We have to crawl before we walk

Today my job was to listen to a senior IT engineer read from one of his kids' books. His children are about 3 and 5 years old. As usual, these books were written simply and accompanied by colorful illustrations. The engineer has lived in the U.S. for 26 years, but was born in Asia. He realized that he did not feel confident reading the book to his children. He knew he could not pronounce some words properly. He could guess the meaning of some words but others drew a blank. Finally, even if he knew all the vocabulary, he could not read the sentences in a flowing, fluent manner. Instead he stopped frequently, added syllables not in the actual text, or neglected words that actually were there.


His books are intended for children 6 years and under. On each page there was at least one play on words, a pun. This frustrated dad could not recognize or chuckle at word play intended for young children! This dad has a sincere motivation that gives him the confidence to master kindergarten-level reading. Best of all, once he masters the simple language of childhood, his communication skills at the workplace will increase without much additional effort. As they saying goes, we have to crawl before we walk.