All of us, young and old, love to hear stories. In the past, there were no facilities to travel like today.
Along the way, the ancients who stopped and rested in Ambalama (a place built to provide shelter for travellers) and spent the night exchanged many interesting stories. With the development of print-media, these stories made by the people (folktales) were later added to the pages of books. Today, reading story books is popular all over the world. Some stories become so popular that they are even translated into different languages. With story books, people's interest in reading and enjoyment increases.
Nowadays schools and various institutions make various efforts to increase the passion of reading books in children through electronic and printed media. However, due to the various social changes caused by the Covid-19 disaster, children had limited opportunities to go to school, meet teachers to discuss their problems and friends to have fun and hang out with books. All of us who were used to a certain lifestyle had to move away from many things unexpectedly. Adults and children were overwhelmed by fear, uncertainty, isolation, and loneliness. The children spent their time in great anxiety, not being able to imagine the day when they will play with friends again, play games with relatives, meet their new teachers, pass exams, and go to a new class. It is an unfortunate incident that has been widely seen during this period, when the child without any hope and aim unknowingly resorted to actions that did not suit them.
Even though social media is rapidly popular, many of its contents are presenting themselves as polluting rather than nourishing the minds of children. It is not fair to blame young children for their desperate behavior in the absence of the nutritional factors necessary for the birth of high imagination and creative ideas. In this situation, I realized that there is a need to create a high level of enjoyment and thinking power in children, so Animated Audiobooks is one of the results of ND Production's effort to do something new through the YouTube channel. It is a fact that Animated Audiobooks, which are very popular in other countries, are still at a primary level among our parents and children.
There are many special things I hope to see from Animated Audiobooks. One of them are providing the children with the necessary nourishment for their minds, while providing them with knowledge, fun, and interest in reading. Animated audiobooks can be carried around using an electronic device, making them easier to move around than a printed book. Nowadays, due to the scarcity of printing materials like ink and paper, the high cost of books, parents must spend more money to buy additional books for their children. Compared to that, the cost of Animated Audiobooks is very less. Another advantage is the ability to read Animated Audiobooks whenever and wherever you are. Also, due to the current power cuts in the country, even if you need another power source to read a printed book, but you don't have to look for another source of power to read Animated Audiobooks. Besides, Animated Audiobooks can be enjoyed together with all the family at home, thus providing an opportunity to increase family bonding and exchange ideas with each other.
An attempt has been made to attract children and give them the impetus to create images by adding motion pictures to Animated Audiobooks. By adding voice to the story, I have tried to increase the listening habit of the children and to give them the opportunity to read easily and enjoy the story by themselves without the help of another adult. Also, by presenting the same story in different languages like Sinhala, English, and Tamil, I hope to take these stories to more children. In the future, the stories will be translated into Chinese language as well.
I believe that the best practices, examples, and knowledge that a child needs to be taught can be more impressed by telling them through a story rather than telling them directly. I hope to release more creations related to important topics and issues for children in the future through the ND Production channel.
You can watch the currently released Animated Audiobooks through the extensions below.
Dr. Nadee Dissanayake
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