Many parents have expressed to me their concern about their child's progress in reading. I can understand their worries, since a child can't be struggling to recognize words in a textbook when he is trying to read to understand the meaning of the text. It is obvious that children must learn to read before they can read to learn.
My current students are lower primary kids (ages 6-8). This is an optimal time to instill a love for reading in them. Our school conducts reading schemes, offer library services, storytelling sessions and lessons dedicated to reading. Within our English curriculum, students go through a dozen different readers with pre and post reading activities every school term so they definitely do "read" but how much do they "enjoy" reading is another question. How can we, teachers and parents, help our kids find enjoyment in reading?
I think the answer lies in first establishing a reading culture at home and at school. Do you read to/with your child at home? Do you take him to the library? Are you being a good role model by letting your child see you read? Do you encourage him to read by himself? Do you discuss the reading materials together? Do you buy books instead of toys as gifts? All these things can help children develop good reading habits.
Kids who genuinely love reading would do it all the time (willingly and without needing to be asked). These kids would head straight to the book shelves every morning in my English Room. They reluctantly put down their book when I say "time's up". I spot them reading during recess and even on the school bus home. When you ask them about what they're reading, they'd excitedly tell you about the character of the story, the new facts from a science fiction book or even quiz you on some riddles. Of course not every child is like this. Afterall young boys have so much energy, it's not abnormal to see them choose sport over books! However, I do want to motivate all my students to read more and one way to motivate them is to make accessible to them books which they're interested in.
Here are some reading materials which I've observed to be a "hit" with my students:
"Ben 10 Alien Force storybooks" by various authors
"Star Wars DK Readers" by various authors
My all time favourite children's book author is
Roald Dahl. I grew up reading his stories and still enjoy reading them now. Here are some of my favourite Roald Dahl titles:
All of the above books mentioned are available for borrowing and reading in our school library and the English Room.
Besides fiction books, it’s also beneficial to promote an interest in news and current events at an early age, especially for more advanced learners. So besides reading fiction books here are some online websites for kid-friendly current affairs:
Kids network galore with interesting facts, cool e-magazines and games!
Children's BBC website with lots of interactive games, clips and quizes!
A business newspaper for children!
HAPPY READING!!
