15 Simple Yet Powerful Ways To Teach your Child To Read
Reading can help your child develop good communication and social skills. This activity can also help them spark their imagination.
Children who read can grasp language early. They will learn to speak and write faster. For these reasons, you need to know how to teach a child to read.
But how should you go about doing so as a parent? What strategies can you use to help your child learn how to read? And how should you get started?
Below are 15 simple yet powerful ways on how to teach a child to read:
You need to lead by example.
Children often imitate what their parents do.
So, if you want them to learn how to read, you need to be an avid reader yourself.
What your children see is more powerful than what they hear. So, they are more likely to show an interest in reading early on, if they see you reading.
Provide Your Child with Books
You need to have books in your home for your children. Otherwise, what are they going to read?
If possible, display them at your child’s eye-level so that they can see them and get interested.
You don’t have to buy new and expensive books for your children. There are plenty of books that you can buy cheaply.
You can also ask your family and friends if they have some that they want to get rid of.
Carve Out Time to Read with Your Child
You need to carve out time to read with your children. It could be on a Sunday afternoon when everyone is free.
Or you could dedicate some time just before your child’s bedtime to read with them.
Creating a reading routine is one of the most important ways on how to teach a child to read.
Where possible, try to read to your children every day, even if it’s only for 10 minutes or so.
Provide Your Children with Age Appropriate Books
Don’t concentrate so much on how to teach a child to read that you ignore their age-appropriate reading needs.
Children would show more interest in reading if it is easy for them to understand the content.
The easier it is to read, the more confident they become, and the more interesting books seem to them.
For example, there is a difference between what a pre-school child and teenager would find interesting.
And as children grow older and their reading skills improve, you can find them more complex books.
Encourage Buddy Reading With Your Children
Buddy reading is an activity that involves you reading together with your child.
You let them read a little, and then you take over for a while, and then pass on the reading to the child and so on.
You can also pair up older children with the younger ones.
Buddy reading is an excellent way to teach your child how to be fluent in their reading language.
Additionally, it ensures that children who struggle to read do not feel overwhelmed while practicing how to read out loud.
It also teaches older siblings empathy and patience as they try to help the younger ones with their reading.
Ask Your Child Questions While Reading
There is no point in learning how to teach a child to read if there is no understanding of the reading material.
So, you need to ask questions about what’s going on in the story as you read to your child.
Questions like, “What’s the dog doing?” or “Why are Tom and Mary running?” can help you know whether your child understands the story.
If they don’t, then you need to find another strategy that helps your child read and understand the content better.
Use Tablets and E-Readers to Encourage More Reading
If you can, buy an e-reader for your child. These technological devices can help your child read as they listen to a narration of the same stories.
And they enable you to provide hundreds of books all in one place.
You can install age-appropriate reading apps and books that your child can use to improve their reading even while you are on the move.
Some offer interactive stories that make reading much easier for children.
Also, children can zoom into words if they have difficulty seeing them from afar.
Introduce Audiobooks to Your Children
You should introduce your children to audiobooks if you can, as a strategy on how to teach a child to read.
Children will be in a better position to “read” books that are beyond their reading age, even if they have reading disabilities. Such books will also improve their comprehension skills.
When children read the normal way, they may miss the rhythm and speech patterns. But with audiobooks, they can hear the expressions and the tone of voice.
That in turn, helps them to articulate the words when they speak them out loud.
Provide extra reading materials
Make it a habit of letting your children read as many reading materials as possible.
These include menus, labels, signposts, ingredients on food containers and recipes, etc. You can also provide age-appropriate comics.
The goal is to ensure there is always something for your child to read. If you are struggling with how to teach a child to read, making a game of this is quite effective.
Write Down Difficult Words for Your Child to Learn
Whenever you come across a new and difficult word while reading with your child, write it down.
Then, later on, both of you can consult the dictionary on its meaning. Let your child read it aloud and learn to spell it.
The more new words your child learns, the better their reading and comprehension skills become.
Play Word Games
Incorporate reading into the games your children play. You can teach your children how to play games such as scrabble for children.
It will help them remember the spelling and meaning of words.
Use Songs to Improve Reading
If you are wondering how to teach a child to read, consider using songs.
By singing, children can learn the letters of the alphabet and the sounds of those letters.
It helps them remember what they have read and learned faster. The alphabet song is an example of the use of singing to help children remember the letters.
Provide a wide variety of books that your children enjoy
Children, like adults, will have different tastes in reading material.
You need to give them some freedom in choosing the books that they want to read so long as they are age-appropriate.
The books may belong to fantasy, mystery, sports, science fiction categories, etc.
Children are more likely to read if they enjoy themselves.
Dramatize Stories for Your Children
Use story dramatization as a method on how to teach a child to read. You can do it or encourage them to dramatize the stories.
It helps them understand what they are reading and the context and it also helps them to recall the content later on.
Dramatization also improves language development in children.
Practice Patience
Every child has unique reading needs. Be patient with your children.
They are more likely to learn to read confidently if they don’t feel the pressure and weight of your disappointment.
Learning how to teach a child to read is a process. What works for one child may not work for another.
But don’t give up – find an alternative way to turn your children into good readers.
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