Antara Hangeul dan Kayla

Hmm, namanya juga Kayla yang memang dari sononya suka banget ama buku.

Jadi meskipun saat ini dia belum gape baca huruf Hangeul -semacam alphabet yang dipakai di Korea-, tapi setiap kali main ke e-Mart -tempat kami berbelanja kebutuhan sehari-hari-, dia selalu menagih untuk mampir ke bagian Buku. Dan pasti selalu berujung bete (Kayla yang bete, bukan aku) kalo aku nggak mengabulkan keinginannya untuk membeli -at least- satu buah buku ...

Sampai akhirnya aku pernah iseng ngomong gini ke Kayla, "Kakak kan belum bisa baca huruf Korea. Makanya tar aja beli bukunya klo udah tamat ngapalin Hangeul. Nah, sekarang Kakak bisa baca-baca aja disini. Jadi nggak perlu dibeli dulu bukunya."



Secara, harga buku disini klo dibandingin ama Indo emang lumayan mahal. Harga satu buah buku anak-anak berkisar antara KRW 5000-25.000 (sekitar 50-250rb perak). Bahkan, nggak jarang ada yang harganya lebih dari itu.

Yang lalu dijawab begini olehnya, "Bunda kan juga belum bisa baca huruf Korea. Trus kenapa kemaren baca koran dan cuma diliat-liat gambarnya?"

Whedeeeewww!! ...
Susah juga punya anak yang kritis dan nggak pernah mau berkompromi klo udah menyangkut urusan buku, ternyata.

Rejeki dari Tabloid RUMAH

Alhamdulillah.Hari ini aku dapet rejeki dari Tabloid RUMAH (TR).

Berhubung email yang aku kirim pada tanggal 18 Maret 2007 ke TR dimuat di Edisi 120, akhirnya aku dapet kiriman satu buah TR edisi 120 (yang memuat suratku tersebut) dan satu buah buku serial RUMAH sebagai hadiah.

Huhu, namanya rejeki emang gak akan kemana, ya? Soalnya aku sendiri udah lupa-lupa inget pernah ngirim email ke TR karena kejadiannya hampir enam bulan yang lalu (bulan Maret 2007 gitu, loh!). Jadi saat aku di-email oleh pihak TR untuk konfirmasi alamat, sempet kaget juga tapi sekaligus seneng.

Btw, tau gak? Awalnya tuh aku sempet memohon agar dikirimkan serial RUMAH yang berjudul ‘Kreatif Dalam Menyimpan Barang’ (ya, aku spesifik menyebutkan sebuah judul karena takut kalau dikirimi serial RUMAH yang udah aku miliki). Tapi meskipun toh akhirnya dikasih buku yang berjudul ‘Ruang Makan’, aku tetep bersyukur, kok. At least, buku tersebut belom ada di dalam koleksiku ...

Terima kasih, TR!

Simple Tips on Reading

Many friends of mine and even families asked me a similar question about how I teach Kayla to be able to read early in her age.

Well, yes!

Kayla has been able to read since she was 2.5 years old. Actually she has known alphabets and memorized it all since she was 1.

Soon after I knew the method how to teach her to read,

within a week she could read a lot of books by herself.

Now, my job is just to maintain her ability to read.
Here are a couple of tips.
Hope it’s useful …

Keeping Children Reading
- Having lots of books.
- Buy books at garage sales and flea markets.
In Bandung, there are so many second-hand book shops that sell good quality books in a mint condition such as Reading Lights (one of my fav book store!) or you can go to Palasari to get up to 30% discount for every book you buy.
- Read books aloud, including comic books and poetry
- Take your children regularly to the library
- If u are good at making impression, use that talent to make reading come alive for your children. For instance, give each character in the story a different voice of accent.
It works when I do Tiger’s sound (in Jungle story) or Giant’s laugh (in Giant and the Green Bean story) for Kayla.
- Teach children to read to themselves
- Have a special book-looking-at or story time on a regular basis
- Treat your child as a reader, sooner or later he’ll be one
- Provide reading material that is easy and fun for children
- Increase your children’s self-confidence by treating them as a reading expert in their field.

Ask your son’s or daughter’s opinion about the books they are reading.

Take their opinion seriously!
- Encourage daily reading by having irresistible reading material wherever your children spend a lot of time –in their bedroom, in the kitchen.
- Find books that completely absorb your children. Find magazines and non-fiction books about their current passion or interests.