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What if my child won't narrate?
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I’m starting out with CM. As part of classical ed, we have done a small amount of narration, but it was a long time ago. It didn’t go so well, but my daughter was younger then.
She is 7 years old now. Today I read her The Winter’s Tale from Nesbit’s Tales from Shakespeare. She has always been able to listen to reading for a long time. She wanted to have 2 and 3 chapters of the Little House books read to her at a time, for example. Today, she was into the story, showed no signs of not paying attention, was asking a few questions where she didn’t understand, sighed and said it was wonderful at the end. I had told her ahead of time that I was going to ask her to tell me everything she chould at the end and assured her that I wasn’t going to be mad at her if she left something out.
After we finished, I said, “Okay, tell me what you remember about the story.” She couldn’t tell me anything at all. I said to just tell me anything she remembered, even if it wasn’t in order. She said, “I was so busy paying attention and I liked it so much, I can’t remember.” ?????? I didn’t want to fall into asking her a bunch of questions, but I did try to draw her out a little by saying silly things like “So the story was about birds?” She said “No, it was about people.” I said, “Carpenters?” “No, royalty.” She said she had trouble with the names and couldn’t keep everyone straight. I told her she didn’t have to use the names, but that was no help. But that was all I got out of her. I was unwilling to show any more frustration or disappointment because I want to keep it positive since we are just starting out with this. She has a history of being kind of perfectionistic and unwilling to risk a wrong answer, so I wonder if it’s that that leads her to say nothing at all.
What should I do? Shorter passages? This one took 15 minutes to read. If so, do I read a bit, have her narrate a bit? Or do I just read a really short passage, have her narrate once and quit that subject for the day? Help!
I don’t have a ton of advice, so hopefully some others will chime in as well, but I also have a perfectionistic beginning narrator, similar to what you are saying – sometimes I think she knows more than she is willing to say, but if she’s afraid it might be wrong she doesn’t want to tell me. I’ve found sometimes there is less pressure on her (and therefore I get better responses) when I phrase the question more like “What was your favorite part of the story? Why?” or…in this particular case where she had already expressed that she enjoyed the story “What did you like about it?” That could perhaps, at least get her started and perhaps once she gets started more details will flow. I’ve tried to avoid the “tell me everything you know” prompt because I think that would overwhelm her if she can’t remember every single detail. I’ve had better success with a lower-pressure original prompt We haven’t had a huge problem with names here, but I know I’ve seen the idea to make a list of the important characters/places or whatever for her to refer to during her narration if that is what is tripping her up.
HTH Some…
Jen
I feel like I am reading about us when I read this post. DD, same age, loves to be read to, perfectionist personality and we deal with this scenario often. I have tried explaining why and have told her there is no wrong answer, but she still balks every time. I would really love to hear the answers or suggestions for this also!!!! Help #2!!!!!
I would probably have trouble remembering a 15 minute reading of a Shakespeare retelling (of course, that’s probably my nearly 50yo brain…) But for a 7yo who is new to narration, I would definitely do shorter readings. If names trip her up, and it’s important for her to know them, you might even give her some of the names before you begin reading. Sometimes I’ll write them on the white board. Narration is hard. To be able to listen attentively, take in the information, process it and tell it back uses more parts of the brain than any other activity, I’ve read. So take it slowly, read smaller sections, or even something like Aesop’s Fables to start. Give her as many successes as possible.
IMO Shakespeare is a terrible first-narration subject! *I* have to keep paper or dry-erase-board notes on a Shakespeare reading, especially Nesbit’s retellings–she leaves so much out. I second Robin’s idea of trying Aesop–something with a definite beginning, middle, end that can be read in a few minutes–try something like this first. Move on to more difficult material when she’s more comfortable. I believe Aesop’s Fables just might have been inspired just for narration purposes.
My youngest daughter has a hard time ‘narrating’ she feels put on the spot… nervous she’ll forget something. So, later when were doing dishes I’ll say something like, ” you today when I was ready _______ I was so suprised at the ending I never thought it would end like that…” she’ll take it from there, ‘yeah, me to mama, you know when…”
I hope you find what will work for you and her
Oh yes, and ditto on the suggestion of Aesop’s fables if you are looking for something simple, short, and sweet to practice with. My dd does very well with these even though other (longer) passages tend to elicit less detailed responses.
Jen
Same as above. Shakespeare (even kids versions) are very difficult to narrate. I have the kids draw characters, link w/a heart who loves who, etc. (for my sake as well as theirs:) Agree that Aesop is a great place to start, esp. at that young age. Blessings, Gina
Oh, thank you all for replying so quickly! Of course, now that you mention it, Shakespeare was probably not a good thing to start with. I will give the Aesop’s Fables a try.
Later yesterday, we read a bit of Our Island Story, and this time I had her narrate after every 2-3 paragraphs. No problem, not a bit of hesitation. I think I will try some shorter/easier stuff like y’all have suggested and see how it goes.
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