eager to buy our comics. There was also a huge bookstore in Khartoum city, where my father would take us to occasionally, and it sold both English and Arabic books in all genres. It was one of the most enjoyable and thrilling outings for me.
Back home, we would lose ourselves for hours reading our newly purchased books. I remember a series of books I had bought called the Mary Poppins collection, which I read over and over again. So, I also have my dear father to thank for encouraging us to read fiction as well as non-fiction, in both languages, which would, only a few years later, turn out to be to my advantage, as we continued to move from country to country.
Although schoolbooks are obviously important, it really is equally important to encourage children to read a variety of appropriate books. Extracurricular reading not only improves their language skills, it also opens up their imagination and helps them become creative and hungry for more knowledge.
Perhaps nowadays with many children spending time on computers and iPads (especially in Gulf countries) printed books and comics don’t have much of a market. However, e-books are available and parents should take advantage of that if they can’t get their children interested in printed books, at least until they get hooked on reading, especially if they relate to famous televisions and film characters. In fact, I believe this might also work for any adult needing to learn a new language.
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