When did you learn how to read?

[Alex De Kok]

Like others have remarked, I can't remember not being able to read. My earliest memories are from when I was three or four - I can remember my brother as a baby and he's three years younger than me. As for when I started enjoying reading, again I can't remember not enjoying it. It seems to have always been with me, although I realise I must have been taught - or taught myself. Probably a mixture of both. No television when I was a kid, so it was books or radio. I guess I opted for books. Libraries and bookstores are still some of my favourite places, and I'm a firm believer that the best thing on television is frequently the 'off' switch.

Alex

 

[dr_mabeuse]

I remember being in first grade or so and encountering the word "HOUSE" for the first time, and suddenly realizing that there was more to this reading business than I'd thought. Double vowels? Silent letters? Uh-oh.

The first thing I remember reading were comic books, horror comics mostly. I tried to read the frames down and not across until my sister straightened me out. They made a lot more sense after that.

I also remember that the last chapter of "The House on Pooh Corner," where Christopher Robin tries to explain to Pooh that he's growing up and might not always be able to play, reduced me to helpless tears, and I was too embarrassed to tell anyone about it. I was already old enough to not want to cry, especially from a book, and I think it was my first real taste of sadness and loss. I was devastated.

--Zoot

 

[brightlyiburn]

You know, that pizza voucher for reading 25 books a year thing doesn't work all too terribly well.
I think telling kids they can read the book of their choice and that they won't have to do questions after all the chapters or do vocabulary or write essays would work much better. Unfortunately, teachers seem to think that if they don't have written proof, it means you didn't learn a damn thing.

 

[Boota]

I don't remember the exact age, but I was reading well before kindergarten. I taught myself how to read, for the most part, by analyzing ABC books and working through the sounds. I probably had some help from my mom in learning the letters, but I don't remember. I had a Batman ABC book (from Alfred to Zowie!) and that really pushed me. I'm sure my logic in figuring things out was all wrong because I was counting letters and trying to estimate breaking the words into those parts and pronouncing the right syllable. It worked for words like Batman. LOL. I was also absorbed in Sesame Street and The Electric Company. When they would have the two faces in shadow give the first and then second half of a word, that would really help me, too.

My reasoning for learning to read so young was because I was really mad when I didn't know something. If an adult tried to spell something around me so I wouldn't know what they were talking about I got mad. Once I knew how to spell, I didn't let on right away.

 

[Kassiana]

I taught myself to read by age 3. Before I could read on my own, I demanded that my parents read TO me. I'd drag around my tiny books and push them at my parents to get them to read them to me. I skipped kindergarten because I already knew how to read, and I could have gone on to second grade in reading. I was reading the Oz books by age 5 and tested at 12th grade level in reading by grade 5.

But I don't wanna brag or anything.

 

[BlackShanglan]

I also remember that the last chapter of "The House on Pooh Corner," where Christopher Robin tries to explain to Pooh that he's growing up and might not always be able to play, reduced me to helpless tears, and I was too embarrassed to tell anyone about it. I was already old enough to not want to cry, especially from a book, and I think it was my first real taste of sadness and loss. I was devastated.

Same here. That and the elves leaving Middle Earth. I was depressed for days.

Shanglan

 

[CharleyH]

Same here. That and the elves leaving Middle Earth. I was depressed for days.

Shanglan

I am in middle earth. It is not so grand.

PS: I need happier pic for this statement :|

 

[sophia jane]

I don't know when I learned. With my oldest, who is 7, we didn't teach him to read because we were afraid he would be bored in kindergarten. He was anyway, though. He has read all 5 Harry Potter books by himself- no other kids in his class can keep up with his reading. So, I don't think it matters when you learn if you have a love of books.

SJ

 

[Poussin]

.....

 

[TheEarl]

I remember my mum teaching me how to read, must've been when I was about 3-4. They were Peter and Jane books, which I think still live in the cabinet at home. When I have kids, I'm going to go and rescue those (it's not because I want a nostaliga kick, honest).

I remember loving reading because of a set of books about pirates. I can't for the life of me remember the name, but there was a pirate with a red hat, who I think was named Captain Ruby, a pirate with a green hat who was I think was named Captain Emerald and a pirate with a blue hat, who I think was called Captain Sapphire. I remember the gemstones were a part of their names, but I don't remember how! My elder sister was reading them and she was on a couple of levels ahead of me and talking about how brilliant these books were. I wanted to do anything and everything that my sister liked, so I was always determined to read the book that she was reading.

Never did catch up .

I do remember driving my dad absolutely spare when he read The 39 Steps to me. I would always read the page with him, but I am a very quick reader and had always finished before he'd got halfway down the first page.

