To become a good writer, you must read. To more fully understand the world, and possibly yourself, you must read. I loved reading as a child because it helped me make sense of the world: I particularly enjoyed autobiographies and discovering how other people thought and felt. But there are many reasons for reading – the experience can provide comfort (there are other people like me), solace, take you on an adventure, expand your horizons, delight and amuse you, and allow you to imagine different possibilities in life.

My son was a late reader and there is much debate about the best way to learn to read (phonetics versus whole reading). But I am particularly interested in those older children who read well but not deeply.

I often encounter the situation where a school teacher has assigned a book for a class to read which is too advanced for a student I teach: NOT because the vocabulary or sentence structure is too difficult, but because the child is not able to relate to or understand certain situations/dilemmas in the book. This might be, for example, not understanding why a character reacts to another in a particular way (in anger or confusion …). The character’s reaction might be outside of the student’s experience and capacity to comprehend.

Drama can help; creating and developing stories, exploring emotions and reactions, discussing characters, imagining new situations …all this encourages self-knowledge, develops imagination and deepens reading comprehension. Parents can help too. Reading aloud to your child is one of the greatest gifts you can give. Not only is snuggling up with a book a great bonding time between parent and child, it also gives you a wonderful opportunity to communicate a love of language and stories and to talk about the complex (hopefully) circumstances in the book.

All children love stories and I am enchanted when I see the rapt attention I receive from a group of students when I tell them about a story in my life (which I often do).

They are astounded to hear about the year I lived on Big Balcony at my boarding school, exposed to the wind and rain (and how I would store my school uniform at my feet overnight so that it would be warm when I wriggled into it in the morning). They are both horrified and intrigued that I bit a girl in Grade 5 when she and two others pinned me down on the ground, for no apparent reason other than to exert power and how, instead of breaking my spirit, I suddenly felt rage and bit the girl whose arm was closest to my mouth (and was later shamed by the teacher).

Stories like these guarantee an engrossed audience and enormous curiosity: they help children make sense of the world and of their own lives. Stories help children deal with difficult emotions and also shows that life can be filled with great joy and beauty.

Words have enormous power. As a Speech & Drama teacher it is my job to ignite a passion for words and stories from which come meaning and insight. Children can work through their own feelings of powerlessness when confronted with Roald Dahl’s protagonists who are nearly always ruled by evil and manipulative adults (but who also always demonstrate feistiness and intelligence in order to survive); they identify with Ramona in Beverly Cleary’s wonderful series of books when Ramona is always getting into trouble and being misunderstood even when she has such good intentions. It happens to us all!

Poetry, plays and novels all tell stories but in different ways. They have the power to motivate, comfort, nstruct, illustrate a different point of view, and make us laugh and cry. They broaden our world, sharpen our senses and extend our imagination.

So remember: read aloud to your child and tell your own stories – you are teaching the subject of life, perhaps the hardest and most rewarding subject of all.