Reading is part of our daily lives, whether at school, at home, during some journey that we take, in short, it is present at all times.
The fact is that when we practice it, we often don't stop to think about its true importance, that is: to what extent this or that text made sense to us while we maintained contact with him?
Do you know why this question is asked?
Often, especially at school, the teacher suggests a reading and, right after that, orders the interpretation of the text to be made. But how to do it, if we remember almost nothing of what we just read? When this happens, it is because we still don't have the necessary skill for every good reader.
This ability to know how to interpret a text, because it is very important, needs to be quickly won, as it will help us in all subjects, starting with that little problem of math...
Ah! How many times we read it and we can't solve it, isn't it?
Well, the most important thing in this activity is to know how to decipher which message a given text wants to convey to us and, for that, it is essential to analyze some points.
We need to pay attention to the title, as it gives us clues about the subject that will be covered later. Soon after, the first paragraph appears, which, depending on the text, reveals the main elements contained in the subject to be discussed.
Generally, in the following paragraphs, the sender (the person who writes) usually develops his whole idea in a more detailed way. and, at the end, he makes a kind of “summary” about everything that was said, so as not to leave anything vague, meaningless for the reader.
So far we have talked about the way the text is constructed, but there is also another detail that we must never forget: punctuation. Sometimes a comma can change the meaning of a sentence, the question and exclamation marks say everything about the author's “intentions”, that is, he can leave a question for us to reflect, he can also praise or criticize, using the exclamation point, do you agree?
Therefore, it remains to be said that not always in a first reading we can identify all the necessary elements for a good understanding. If the message is not clear to our understanding, we carry out a second one, this time a little more attentive, giving importance to punctuation marks, as well as analyzing each paragraph and extracting the idea from it main.
Doing so, consider yourself a competent reader!!!
By Vânia Duarte
Graduated in Letters
Kids School Team
