One of the most challenging tasks for a parent is to teach their kids the skill of reading. If even your kid started speaking at an early age, it does guarantee that they will become good speakers. However, if you know how to teach reading to kids?
A good speaker can pronounce a word, understands the phonics, can overcome language barriers, and can communicate fluently. However, with globalization, one more criterion has been added to this list. That is understanding a universal language like English.
So, you need to make your kid good in everything listed above. If you do not know the way, this article will tell you how to teach kids to read? and how to teach English reading to kids?
How to Teach Kids to Read Alphabets?
A surprising fact is kids learn to speak words before they speak the alphabet. Like they might start calling you ‘momma’ but they do not know how to spell it or read the alphabets separately. So, you need to know how to teach your child to read?
Here are some tips to help you.
1. Where to Begin?
Most parents stay confused about whether to start with letter names or letter sounds. According to various research on reading ( such as Invernizzi, Calkins, Ehri, Mc Bridge, and Cunnigham), teaching both letter names and letter sounds is extremely beneficial to teach kids the skills of reading and writing.
The majority of people go for letter sounds. But there are considerable reasons to prefer teaching the names of letters before letter sounds. Some of them are:
- When you teach the names of letters, kids get lots of clues of the letter sounds or a part of it. For example, the letter C contains the sound ‘c’ in the beginning and the letter M involves the sound ‘m’ in the end. There are only three letters in the 26 alphabets that differ in their names and sounds. They are W, Y, and H. So, by only teaching the names, half of the sounds are done.
- It is easier for kids to pronounce the letter names than to learn the sounds of alphabets in isolation. For example, the letter B sounds more like ‘buh’ when pronounced in isolation. So, kids might face difficulty recognizing them in the early days.
- The sounds of letters are not consistent. They change according to the word they are placed in. However, the situation is not similar to letter names. Once a kid remembers them, they remain the same everywhere in every word. For example, the letter u in the word put makes the sound ‘u’ while the same letter in the word cut gives the sound of ‘a’.
Undoubtedly, you can choose how to teach kids to read? According to when suits your kid but this tip might help you in some ways.
2. Lower or Upper Case Alphabets?
Your kid needs to read and understand both lower and upper-case alphabets. Although the lower case is the most used alphabet, it is better to start with uppercase, why? Here are two reasons to choose it:
- Kids usually face the challenge to recognize the distinction between lower case alphabets. However, it is easier for them to recognize the upper case. For example, consider the alphabet g and y in lowercase and uppercase. They look too similar in the former while there is a clear distinction in the latter.
- Kids easily read what they can write. It is easier to write uppercase letters than the lower ones. You might observe that even if you instruct them to write lower case, their instinct goes with upper ones.
Again, one thing you should remember. How to teach reading to kids? depends on the comfortability and preferences of your kid. However, you can use this tip as a reference.
3. Is Letter of the Week Idea Beneficial?
The answer to this is tricky. Undoubtedly, it is helpful as your kid gets enough time to absorb one alphabet and then go for the other. However, there are some shortcomings, they are:
- It might limit your kid’s phonic learning. Learning one letter a week means it would take 26 weeks to learn the entire series. For a growing kid, it is too much of a time to give on 26 alphabets.
- Most of the time, kids already know the names and sounds of some letters. So, spending a week on it is wasteful.
Thus, it is better to go with two to three letters in a week or you can choose a time according to your kid’s acquiring capabilities.
So, these were some answers to the question of how to teach your child to read? However, when the kid starts reading alphabets, you should focus on teaching them English reading as a whole. The next section deals with the question: how to teach English reading to kids?
Also Read: Phonetic Spelling for Children: Teach Kids the Right Way to Speak
How to Teach Kids to Read English?
When it comes to how to teach English reading to kids?, it becomes challenging for specially Indian parents. This is because kids usually do not get an English-speaking environment in their homes. However, here are some tips to help you with it.
1. Use Nursery Rhymes and Songs
You might see songs and rhymes as a source of entertainment only but, they are not. They carry a huge significance. When kids hear the sounds or syllables, they learn to pronounce them in the same way.
2. Try to Add New Posters in Your House for Kids
Try to add new posters that contain pictures, alphabets, things with their pronunciation, etc in your kid’s room. When they see these things regularly, they gradually acquire them. When you go to parks or malls, ask them to read the things written on the road walls, posters, billboards, shop names, etc. It helps you to know their level of learning.
3. Read a Book regularly
Pick a small storybook and read it to your kid regularly. Make sure you do not mispronounce any word. Kids will automatically learn the way to read. You can also ask them questions from that book or ask them to read a page or two.
4. Practice Sight words
Sight words are a bit different to read. You recognize the pronunciation of these words after seeing them. For example, the word you is a sight word.
So, these are some tips on how to teach English reading to kids. However, it also gives an insight into how to teach reading to kids?
Conclusion
It is not difficult to teach kids reading if you know the correct way. Every kid has their potential. So, it is always recommended to work according to it. If your kid takes time to learn things, give them time. In this way, they will soon become good readers.
