Chapter 9 7.ancient poems nourish children

When Yuanyuan was very young, I began to read some poems to her.I found that she both listened and remembered. When she was about three years old, I learned to type on the computer and memorized the root formulas of "Wubizixing" every day.Mr. Wang Yongming, the inventor of the Wubi input method, compiled the "radical table" in a rhythmic and catchy poem.Yuanyuan heard it when I was reciting, and when I turned off the lights at night and lay on the bed reciting, she could remind me of some places that I couldn’t remember.These things without content, the little guy can remember them faster than me when he listens to them casually. I am amazed at the child's memory.

Chinese characters originally contain artistic beauty. Mr. Zhou Zuoren said that Chinese characters have the characteristics of play, decoration and music.And classical Chinese poetry condenses the essence of our mother tongue. With its unique sense of rhythm, sense of rhythm, and aesthetics, it has always exuded a charming and noble temperament from ancient times to the present.In the process of teaching Yuanyuan to read poems, I gradually strengthened my understanding that children should recite a lot of poems, especially ancient poems. When Yuanyuan was four or five years old, I began to teach her to read ancient poems.The earliest readers we used were a set of "Children Read Ancient Poems" with illustrations. There are six books in total, and there are about one hundred poems. Those poems are very short, usually only four sentences.I often read these ancient poems aloud with her, and recite them together when I am familiar with them.There is no plan for this aspect, and it is relatively casual, but because of continuous work, by the time she is 6 years old and goes to elementary school, she will basically memorize these poems.

I have read some materials in recent years, and some people object to teaching children to read ancient poems when they are young.I think that the child doesn't understand, but just memorizes some syllables parrotingly, so I suggest that the child should be taught to read nursery rhymes instead of reciting ancient poems when he was young.I personally do not agree with this point of view. Art first needs perception, and children’s learning of ancient poetry does not focus on understanding. Ancient poetry rhymes flat and flat, and has a very good sense of rhythm. Good perception will naturally form "understanding".It is an adult's job to feel that classical poetry is strange and difficult to understand, and children do not have such a sense of alienation.Nursery rhymes can teach children some, but they cannot replace ancient poems in quantity and quality.Everyone's study time is very limited, we should teach the best things to our children.If parents use the ease and joy of reading nursery rhymes to teach their children to read ancient poems, the children will not feel the difference in pleasure and beauty between the two kinds of words.

In addition, childhood is the golden age of memory. What is read and recited at this time will really be engraved in the mind and internalized as one's own wisdom wealth.Therefore, we should cherish the recitation in childhood, and don't let children waste time on some mediocre works.Classical poetry, mainly Tang and Song poetry, I think it is worth memorizing from childhood to old age. Another erroneous idea that people have because ancient poems are "difficult to understand" is that when teaching children to learn ancient poems, they should explain to him as much as possible, and "translate" every sentence into "vernacular".The fact is that what we should avoid in learning ancient poetry is "over-interpretation".The reasons are, firstly, based on the trust in children's comprehension; secondly, the beauty of artistic conception and words in poems and prose focuses on the experience, and they do not need to be explained in the first place, and any explanation is the restraint of imagination and the destruction of the beauty of language.

Before the child is two or three years old, there is no need to explain when reading poetry, as long as reading poetry is like singing and experiencing the sense of rhythm in it.When the child is four or five years old and understands something, add "explaining".But this explanation must be simple, just briefly talk about the meaning of the poem, and at the same time explain some words that affect understanding. For example, when I was teaching Yuanyuan to recite "Goose, Goose, Goose/Qu Xiang Xiangtian Song/White Feather Floating Green Water/Anthurium Dials Clear Waves", since the poem itself is as clear as words, I only explain what "Qu Xiang" is That's it.

Less explanation does not mean no "interpretation".Yuanyuan and I often relish some very beautiful sentences, for example, when we see "Autumn sails on the Qingfeng River, and ancient trees are sparse beside Baidi City", we will pay attention to the neatness of its confrontation and appreciate the delicacy of each word; see " I am willing to drink with my neighbor, and drink all the remaining cups across the fence", just imagine how simple and interesting such a life scene is.This is the enjoyment of reading poetry.But for each poem, Yuanyuan and I spent more time on reading and reciting again and again.

We have learned from our studies that reading aloud and reciting a lot is still the most classic way to learn ancient poetry. This is a traditional Chinese teaching method in our country. This method is the simplest and most effective. "If you read a book a hundred times, its meaning will emerge from itself", the predecessors have summed up this point very brilliantly. This method of learning may seem simple and rigid, but it actually makes sense. Mr. Qian Liqun, a well-known scholar and professor of the Chinese Department of Peking University, said: "In our traditional enlightenment education, the teacher does not give any explanation, but let the students read the scriptures aloud. In the rhythm, they naturally understand some of the scriptures that cannot be understood. (or not need) the verve of speaking, and then recite it over and over again, so that some basic concepts in traditional culture are wedged into the almost blank minds of schoolchildren like nails, and have actually been subtly integrated into the depths of the readers' hearts , and then the teacher will give a brief explanation, if you dial in a calm manner, you will naturally 'understand'. Even if you don't understand it temporarily, you have already kept it in your heart, and as you grow older and have a certain experience, you will not understand it."

