Toddling off to the library

A Facebook status from a friend of mine today read 

Son just came out with "Want to read the book on the changing bench" exactly like that - should I congratulate him or ask him to use "I" at the start ... he is only 2 years and 2 weeks! 

The first response was from another friend who happens to be a librarian: “Impressed that he wants to read a book”. 

At this age, having lots of books around is the best approach. Reading whenever possible gives so much opportunity to enjoy each other’s company. Children grow up so fast that parents don’t have many years of being able to read together. Yes, we do all get fed up reading the same story again and again, and again, and yet again! This is so important for children though. They learn through repetition and they also ‘pretend’ to read by memorising their favourite stories. 

Don’t worry if they want to flick through the pages quicker than you can read. They are learning how a book works. Discuss the pictures - the old adage “A picture says a thousand words” is very appropriate in terms of initial stages of comprehension. It’s far more important that children enjoy books at this age rather than pushing them into ‘learning to read’. If they ask about the words then answer but remember that the idea at this stage is to let them discover the wonder of books. Books help them develop their imagination, whisking them away to strange places. There’s a wonderful mystery in the letters on the page, a code which they don’t yet know but are often eager to learn as one of the milestones of growing up. 

I love being involved in this journey of discovery. Usually, when a child comes to me the parent is worried that they aren’t reading and are falling behind. One little girl who was five when I first tested her knew her single letter phonics (as in Cah-Ahh-Tuh) but only a few words. She very clearly placed the blame for this on her mother as when I asked her if she knew the words in front of us, she boldly stated “Mummy hasn’t taught me that one!” She’s been with me for 1 term now having completed the Kip McGrath Early Reading Programme and is already doing cursive (joined-up) writing. Now that she’s got the basic sounds, she is equipped to work out many unfamiliar words for herself. 

English is in many ways a difficult language to learn to read because the spelling of a word may be very different to the sound of the word. Where the letters represent the sound, we call these sound words. Where the letters are less closely linked we call these sight words. So, a common sound word is “broom” where the sound of the letters represents the sound of the work while “light” is a common sight word. The reason for the difference is complex involving the Great Vowel Shift when pronunciation changed and the adoption of “loan words” from other languages such as French or German. 

All of this means that practice and guidance is essential when teaching a child to read. It pays off when you see a child learning the wonder of the written word. I consider myself very lucky to do this for a living. 

Until next time 

Jan Long

Centre Director

Kip McGrath Education Centre (Southampton)