Evolution of my reading habits over the years

I started reading very soon in my childhood. At the age of 4, I used to read short texts in TV advertisements and showed myself very curious about reading. It was clear that I was born to be a reading lover for life.

My reading habits have changed a lot as I have gotten older. When I was a child I read everything that fell into my hands. I loved when I got a new book for Christmas and I read it time after time. I kept every single book as a treasure because reading was my favourite pleasure. My favourite books were traditional tales compilations.

Later, during high school, many of the books I read were intended to get some califications in different subjects. Nevertheless, I didn't lose my interest in reading for pleasure and I started reading long fantasy novels (e.g. The Lord of the rings, Interview with the vampire...). At the same time, I discovered my first books in English: those chosen by my English teachers focused on encouraging my reading skills. They were short books with a pile of questions to answer in their last pages, so that I could learn a lot of English. But, to be honest, I preferred to read and translate song lyrics from my favourite rock bands. This was the main source of real knowledge about English language, since it brought me the opportunity to learn in a real context that was directly connected to my interests.

Once I started university and, later, when I started working, my free time decreased dramatically, and the same thing happened to my reading time. It took several years to rediscover my love for reading and, nowadays, I can enjoy again the pleasure of reading. As a teacher, and also a 4-year-old mother, I have to be very careful with the type of books I chose. I need to select not very long and easy to read books since my time to read is very rare in a normal day. I still enjoy reading paper books, although I also read on my e-reader, and many books I read are about psicology and/or parenting. However, I still enjoy a lot a good novel (like the 'Blackwater' saga). 

Now, I also enjoy the moments in which I read books to my son and I feel I'm providing him with very useful tools to get involved in reading as I did in my early years. Some of the books I read to him are those 'treasures' that I have kept from my childhood. The fact of reading my old books encourages him to learning to read.

To conclude, I would like to underline the importance that we have, as teachers, to create good reading habits in our students. If they perceive our love for reading, and we give them the correct reading context, it is very likely that they also become reading lovers.