家長都希望自己的孩子多讀書，這一願望超越所有文化背景而普遍存在，尤其是在當今這個讀書被鄙視為一項雜務或過時的休閒活動的互聯網時代。對有ESL學生的家長來說，對孩子閱讀的要求既嚴酷又令人擔憂。
      你得承認，讓正常班沒有語言障礙的青少年讀書都是件很困難的事。那麼，教育者和家長又如何提高這些已經被語言困擾的孩子們的閱讀興趣呢？
      首先，家長需要審視自己是如何鼓勵孩子閱讀的。在西方，閱讀曾經是除運動和電影之外孩子們最喜歡的課外活動。既然家長希望自己的孩子多讀書，那就絕對不能去破壞孩子閱讀時的樂趣。
      不可以把閱讀變成競賽，也不一定要讓孩子去讀象像《傲慢與偏見》或狄更斯的著作等所謂的經典名著。雖然1995年BBC版電視連續劇《傲慢與偏見》有很高的觀賞性，但是原著卻令人難以卒讀。因為查理斯•狄更斯的作品篇幅長（他的稿酬是以章節多少計算的），而且很無聊。（20世紀作家Evelyn Waugh在他的著名小說《A handful of dust》（一捧塵土）中，把閱讀查理斯•狄更斯的作品形容為一種“導向慢性瘋狂的酷刑”）。
      在我看來，讓年輕人通過閱讀18和19世紀的英國文學來學習英語，就好比我父親用《易經》教我中文識字一樣，不但痛苦，而且成功率低。
      說實話，我不會推薦從古典的或者優秀的現代文學開始學習閱讀。相反，應該鼓勵孩子們閱讀他們喜歡的任何東西，只要是英文就好。從裝早餐的盒子，漫畫故事，兒童讀物，科學或科幻，到報紙，甚至博客文章，只要是英文，他們就會學到東西。我特別向ESL學生推薦漫畫故事書，其中的圖畫可以幫助學生們猜測詞的意思，也更有魅力，漫畫書的內容比起孩子氣的基礎類圖書更接近孩子們的欣賞水準，有些英文的漫畫書是非常嚴肅、精心製作的文學作品。
      另一點要強調的是，家長們需要積極幫助孩子建立良好的閱讀習慣。
      家長應把閱讀作為一個家庭活動，或者至少要確定孩子們說在讀書時，就是在讀書。
      最後，我推薦一些我在中學階段最喜歡的書，這裏邊也包括我的學生們喜歡的書：
      1. Howl's Moving Castle（哈爾的移動城堡） – Diana Wynne Jones
      2. Harry Potter Series（哈利波特系列） – J.K Rowling
      3. Hunger Games（饑餓遊戲） – Suzanne Collins
      4. Roald Dahl's children's books（Roald Dahl的兒童文學作品）
      5. Keeping the Moon （留住月亮）– Sarah Dessen （一本給女孩子寫的書）
      6. Holes（別有洞天） - Louis Sachar
      7. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy （銀河系漫遊指南）– Douglas Adams
      8. Coraline（卡羅蘭） – Neil Gaiman
      9. Good Omens（好兆頭） – Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
      10. Companions of the Night （深夜來客）– Vivian Vande Velde  （吸血鬼！為喜歡“暮光之城”的同學，但是這一本有着更好的人物、情節和英文)。
      Most parents want their kids to read a little more. This wishful thinking is prevalent across all cultures and       parents are especially concerned in our Internet age where books have been relegated to a chore and demoted to a past-time of the 90s.
      For parents with ESL teens, this plight of reading is serious and worrisome. It is admittedly hard to get regular English speaking teens to read, how can educators and parents increase an interest in reading for those already struggling?
      First of all, it is important that parents check how they are encouraging their children to read.  In the West, reading used to be a favourite pastime and a form of entertainment besides sports and movies.  If parents want their kids to read more, they need to make sure they are not undermining their child's sense of enjoyment while reading. Do not make reading a competition and stop making kids read so- called classics like "Pride and Prejudice" or Charles Dicken's.  "Pride and Prejudice", although highly enjoyable as a 1995 Drama from the BBC, is hard to get through in its original novel form.  Charles Dicken's works are lengthy (he got paid per chapter) and prone to cause boredom (The 20th century writer, Evelyn Waugh used reading Charles Dickens' work as a slow form of madness inducing torture in his great novel, "A Handful of Dust").  Personally, I compare making youth learn English through 18th and 19th English literature with when my father tried to teach me Chinese with I-Ching, painful and guaranteed a low rate of success.
      In fact, I would not recommend starting with classical or even great modern literature at all. Instead, kids should be encouraged to read anything they like as long as it's in English. From cereal boxes, comics, teen books, science and science fiction to newspaper or blog articles. As long as it's in English, learning will happen. I do especially recommend comic books to ESL teens. The pictures can help students guess word meanings, are generally more engaging and the content in comics are at a level that youth can appreciate in contrast to starting with kiddy elementary books.  Some English comics are very serious and well crafted pieces of literary work.
      Another point that I would like to stress to parents is the need for parents to be active in building good reading habits in their kids. Parents should make reading a family activity or at the very least make sure that their child is reading when they say they are.
      As a final tip, I have made a list of some the most enjoyable books that I read in my youth and also taken into account some of my student's suggestions:
      1. Howl's Moving Castle – Diana Wynne Jones
      2. Harry Potter Series – J.K Rowling
      3. Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins
      4. Roald Dahl's children's books
      5. Keeping the Moon – Sarah Dessen (A great book for teen girls)
      6. Holes - Louis Sachar
      7. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
      8. Coraline – Neil Gaiman
      9. Good Omens – Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
      10. Companions of the Night – Vivian Vande Velde  (Vampires! For those that like Twilight but want better characters, plot and English).

      圓德英文學院
      電話：604-279-9518

      第312期本欄目標題中，What不慎誤植為Whtat，特此更正並致歉。                      
      編輯部