Helping Children Be Ready to Read

Published October 2, 2015

Most parents want their children to be readers and we get lots of questions about how best to help very small children to be ready to read so here’s a few principles.

A Story

In Portugal recently we had some Portuguese lessons, I wasn’t looking forward to it because I have not had good experiences learning foreign languages myself so it was with some trepidation that I approached the first session. It was a private lesson, so just my husband and myself with the teacher. The experience was illuminating for me. She basically spoke to us for an hour  in Portuguese (and this was repeated during the next 4 hours of lessons) she spoke slowly and used lots of gestures, there no written clues, no books opened and we were not ‘allowed’ to speak in English. It was brilliant, although there were a few times when I felt lost, she was patient and would repeat her instructions. It was immensely practical and it struck me that we were learning just like a child would learn. By the end of the first session I could follow simple instructions in Portuguese.

In terms of language acquisition children learn to comprehend speech first, a toddler will be able to follow simple instructions and will then begin to use occasional words which then become phrases (I was just getting to the short phrases part at the end of the last lesson!). Obviously we wouldn’t attempt to teach children to read until they can understand the spoken language and speak it themselves, and of course that consists only of SOUNDS.

A good reading programme will always begin with what the child knows – the sounds of the language which his why Sounds-Write is such an effective programme, you can find out more about Sounds-Write by following this link http://www.sounds-write.co.uk/

So as parents if you want to help your children to be ready to learn to read get them to concentrate on the sounds of the language. Here’s a few ideas of how you can do that

Get them to listen to and identify the sounds that are in words-

Begin by identifying initial sounds “What’s the first sound you hear in snake?” for example. Words beginning with continuants, sounds you can hang on to, like ‘s’ ‘m’ ‘f’ are a good place to start

Or you could try getting to children to find objects that have a particular sound in their name things that have a ‘c’ (as in cat) for example cup, cat, cap, cot, clown, but also duck and clock and monkey

Get children to think about the sounds in their name or yours

Using books get them to point to a picture of an object on the page that begins with a particular sound

But remember the following points

  • Concentrate just on the sound NO writing or even recognising letters (the symbols of the sounds) is required at this stage.
  • Use ONLY the sounds NOT any letter names
  • Use very precise pronunciation of the sounds if you are unsure how to pronounce a sound precisely you can watch a video by clicking this link http://www.st-thomasaquinas.co.uk/  then clicking the Sounds-Write tab OR by following this link which explains a little about why precise pronunciation of the sounds is important

Help children develop an understanding of the ‘culture’ of reading and stories

Most toddlers and children love being read to and before that will often enjoy holding books, especially ones with good quality images, but they enjoy recognising pictures. When you repeatedly read with a child – long before they can read they will learn that

  • we read left to right across a page (not the same in every language)
  • text is different to images
  • text in a book usually relates to the images
  • the language in a story may be a little different form normal speech, it may rhyme for example
  • many stories even for quite small children have some kind of plot and a beginning, middle and end.

Help them to develop an interest in books

We are all prepared to work harder at something we are motivated to do. When children are very small ensure that story time is a good time. It doesn’t have to be just before bed, invest time in reading with your children, and make it fun!

  • Ensure there are good quality books available throughout the home not just in the bedroom
  • Ensure  children see you reading, after all they learn by copying what they see, talk about books, reading and stories as a family
  • Make  visits to the libraries (where they are still available) part of normal family routine

Often very young children will sit and turn the pages of a book while telling the story, they aren’t reading of course but they are showing an understanding and interest in books and stories

“Children are made readers on the laps of their parents” Emilie Buchwald so spend regular quality time with children on your lap enjoying stories together. Sounds like a real treat to me!