Kindle a fire in a child's mind or pour knowledge into it? Grabbing grades at school or honing critical thinking skills? As an English coach I am always faced with dilemmas like these. Luckily the lock-down gave me time to reconsider priorities and focus on what's really important.
The raison d'etre of an
English teacher is to enable children to learn the language - accurately and
effectively. Over time I have realised that surrounding youngsters with the
language is the only way to impart it. When they hear, read, write, and speak
it, they inculcate the finer nuances of the language that no grammar book could
drill into their heads. Thanks to the Netflixes of the world, English movies
have become a staple of many a household but reading is looked upon wistfully
by parents and often ignored by children.
Reading not only is a
path to learning the language but also a means to expanding their world view –
to introduce them to the wide panorama of human thought, achievement and
failing. But most imperatively, reading teaches them to ‘think for
themselves’.
To arm parents with
enough ammunition and to turn around a lock-down to our advantage, I present to
you a hand-picked reading list to inculcate the love of the written word.
(The genre of
non-fiction is often neglected and considered boring by young adults. To
challenge that notion I have given this list priority over fiction.)
Age group – 14 years
above
Genre – Non-Fiction
1. Blink – Malcolm
Gladwell
2. Switch -
Chip and Dan Heath
3. Rich Dad, Poor Dad
– Robert Kiyosaki
4. Ikigai – Hector
Garcia & Liebermann
5. Thinking Fast
and Slow – Daniel Kahneman
6. Emotional
Intelligence - Daniel Goleman
7. India Unbound –
Gurcharan Das
8. Ignited Minds:
Unleashing the power within India – APJ Abdul Kalam
9. I too had a dream – Verghese Kurian
& Gouri Salvi
10. The Theory of Everything –
Stephen Hawking
11. I am Malala – Malala Yousufzai
12. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind –
Yuval Noah Harari
Genre - Fiction
1. The Maze Runner
– James Dashner
2. The Hunger Games
(The Trilogy) –Suzanne Collins
3. Percy Jackson
(series of books) – Rick Riordan
4. The Fault in Our
Stars – John Green
5. Rebecca – Daphne
Du Maurier
6. The Life of Pi –
Yann Martel
7. The Alchemist –
Paul Coelho
8. The Kite Runner
– Khaled Housseni
9. All Creatures
Great & Small – James Herriot
10. My Family & Other
Animals - Gerald Durrell
11. Tuesdays with Morrie – Mitch
Albom
12. One Hundred Years of Solitude –
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
13. Cry the Beloved Country – Alan
Paton
14. To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper
Lee
15. 1984 – George Orwell
16. Animal Farm – George Orwell