The Earl

 

[Joe Wordsworth]

Unfortunately, I'm probably the only one I've ever met who learned how to read at the general age of six or seven. Remarkably, every single person I've ever met learned how to read some time after being born and well before school.

Guess I was the slow kid.

 

[English Lady]

Unfortunately, I'm probably the only one I've ever met who learned how to read at the general age of six or seven. Remarkably, every single person I've ever met learned how to read some time after being born and well before school.

Guess I was the slow kid.

Ahh Slow's not bad Joe love. I wonder if your defiintion of reading is different to...I would imagine i did alot of repeating by rote when I was 3 and 4...I'd know books off by heart and guess at stuff using the picturesas a guide..actual reading of whole sentances probably came on later....5 or 6 or so.

What is so cute is My daughter likes to read a book after me and she copies my intonation..it is soooooo funny *L*

 

[Guest]

my favorite books where the dick and jane's...
still remember it fondly...

See Dick trip. Trip, Dick, trip.

 

[elsol]

Like most people here... don't remember ever not knowing how to read.

But I know why though... my godmother was a schoolteacher. She was a stay-at-home mom and because school made me sick I was the entire focus of her boredom while her kids were in school.

By the time they made it so school wouldn't make me sick, I'd been under her 'teaching program' for two years.

*shiver*

Sincerely,
ElSol

 

[Boota]

One really fucked up thing about where I went to elementary school is that in first grade they assign all the students to one of two reading groups. The advanced group and the slow group. However, in first grade, they haven't taught reading yet, so the way they decide who is advanced and who is slow by how well they know your parents and whether they are friends or not. My parents hadn't met my teacher before the reading groupd had been assigned and I was put in the slow group. While the advanced group was working on the books beyond Dick and Jane, I was stuck with the slow kids trying to hack their way through Dick and Jane, but I was reading small novels at home. I was reading Hardy Boys mysteries and Alfred Hitchcock Presents novels, as well as Eerie and Creepy adult horror comics. I was much more advanced than the advanced group.

As ridiculous as it may sound, my first grade teacher took an interest in fucking with me and keeping me down. I didn't realize it at the time and I don't have a persecution complex about it or anything, but several years later when I thought about all the things she did to me and the double standards she used against me, it seemed really obvious. She really fucked me over because in our school system, once you're in the slow group, you're in the slow group for life. Come to think of it, I'm glad she's dead. LOL.

 

[Guest]

I read just fine.

Laurel = Angel

See?

 

[justathought555]

I'm not exactly sure where the thought came from, but I started thinking about when I learned to read. I couldn't have been more than three when mom started teaching me. I think she was hoping that if I could just learn, she'd never have to read "Kittens Are Like That" ever again. But anyway, I was kinda curious when other people learned, or at least began to learn. I know a lot of parents start their kids early, but I don't think you're expect to really know more than your ABCs before starting Kindergarten.
And since I'm on this line of thought anyway, when (if ever) did you begin to enjoy reading? I didn't really like it until I was about eight, and started reading horse books. I went (and am still going) through a horse crazy phase. And then one day I picked up a fantasy book cause there was a horse on the front, and that was pretty much it. Since then I've read more books than I can remember. Well, I remember them, just not how many.
Anyway, just kinda curious. And like I said, I don't know why. It just kinda popped into my head. When I was suppose to be preparing for tomorrow's mid-term tests.

I'm not sure when I 'learned' to read, but I know I was reading by the start of kindergarten. And I remember reading and re-reading the first book that was ever mine (a Christmas gift). By third grade I was visiting the library's children's section 3 times a week, and borrowing (and reading!) 3 books per visit. By seventh grade I was into the adult section -a few years earlier than was normally allowed. Since my borrowing record showed that I had pretty much done a clean sweep through anything worth reading in the kids' section, it wasn't too tough for my mother to convince the librarian that I was ready for it. And it only took a few years to get through anything worth reading there, too.

I don't remember the first book that triggered my enjoyment of reading in general, but I do remember the first SF book that I read - "Pebble in the Sky" by Isaac Asimov. It really opened up my eyes, and imagination.

Good luck on your mid-terms!!

 

[TxRad]

When i learned to read has been very much obscured by time... Dick and Jane, even Spot has been lost in time... The only memory left is one of me lay on cool grass on a summer morning reading.... It is vivid but the books title isn't, another thing lost to time...

 

[Guest]

I'll catch you up tomorrow.

 

[oggbashan]

Speed Reading

I had an older brother and sister. Some people are actually older than I am.

When I was young my brother and sister would read to me. My sister was tolerant and patient. My brother wasn't (and isn't).

My sister would read to me slowly and carefully pointing at the words with her finger. My brother would flip the pages of the book and gabble the words as fast as he could.

