On July 18th, we went to Immaculate Heart Center for Mentally Handicapped to experience reading stories for kids there. Teachers of the preschool age group gave us a chance to tell stories to those kids.
I hoped to try my best, and brought great joy to those children. We divided into several groups. Then, we took the picture books, and went to the classroom to meet the kids. I could not help but feel nervous. I was afraid that I would show impatient expressions to the innocent kids while the situations were out of control, or make them cry while they were noisy. But the situation was not that bad as I imagined. On the contrary, the children were looking forward to listening to the stories. We were relieved to see pleasant smiles on their face.
Let’s read together!
Because this was the first time I told stories to the children, I stuttered in the beginning. I found out that boys were not good at telling stories. They were often puzzled what to do next. And they didn’t know how to answer the kids’ ridiculous questions. So, they often asked teachers and girls for help. I believed that with our sincerity, the kids did not mind our embarrassing performance.
While we were telling stories to the kids, there were some unexpected situations happened. For example, some children didn’t sit on the chairs quietly. They clapped me on the hand to play with me. I thought they wanted to attack me at first. After the teacher’s explanation, I understood that they did it to show their friendship to me. That’s their particular way of communication. Besides, it was better to change your pitch, tone, and volume to make stories seem exciting. Then, the kids would feel funny and easily understand the story.
Reading picture books
I learned that one kid needed to hold my hands to have a sense of security. She was so special. I am glad that I can give her power. Thank teachers at Immaculate Heart Center for Mentally Handicapped for teaching me ways of communication with the disabled kids. We got special experience that was not written on the textbooks.
Super Star, Changhua County Lu Ming Junior High School, Taiwan.(For best browsing experience: 1280*1024.)