We all love to hear “Read this to me, please!” because it means that our children are interested in books. But do you sometimes wonder whether there are ways that you could improve your reading-for-enjoyment times with your children? The most important thing is for you to enjoy yourselves because that way your children will…
One common question I get asked often is: can young children understand what they are reading? This question comes from parents that have seen videos of children reading books at just 3 and 4 years old, and also of videos of other very young children that learned to read early using my Reading Program It’s a legitimate question, because…
Did you know that over 30 million adults in South Africa are considered functionally illiterate? These 30 million adults do not have adequate reading and writing skills to manage day-to-day living and employment tasks that require reading skills beyond a basic level. Worse yet, did you know that 38% of all grade four students have…
There are many words in English that end with a silent e, and sometimes when teaching children to read, parents might scratch their heads and wonder how to explain why an ending is a silent one. There are 5 main spelling rules to be aware of, and knowing these will help you explain most situations….
Many studies have shown that children who cannot read find it hard to study well and, as a result, do not perform well during exams. But have we been teaching them wrong? There is a tendency amongst teachers to teach children sight words and word shapes. What is wrong with this? Children “learn” these words…
Research shows that for children to become enthusiastic, fluent readers, they need a firm grasp of phonics and the alphabetic code. That’s where phonological and phonemic awareness — the ability to identify and manipulate individual sounds in words — come into play. Having said that, we understand that it can sometimes be hard to know…
Before your child can learn to read, he or she must first learn some basic letter names and letter sounds. For example, the letter “A” makes the /A/ (ah) sound. (slashes denote the sound of the letter). To be able to read, a child must be able to recognize the letters, know the sound of the letters, and be able to recognize the letters quickly and say the sound…
One of the best ways to help your child develop phonemic awareness is through practising “blending”. Being able to blend and segment words helps children to read and spell. According to the National Reading Panel, blending helps children develop reading skills where printed letters are turned into sounds which combine to form words. Start blending practice with some…
Last time, we talked about phonemic awareness. In this part, we’re going to discuss a bit on how you can help your child develop phonemic awareness. Just to recap, Phonemic Awareness is defined as the ability to identify, hear, and work with the smallest units of sound known as phonemes. One of the best ways to help your…
What’s the best way to teach a child to read? This is a hotly debated topic – especially when the debate revolves around phonics and phonemic awareness vs whole language method of learning to read. I can tell you decisively right now that phonics and phonemic awareness are far better methods for teaching children to read than the whole language method….
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