This is Elsinore

~ Sonya
100 words about learning to read as an adult
pd photo prompt for FFFPP week 9 

‘Nothing is ever as easy as it looks,’ he says.

‘But you’re making it harder on yourself. Let’s try something less taxing.’

He gives me a look that says he’s going to throw another tantrum unless I stop patronising him. Which won’t help with the reading.

‘Here,’ I say, pushing another book his way. One that’s a bit more appropriate for his level of literacy. He stops me.

‘It’s a children’s book.’

‘If you had to learn how to walk, would you start with running marathons?’

‘I am not a child.’

‘You won’t learn to read by starting with Shakespeare.’

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25 thoughts on “This is Elsinore”

  5. That last line is so true. I had to start off with some really fluffy writing and have finally, at the ripe old age of 36, gotten to the point where I can read things like Shakespeare without breaking my brain 😉 And I agree with the above, reading it well can teach you how to really let someone have it… and 9 times out of 10 they have no idea what you said.

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  6. Interesting story; very well written. It makes me want to know more. Is he a child? A grown man with the mind of a child. At the same time, his responses are those of an older person , teen or grown-up, so why the reading difficulty? Hummmm… Thanks for a story that makes me think.

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  8. I’ve taught some adult literacy classes, and the comment about where to start is so apt in that situation. The hard part for adults is that there aren’t a lot of books that they’d be interested in at an intro level. They’re insulted to have to read kids books, which is understandable. Sorry for the rambling–your piece just sent me down memory lane for a moment!

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    1. Don’t apologise, I always want to hear if one of my stories has triggered a reaction. And it’s good to know that I didn’t get it totally wrong. Thank you 🙂

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