by Columbia Lee
Do you want your child to be a better reader? It’s very easy for parents to help their children learn to read. You don’t have to be a good reader yourself but you do have to want the best for your child.
You don’t have to read lengthy books to help your child become a great reader. You don’t need to spend a huge amount of time reading with your child. You don’t have to spend a lot of money on books. You don’t have to take expensive classes to know what to do and how to get started.
Read this carefully and I will tell you how to make sure your child is a good reader. I will begin by giving you some straightforward help and advice that is easy to understand. Ask your teacher how you can help your child. Check to see if the school has a reading volunteer program and join up.
What you are doing is helping your child form the basis for being an effective, lifelong reader. Reading enriches one’s life and expands one’s horizons and understanding. Any amount of time you spend with your child will make a huge difference to their education and their reading.
Children need to be excited and stimulated about the joys of reading. You need to show an interest in reading and you can begin by reading the books that have excited you. It is important to remember that you should choose books that suit your child’s interests and development level.
Start with a picture book, even big kids love picture books, particularly the ones by Graeme Base. Show them the pictures, discuss what you all see. Let them listen to your voice, and become aware that words convey meaning. They associate the written word with spoken language. If you are reading to beginning readers, track under the lines so that your child sees that you read from left to right. Turn the pages slowly and say, perhaps, what do you think will happen next.
Show that you’re interested in reading so that your children become interested. It doesn’t matter what you read, a manual, magazine, books, or even comics. At meal time, point out any words which are shown on the packages on the table. Choose a word and clap out the syllables in the word.
Reading is a very complex process and you need to learn something about it. For example, besides word recognition, there is rhyming, sounds that start and end the word, syllables in a word and so on. Use any opportunity when you are all together to pick out words and read as much as they can.
It doesn’t matter if children are competent, independent readers still keep reading to them. Most people, especially children, love to have stories read to them. Try to vary what you read, for example, read poetry as well stories. Anything that builds imagination, love of words and language, love of reading is powerful.
Read to your children all the time. Read fiction and non-fiction; read poems and short stories. Read about real things- animals in Africa, Space travel – whatever interests you and your child. The advantage of reading to your child is that you can read books about things that interest them and stories that are beyond their reading level. This will motivate them to increase their reading skills so that they can read more complex text.
Consider having a collection of children’s reading CDs for long travel time. Visit libraries and join up so that all the family can borrow books. Family reading time can be fun when each member reads independently. Endeavor to have a set time when everyone sits and reads, no TV no answering or using phones, no texting, no sitting at a computer, no drawing or writing.
Vary the content of what you read to children. Read them a cleverly crafted poem and talk about the ‘mental pictures’ the poem creates. Select some of the most exciting words from the poem – the fun words or the mysterious words. Encourage your children to enjoy the intricacies and beauty of your language. Select from magazines, books, letters, emails, catalogs, mail from the mail box – anything. Words are magical. Reading is fun. If you believe this and if you spend lots of time helping your child read, your child will do brilliantly at school and love language and reading.