"Speak less and read more" did not affect Yuanyuan's understanding of poetry, and I often found that what I thought was a brief explanation was sometimes superfluous.I remember that when Yuanyuan was 5 years old, she first read "Li Baidou's Hundred Poems on Wine, Sleeping in a Restaurant in Chang'an City, the Emperor Hulai could not board the boat, and claimed to be a minister of wine". She thought Li Bai was so chic, and thought this poem Very fun.As soon as we finished reading, she "adapted" the poem—changed "Li Bai" to "Yuanyuan", changed "Chang'an" to "Yantai", and changed "Chen" to "I"— It made my family of three laugh out loud.Without explaining a word, I knew she understood the poem.

After reading a lot and memorizing it, not only the literal meaning of Yuanyuan is easy to understand, but she also gradually learned to appreciate the beauty of every aspect of poetry.When Yuanyuan was in elementary school, I once read Du Fu’s "Climbing the High" with her. When we read "Boundless fallen trees are rustling, and the endless Yangtze River is rolling in", she was silent for a moment, sighed softly, and couldn't help saying: "It's really well written!" I never explained this poem, and in fact I couldn't "explain" it, but she understood it, and she was deeply moved by the beauty of the language.

The reason why children can have a long-term interest in learning ancient poetry is that parents never regard reciting ancient poetry as a unilateral task imposed on her, but as a common hobby, and enjoy it slowly together.Together, we imagined the scene of "scattered flowers gradually become charming, and Asakusa has no horseshoes"; we also enjoyed the warmth of "green ant new fermented wine, small red clay stove".The process of Yuanyuan reciting ancient poems has always been the process of me reciting, I try to recite with her as much as possible, especially when she was young, I will definitely recite any poems that she is asked to recite.In the process of teaching her, I also reviewed and recited a lot of ancient poems.

After Yuanyuan learned the characters, I always copied the poems to be memorized into a small book, and often read and recited a few sentences with Yuanyuan when taking the bus or before going to bed after meals. Just run out.Every time we recite a small book, we will feel a sense of accomplishment. Yuanyuan first read and recited Tang poems, then Song poems, and some Yuan operas later.During elementary school, I memorized the most articles. After entering junior high school, I began to memorize some long poems, such as "Pipa Xing" and so on. Yuanyuan had some difficulties reciting long poems at the beginning, so we took the method of breaking them into parts and reciting a small section each time.At that time, she lived in school, and she came back every week to copy a few sentences in a small book, and then took it to the school to memorize, constantly connecting the new memorized with the previous memorized, and solved a long poem bit by bit. In fact, the easier it is to memorize poetry, and practice makes perfect in this respect. In the beginning, it took Yuanyuan to memorize a poem, but later, it only took a few minutes to read a quatrain two or three times, read the annotations, close the book and memorize it.Even if it is to recite long poems, it is easier for her to recite based on her previous recitation skills. Throughout her primary and secondary school years, Yuanyuan found it easier to learn classical poetry than her classmates. On the one hand, she had already memorized almost all the poems she learned in textbooks; on the other hand, she had a better ability to recite them.When she was in junior high school, she came home and told me that she asked everyone to recite "Pipa Xing" in Chinese class. Many students found it too difficult to memorize. ! In terms of protecting children's interest in learning ancient poetry, I think it is important to pay attention to the fact that the motivation to lead children to learn classical poetry must be pure, at least let the children feel pure. Some parents always ask their children to perform reciting poems for guests after their children have recited some poems; some parents keep counting how many poems their children can recite, as if the reciting is for a number; some parents directly tell their children to recite more poems good for writing... Poetry is a beautiful cake. We put it in our mouths just to taste its sweetness, not to show off to others that we have eaten cake one day, nor to store more calories for the possibility of starvation someday.There is no utilitarianism other than enjoyment - recitation is to better internalize those poems as one's own, to better appreciate the beauty of language, artistic conception and imagination of poetry, not for "reciting poems", There is no purpose other than poetry—this is what it should be. So don't let your child recite poems for others, and don't tell others how many poems he has memorized in front of the child. Only in this way can the child have a pure state of mind towards poetry, and can also develop a real good impression. Only love can be said to be accepted.If a person is never moved by the emotions in the poems, never shocked by the beauty of the language, never pondered by the wisdom, even if he can memorize 10,000 poems, he is still a person who cannot read poems. I have seen a private educational institution release a CD that is said to allow children to memorize hundreds of ancient poems quickly. Rap method" read out.The fact is that all the poems have become the soundtrack "Allegro", no matter what the content is, they are pronounced in the same flavor.This CD was sold to many primary schools and welcomed by some teachers and parents.However, in such "teaching", where can children appreciate the beauty of artistic conception, thought and words of classical poetry?It can only bring children a reciting number, not the enjoyment of reading.I suspect that things recited in this way will not be remembered deeply, it will be difficult to take root in memory, and in the long run, it will actually be a waste of time. In the process of reciting classical poems, Yuanyuan also came into contact with some good modern poems.She really felt the beauty of poetry, and even had the urge to write poetry herself. When she was in elementary school, she tried to write poetry by herself.Once we went to the beach to play together. When we were near the beach, the sea was very blue from a distance; when we walked to the beach, we found that the sea was green because there were some seaweed that day; she ran into the water with bare feet and found that her feet Ah white, the water has no color at all.She held up the water with her hand and told me about the change in the color of the sea water she saw.I said, you have discovered poetry.After returning home, under my guidance, she wrote these words: This is a poem she wrote when she was seven years old.Not long after, I gave her a new pillow cover, blue.She said it was like the color of the sea.I joked that I might dream of the sea when I lay my head on it.She followed my words and said, add a piece of yellow and you can dream of the beach.She immediately imagined that if she changed to a green one, would she be able to dream about the grass?I kissed her little face and said, your words are like poetry, write them down.Yuanyuan later wrote such a poem: