Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Wonder World of Audiobooks

     When Elisha was 4 years old, someone I met at a library told me how articulate Elisha was. A few months ago, at a church we were visiting in West Virginia, her Sunday school teacher told me how rich Elisha's vocabulary is. I believe her clear articulation and rich vocabulary come from listening to hundreds of audio books over the years.

     English is not my mother tongue. Before Elisha was born, I read the biography of Condoleezza Rice, former US Secretary of State. One of the things that impressed me was her parents' emphasis on speaking proper English. I wanted Elisha to speak good English.

     From the day she came home after birth, Elisha and I spent many hours of our awake time listening to audio books. Mostly, in the beginning, they were for me. I wanted to do something productive while nursing Elisha or rocking her to sleep. However, as she got older, CJ and I downloaded children's audio books to a small tablet and let them play throughout the day. Elisha is 7 years old now, and even now, the first thing she does in the morning is to turn on her audio books.

Some of the benefits of audio books are:
- they stimulate and improve aural memory
- they improve a child's ability to pay attention to spoken messages
- when started early, they help a child to develop good pronunciation thanks to young children's tendency to copy and repeat whatever they hear (parrot stage)
- they are flexible: children can listen to audio books anywhere, anytime
- they pair well with quiet play times: Elisha listens to them while playing with Legos, during bath, while coloring, etc.
- unlike visual entertainment such as videos/movies, audio books stimulate imagination and creativity

Free audio books:
- our favorite ones are Librivox & Overdrive
- BOOKRIOT lists 11 websites to find free audio books



Everyday is a Miracle