I learned to READ when I was 5 years old. So I've practically READ for as long as I can remember. READING has always been easy and pleasant for me, and READING and READING have been taken for granted. I believe that the opportunity to READ is a matter of course for most other people who grew up in the Finnish school system as well. Working with people who have moved to Finland from other countries has helped us to realize that LITERACY is not always and everywhere easily accessible to everyone. Although I have always considered READING important and valuable, encounters and conversations with ILLITERATE adults have changed my own READING from a self-evident to an immeasurably valuable superpower.
We READ a lot at home. Both children and adults READ with us. We READ everything from non-fiction books to stories and comics to poems. We READ in many different languages. There are children's books on the bookshelf in languages that none of us really know, but that doesn't stop us from grabbing a book and READING. When something excites you, you have to READ more about it. When nothing interests you, you can always pick up a book and READ. READING gives us the opportunity to get to know people, places and times that would otherwise be out of our reach. It gives you the opportunity to immerse yourself in the story and be a fly on the roof, part of someone else's story. It provides a vantage point into someone else's thoughts and feelings. At its best, it's a journey to your own story through someone else's story.
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I myself have grown up surrounded by books and so have my children. In addition to its own bookshelf, the library has always been a great opportunity for adventure. Now, the youngest, who started his school in the fall, got his own library card in early summer. As he walked out of the library with a fresh card in his tight grip, a hopeful, but slightly disbelieving question was heard: "Can I now READ everything in the library?" In my opinion, that question summed up the most essential essence of READING and READING: eager curiosity combined with the power to use the superpower of READING. The library card is high on the value scale and its place in my own wallet is also in the front row, because it is used often.
The absolute highlight of my own long summer vacation was that I had time to READ. And I READ. During the summer vacation, I READ Alan Bradley's Flavia de Luce books, among other things, and inspired by them, I got excited to review the basics of chemistry. I watched instructional videos that occasionally went back to the periodic table and READING it. I understood that it is largely about how to READ that table of elements. All the information was easily available, but you had to be able to READ it. Chemical formulas became more everyday when I understood how to READ them. I realized again that READING is above all about a certain kind of decoding. You have to know about the things decided and agreed upon by someone somewhere and READ tables, strings of letters and numbers in that certain way.
The same goes for traditional READING of words. READING is like magic. When you understand the tricks of READING, you can access anything. Watching a young child – and just as much an adult – learn to READ is rewarding. When even long strings of letters can be said out loud to hear familiar words, little eyes shine with great insight. Sometimes it's a bit lazy or you need an adult's help to make sure it was READ correctly, but the progress is amazing once you get started.
On the stop button of the bus, one day we found something more that we want to learn to READ together: braille. As we went through the idea of braille, I saw the light bulb of insight come on again. The same stop word can therefore be written in two different ways, and both writings also have their own way of READING them. So you can learn to READ many times over.
READING is a skill that enables the learning of many other skills. READING is a skill that promotes understanding. READING is a skill that improves by READING. READING opens doors. READING is a superpower!
READING!
The author works in Aurala as a project manager and Finnish language teacher a
