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<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=102405511-23042010><FONT face=Arial><FONT
color=#0000ff><FONT size=2><FONT color=#000000>I</FONT><SPAN
class=102405511-23042010><FONT color=#000000> remember</FONT> <FONT
color=#000000>a study in which Chinese native speakers read Chinese Texts to
very young (<1y) children. Later in life the children were able to speak
Chinese sounds which were not part of their own language, even though they never
learned Chinese. When the same experiment was repeated with records instead of
human readers no effect was found. So the human interaction (emotion!) seems to
be absolutely essential for motivation and learning even (or especially) at this
young age.</FONT></SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=102405511-23042010><FONT face=Arial><FONT
color=#0000ff><FONT color=#000000 size=2><SPAN
class=102405511-23042010></SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=102405511-23042010><FONT face=Arial><FONT
color=#0000ff><FONT color=#000000 size=2><SPAN class=102405511-23042010>I have
repeatedly heard from adults who had never read comic books in their own
childhood that they had serious problems reading comics now because
they did not know where to start or how to preceed. They had not learned the
"language" of comics at an early age.</SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=102405511-23042010><FONT face=Arial><FONT
color=#0000ff><FONT color=#000000 size=2><SPAN
class=102405511-23042010></SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=102405511-23042010><FONT face=Arial><FONT
color=#0000ff><FONT color=#000000 size=2><SPAN class=102405511-23042010>I
believe comics are very good source of reading material for children because
they have pictures which is very important, the feature recognizable characters,
and they have the appeal of "not just for kids" which marks most great
childrens' books. I have read Donald Duck and Asterix to the children of friends
and they liked it very much. And once the children start learning to read you
can alternate: The adult reads the first panel and the child the second
one.</SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=102405511-23042010><FONT face=Arial><FONT
color=#0000ff><FONT color=#000000 size=2><SPAN
class=102405511-23042010></SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=102405511-23042010><FONT face=Arial><FONT
color=#0000ff><FONT color=#000000 size=2><SPAN class=102405511-23042010>I also
noticed how much children, even at the youngest age, recognize and appreciate
quality. Not only do they instinctively prefer Barks' stories over others'
but they even know which Barks stories they like best. They are very good
critics.</SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=102405511-23042010><FONT face=Arial><FONT
color=#0000ff><FONT color=#000000 size=2><SPAN
class=102405511-23042010></SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=102405511-23042010><FONT face=Arial><FONT
color=#0000ff><FONT color=#000000 size=2><SPAN
class=102405511-23042010>Cord </SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></SPAN></DIV></BODY></HTML>