Practical Ideas for childern English

�� Focus your child’s attention on the words (the text). You may glide your
fingers under the words as you read so as to demonstrate left to right reading
and draw attention to the fact that the symbols (letters and words) have
meaning. However, once your child has become a proficient reader encourage
him not to use his finger as this will only slow him down.

�� When your child points out something of interest in the story, show him the
word. Try to find this word on other pages. Make a game of this; your child
could clap each time he hears the word, or count how many times the word is
used in the story.

�� Look for small words in bigger words.

�� Choose a letter and find words that start or finish with that letter; e.g. the initial letter of your child’s name.

�� Let your child choose the story and there is no problem if he chooses the same
one regularly. The child is building a love of books and his enjoyment and
word knowledge is improved every time the story is read.

�� Before the end of the story stop and ask the child what he thinks the ending
will be. Prediction is an important reading skill. You could also try asking your
child to guess what the next word in a sentence will be, this is “cloze”. To start,
use simple words that have an obvious place in the sentence, or are connected
to the picture; e.g. “The boy sat on the _____”. Encourage your child to make
up a different ending to a well-liked story. This is composition practice.

�� Ask your child questions about the story he has just read. This is
comprehension practice. Try to find out if your child has understood what he
has read. Ask your child why he thinks the character may have done or said
something, ask what your child thought of the book, did he like the story?
Why? Why not?

All these ideas will work best when done in a caring and non-threatening environment.
Children cannot be pushed, threatened, bribed or beaten into being good readers. As
parents you should be encouraging a love of reading and the skills will flow naturally from this. Enhancing your child’s reading ability will take time, YOUR time. You must be prepared to sit with your child for a period every day. Even the busiest people can MAKE time for something as important as their children.

Childeren English Learning - Tips