That Darn English Language

Have you been singing the ABC song since your baby could sing? Have you been looking for letters, pointing them out and naming them? How about practicing the sounds they make? Wonderful! This is beginning phonics! Maybe you've even been sounding out simple words: ME, CAT, DOG, MOM, DAD. Great! You can then look for those simple words in books and have your child read them. You can even find many books that are written almost solely with simple words that your child can sound out. (Often these books are terribly boring and make no sense, so beware!) These are very important reading skills. Your child may then begin learning combination sounds like TH, CH, SH, OO, and the silent E. Amazing! There is so much to learn!

Then come even more complicated rules and all the exceptions to those rules. Gee whiz! Could we have a more complicated language? English is one of the more difficult languages to learn because of its complexity and the sheer number of words that have variations in meaning, are spelled the same but pronounced differently, or sound the same but are spelled differently. I know you know all of these things because you are reading this right now. And you don't need to think about any of those rules, do you? That is because you are a fluent reader. You have been speaking and reading English long enough that you no longer need the rules. Your brain focuses mainly on the beginning and ending sounds and context clues when reading.

But back to our young readers... how do we help them with the craziness of the English language? I cannot recommend the "sound it out" approach. Yes, it can work. It is obviously helpful to know the general rules and sounds that letters make. But this strategy for figuring out unfamiliar words quickly becomes very frustrating for the child and for the parent or teacher! It is usually more effective to memorize some of the most common sight words (remember those books they memorized from infancy). Then when the child comes to a word they don't know, have the child guess, based on the beginning and/or ending sound of the word and, most importantly, the context of what they are reading. This means they have to be thinking about what they are reading and gaining meaning from the words, not simply decoding sounds. And gaining meaning is the entire goal of reading!

This is also why I advocate turn taking while reading. Remember round robin reading as a child when you went around the classroom taking turns reading a sentence or paragraph? Maybe you were the slow reader and hated reading aloud or maybe you were the fluent reader and wanted to read the entire thing so you didn't have to wait for the slower readers. Whichever child you identify with, the idea behind this approach is that the more fluent readers will model for the others. They will keep the flow of the text moving and hopefully everyone is listening and gaining meaning. The slower readers still get practice reading aloud without the frustration of having to read the entire text. Parents can take turns reading with their child to gain the same effect in a more safe, comforting environment.

There are huge benefits to continuing to read more challenging material aloud to your child for many years to come. In college, I loved when our Children's Literature teacher would sit us all on the floor and read wonderful picture books to us. I remember the tears in my eyes as I listened to her read books like "The Dead Bird" and "Pink and Say." Aside from sheer enjoyment, listening expands a child's vocabulary as they hear unfamiliar words. When they encounter these words in their own reading, they will be prepared for them. Audio books can be a nice tool if you do not feel comfortable or confident reading aloud. You can also take advantage of story time at your local library or bookstore.

Heading to your library or bookstore can double as an outing that will bring up topics for conversation. Talking with your child is just as important to reading success as reading aloud. The reason reading to children is so powerful is that books tend to use new words that we don't encounter in everyday situations. So in that vein, you can help your child's reading success by bringing different vocabulary words into conversation or imaginary play. Explore the world, get into new situations, visit unique places: museums, fairs, fire stations, the post office... exposing your child to new terminology and giving them hands-on context for these unfamiliar words. Have them tell someone about their experiences to reinforce their learning. Later, when they are reading to themselves, they will know those words based on their beginning and ending sounds and the context in which they appear.

Your baby CAN read

You don't need fancy videos or flash cards. I am here to tell you, your baby can read. When you read that animal sound book that your child loves so much (you know, the one with the fuzzy lamb and smooth cow) for the thousandth time and they chime in with their sweet little, "Moo!" They are reading along. Sure they have memorized it. That is part of reading. Knowing the letters and sounds will come later. Enjoying a book with you and being encouraged to be a part of the process is the first step.

Later, when your child tells you they "don't know how" to read, pull this book out again. Or try the good old Blue Hat, Green Hat or No, David. Remind them that they DO know how to read. If they get stuck on a word, they can use the pictures to help them. They can read McDonald's and STOP, after all. (Tell me, parents, how many of the words in this blog have you had to sound out, for goodness sake.)

This is a good time, if you haven't already, to begin playing with letters and sounds. A great time for this is during a boring car ride. My husband likes to play the No Parking sign game with the kids. Do you know how many of those Ps there are on any given street? That game gets old fast, but the kids never seem to tire of it. I like to have the kids read the next word in a story, especially short words like "me" or "see," and fill in the rhyming words in a rhyming book. They get practice using context clues and using beginning letters as clues. And I get to tell them what great readers they are!

I have so much to say about learning to read, I could go on and on. And I hope to in this blog. I will share some stories of things we have done at my house. My son learned to read at 3 and my daughter is now reading at 4. I'm not much for drill and practice. My son wouldn't have any of it even if I was. We just read and read and read and then we play with silly sounding words on our way to the library. So come along with me for some inspiration. I have enough love for teaching kids to read that some of it is bound to rub off!