Between them I learned to read by my third birthday but I always wanted more words on a page than the simplest books. My sister would read carefully; my brother would flip the pages.

I started school at age 5. I could read as fast as my brother could flip the pages even though most books I was 'reading' had more than 100 words a page.

My mother told the reception class teacher that I could read. The teacher didn't say 'Oh yeah?' because she had taught my brother and sister. She did say that I would have to work through the prescribed reading scheme to prove that I could read. I did. I had finished all 36 books in their scheme by the lunch break and proved that I had read them by answering the questions about the characters and plots.

By the end of the first term I had read every book in the infants school's library. By the end of my first year I had read almost every book in the junior school's library. The only ones I couldn't read were in French or Latin. After that year I brought my own books.

How much did I understand? There's the rub. I understood as much as an intelligent 5/6 year-old could. I could read but my maturity was not enough to get the nuances of Tom Sawyer for example.

With age I am beginning to slow down. A blockbuster novel of say 300,000 words will take me about 1.5 hours. It used to be 1.0.

At work I used to read boring papers at high speed so I kept in practice. I still annoy my wife by reading the daily newspaper in the time it takes her to make a cup of tea.

My brother is still annoyed. He taught me to read fast but he can't.

Og

 

[Guest]

 

[SlickTony]

One really fucked up thing about where I went to elementary school is that in first grade they assign all the students to one of two reading groups. The advanced group and the slow group. However, in first grade, they haven't taught reading yet, so the way they decide who is advanced and who is slow by how well they know your parents and whether they are friends or not. My parents hadn't met my teacher before the reading groupd had been assigned and I was put in the slow group. While the advanced group was working on the books beyond Dick and Jane, I was stuck with the slow kids trying to hack their way through Dick and Jane, but I was reading small novels at home. I was reading Hardy Boys mysteries and Alfred Hitchcock Presents novels, as well as Eerie and Creepy adult horror comics. I was much more advanced than the advanced group.

As ridiculous as it may sound, my first grade teacher took an interest in fucking with me and keeping me down. I didn't realize it at the time and I don't have a persecution complex about it or anything, but several years later when I thought about all the things she did to me and the double standards she used against me, it seemed really obvious. She really fucked me over because in our school system, once you're in the slow group, you're in the slow group for life. Come to think of it, I'm glad she's dead. LOL.

I was about to ask if you were in the Pasadena (TX) school system--the specious caste system is something that they would have been quite in sympathy with. However, to do them the merest justice, they did take the trouble to teach reading in first grade and used objective standards to figure out where you were. Hence, my classification in the "Blue Bird" group.

Didn't your parents try to do something? Or were they the sort that are overawed by teachers and believed they were always right?

 

[sweetnpetite]

Likewise, I can't ever remember not being able to read. I do remember having to explain to my first grade teacher how I picked up a new vocabulary word from the context. ("See Jane kick the B**L" on a page that showed Jane kicking a ball to Dick couldn't have been any word exept "ball.")

My vocabulary wasn't always up to what I wanted to read, but I have always been able to been able to read up to my vocabulary and a bit beyond as far back as I can remember. (and my vocabulary has always been above that of my peers for most of my life.)

I dated a guy [10th grade or so] who said I always used big words. I never felt like I was using big words, but apparently I was. (he probably would have thought that 'apparently' was a big word)

My mom taught me to write my name when I was 4 I think, I loved it- I wrote it like crazy. I remember learning to write/spell certain words- like 'up' and being really excited. I knew how to spell a few words when I started school I think *but I didn't know my ABC's* when I started Kindergarten. I learned them there. And I went to preschool (headstart) I don't remember singing the alphabet song there either. It always seemed more like a parlour trick to me than actual knowledge. "Look what little Timmy can do!"

We had cool books "Mr. Fig" was one i remember. And we used flash cards- wjich i remember as being fun. And we had letter people- which were awsome. I've always enjoyed reading, and as far as i know, been good at it. But for some reason, I don't think i was always put in thr top group.

 

[sweetnpetite]

You know, that pizza voucher for reading 25 books a year thing doesn't work all too terribly well.
I think telling kids they can read the book of their choice and that they won't have to do questions after all the chapters or do vocabulary or write essays would work much better. Unfortunately, teachers seem to think that if they don't have written proof, it means you didn't learn a damn thing.

Hey- I loved that pizza thing!

 

[sweetnpetite]

Ooooooooooh! I just remembered! the first thing i taught myself to read was "Inside Outside Upside Down"

Maybe i just memorized it-- but i don't remember it that way. I just remember being really proud of myself and sitting on the floor reading it to myself over and over again- because I could