Ankuran: DEVELOPING EARLY READING HABITS IN YOUNG CHILDREN

Ankuran: DEVELOPING EARLY READING HABITS IN YOUNG CHILDREN:  "  Every child you encounter is a divine appointment."                                                                 - Wess Sta...

DEVELOPING EARLY READING HABITS IN YOUNG CHILDREN

 " Every child you encounter is a divine appointment."

                                                                - Wess Stafford

My child is unable to read a Class 3 level textbook. Mam, students at Class 6 level have problems in writing the words and pronunciation. What should we be doing? What kind of strategies do I design so that my child can read and speak fluently in English. Some of the common questions that intrigue parents pertain to developing early reading habits in young children-like what kind of books should I be giving my young one to read? How can I develop reading skills in my little one? How can I help him so that he could read the text well? How can I develop fast reading in my child?

As a researcher working in the field of Foundational learning and as a reader so much in love with books my journey with reading is quite an amazing one. In this blog I will be sharing some of the ways through which parents and early childhood educators can develop early reading habits in their children. Along with that there will be brief elaboration on some of the books that could be used by parents and teachers to develop reading habits in children.

Anything that we do in continuation over a period of time becomes a habit. In the Foundational years the main focus when it comes to developing reading skills of our children lies in the area of developing oral competency, letters recognition, forming words, print awareness etc.

WHY DEVELOP THE PRACTICE OF READING?

1.To let the imagination of child blossom.

2.To develop curiosity in children towards learning of new concepts.

3.Knowing the world around us etc.

WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT BOOKS THAT CAN BE GIVEN TO CHILDREN IN THE FOUNDATIONAL YEARS?

• The Butterfly Lion - Michael Morpurgo

• The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

• The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Eric Carle

• The Giving Tree - Shel Silverstein

• The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse - Charlie Mackesy

Source:   The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse by Charlie Mackesy - Penguin Books Australia

Develop oral competency requires being able to come in terms to the letters being used in the text, word recognition etc. Often it is seen that in subjects like Assamese and English emphasis is given on children going through the text with the teaching reading the lines of the text in the classroom and then students repeating the sentences after the teachers. Our very motive as educators should not be to let monotony sweep in our classrooms rather to let adequate student engagement happen through diverse classroom-based activities. This requires building the emotional connect between students and teachers. Reading without understanding has no meaning.

WHAT CAN TEACHERS DO TO PROMOTE EFFECTIVE READING?

Essential it is for teachers to understand the importance of pedagogical approaches in the form of different methods that could be used-

1.Using TPACK framework in the classroom. TPACK refers to Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge. TPACK is a framework that could be used by teachers for effective instructional delivery through ICT (Information and Communication Technology) integration in the classroom. 

2. Building upon the existing knowledge of the students.

3. Fun based classroom activities.

4. Adequate stimulus variation being used by teachers in the classroom.

5.Tapping into the inbuilt potentialities of the child

WHAT IS THE ROLE OF PARENTS IN PROMOTING READING HABITS IN CHILDREN?

• As a mother it is essential that you yourself have an inclination towards reading.

• Develop the practice of bedtime reading.

• Bring diversity in reading practices like not going only with reading of stories but also at times shifting it to reading of a poem for our young ones.

• Take your child to attend different storytelling sessions.

• Keep a note on the progression of the learning curve of your child.

• Believe in your child.

• Provide adequate motivation in the form of different reinforcement.

• Take a look at his strength and weakness through SWOT analysis. SWOT refers to Strengths, Opportunities, Weakness and Threats. It refers to a management technique through which appropriate planning for the child's progress towards reading habits can be done if the weakness in one specific area could be found out.

• Once in a week visit the schools and talk with the subject teachers to understand the progress of your child.

• Talk with stakeholders associated with the learning of the child-researchers and policy makers.

• Gift the child a book on his birthday.

• Take a look at the local specific literatures available.

• Work towards developing community libraries in which your child can sneak peek into the amazing world of books.

• Give the child a dictionary directing about its usage.

• Try to introduce a new word in the dining table.

• Do not focus upon the end result. Every child has his own pace of learning. Have faith in the abilities of your child. Let these abilities blossom spontaneously focusing upon his needs.

• Giving focus to intonation, bringing clarity in the way instructional practices and reading based activities could be done in the classrooms.

• As teachers it is essential for us to understand that the need of our learners in the classroom is very diverse. This is due to the social set up that they comes from along with many other associated factors.

Reading is fun when it is done keeping in mind the learners interest, age appropriateness and contextualization related aspects. Our aim as teachers should not be to put information in the students mind. Rather we should work upon our ability to design different ways through which we can work towards developing the interest for reading in our children's mind in the Foundational years.

Reading is life. It introduces children to a whole new world of imagination and fantasy and helps children come in terms to understanding of human emotions which is vital for societies to sustain. Let your child explore the amazing world of reading.

Signing off

With lots of love and best wishes

Priyanka