Talking Point #2:

Alicia Tougas

"Why can't she remember that?" The importance of storybook reading in multicultural classrooms, Terry Meier

Quotes:

1) "Three decades of research on language development in a variety of social and cultural contexts have documented the complexity of young children's language use their interactions with family, peers, and other community members."

- This quote explains how children learn through family, friends, and even through the community. These places and people are where younger children can pick up on different languages and how they may think that something is done.

2) "From these book reading experiences, many children acquire an extensive book-based vocabulary, and absorb important cultural lessons about things like gender roles, family relationships, and the nature of friendships."

-This quote shows what books can teach a child. When reading a variety of books a child can see many different views on many different topics. It is good to have many different books in your classroom, so there are different experiences children can look at.

3) "Many children who are unused to books and being read to find it difficult to sit still for the time it takes the teacher to read even a fairly short picture book."

-This quote demonstrates how children that come from different backgrounds may react different to "story time". Also how those children that come from a background/ family that doesn't have story books or doesn't read to their children, they will have a harder time when a teacher reads a story to the class.

Quotes/ Comments/ Points to share:

This was a good article to explain how children act when a story is being read to them at "story time". Also, Meier gives good examples on how to make a story more interactive for the children the teacher is reading too. In this article, Meier explains how children from different backgrounds have different ways on doing things. Children should read when at home, but not all families make or encourage their children to read when not in school.