Sharjah: Children should sometimes be left to guess how stories end, rather than just be told right away, according to a Kuwaiti educator.
At a Saturday story-telling workshop held on the last day of the Sharjah International Book Fair, one of the world’s largest reading expos, Monirah Al Eidan did just that.
“This technique helps children stimulate their imagination and allows them to be actively involved in the story,” said Al Eidan, who is at the annual book fair for the first time.
At the fair, Al Eidan is holding two other workshops. One teaches children how to narrate a story in their own way while the other presents them traditional tales while exploring the backgrounds of the tales’ characters.
She believes that children must be engaged every step of the way and must never feel patronised.
“When reading with children it is very important to speak their language and not to speak down to them,” she said.
In Kuwait, Al Eidan founded and runs a volunteer reading programme called Qissaty or ‘My Story’.
The afterschool programme is held in different locations and aims to introduce children to stories from their own heritage.
In 2013, together with Kuwait’s education ministry, Al Eidan led an initiative which involved the distribution of 1 million storybooks among children at schools and shopping malls.
This year’s Sharjah International Book Fair takes place during the UAE’s Year of Reading, a national programme designed to boost literacy and love of books.
