Early reading helps kids become lifelong readersStephen Scott
Print Edition
Taking a “me-us-you” approach can be an effective way to provide your child with the confidence and perseverance to start on their path to becoming a lifelong reader. It is something that has worked with many of my students at the British International School Shanghai, Pudong and, indeed, my own children.
It is essential to note your child will have already developed a wide range of reading skills before they are sent books home from school. They will, like my own daughters, readily recognize logos of favorite restaurants or breakfast cereals. They will be able to look at pictures and get a feel for the mood. They will have been introduced to a variety of text types, including moving images where they have developed a range of summarizing skills. I’m sure you only need to ask a three-year-old girl to tell you what happens in “Frozen” and they will give you the long, or short if you can coax them well enough, summary.
Getting past frustration
Most children who are attending junior school will receive one or more books to read at home each week. Over a four-day period, when a child comes home with a new reading book, there is a tendency to want them to read it to you and for you to support with words that they might find tricky. But what happens when your child finds more than a few words tricky, even in one sentence? Frustration creeps in, they don’t want to continue because they are not experiencing the success that they need to persevere, and you begin to feel guilty about having not cleared up from dinner time.
The me-us-you approach works to ease this and to help the reading process. Here’s how it works.
On the first night, you read the story to your child. Talk about the pictures, beginning with the front cover. Ask your child to make predictions about what they think the book will be about. Ask questions about the characters they see and how the illustrator has shown what you have read in the pictures that have been drawn.
On the second day, read the story with your child; supporting every word that is spoken. Don’t worry if your child makes mistakes, they will continue to keep up with you. What is particularly important at this stage is that there continues to be a focus on understanding what is happening in the story.
On the third day, your child should take the lead with you reading a fraction behind them — “echo reading.” This reinforces that you are still reading together. By this time, they will know the story well and may still use the pictures for clues. More analysis can be done during this phase.
Now that they have heard the story a number of times, on the fourth day, they will have enough experience and success of reading the story that they will read independently to you. You will be able to ask questions to allow for deeper understanding.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
