EN Teaching

Absolutely the best time to teach your child to read is right from birth. By reading from birth we don’t mean literally reading from birth in the sense of reading words. What reading from birth means is preparing the way for making reading easy when the time is right for your baby to begin responding to the printed word and reading what the letters say. The crucial thing to know is that your baby’s brain is most responsive and ready to learn language in the first three years of life. With this in mind don’t waste a single moment in stimulating your baby’s brain so that lots of strong connections are made in the first three vital years. So how do we prepare your baby to be ready to read easily? Here are ten steps to follow.

1. Talk to your baby from day one. Describe and explain in a warm loving voice. This attention will make your baby feel good and attune baby’s ear to your voice and native tongue. Also it teaches sounds and words in the baby’s native language.

2. Give your baby time to respond to you. The youngest baby can imitate facial expressions such as tongue sticking out and copy sounds. Pay attention and encourage your baby to ‘talk’ back. This is the very beginnings of conversation.

3. Read to your baby from day one. Make reading a daily habit which your baby will learn to love. It is a great time for closeness and bonding. Use exaggerated enthusiastic voices and big bright books to keep baby’s attention.

4. Show your baby black and white images from birth. Babies can focus on these better than anything and it teaches focus and eye control needed for reading later.

5. Sing to your baby. Buy a CD of rhymes and songs and play it to your baby. Your baby will soon learn them and be singing along before you know it.

6. Learn poems with lots of rhyme. The ability to rhyme words is essential later on when using phonics as a way of de-coding words.

7. Babies who have a good sense of rhythm have been found to be good readers too. So rock your baby to music and the rhythm in words to develop this sense.

8. Show your baby pictures and posters of the alphabet and any colorful objects such as animals, vehicles, food etc. Point out the letters of the alphabet and the names of the objects. This will help you baby to use their eyes, focusing on and familiarizing themselves with the printed word.

9. Encourage your baby to reach out for toys or any interesting object you place in their field of vision. Move a toy slowly from side to side and let your baby ‘track’ the object with his eyes. This teaches the tracking skills needed to follow a line of printed word later on when reading.

10. Always respond to your baby. Any sounds your baby makes, including crying should always be responded to. That way your baby learns the she is ‘heard’ and acknowledged. She learns that vocalising is a good and positive thing and that will encourage more. And, that is the beginning of speaking which is the most important of all human capabilities.

If you follow these ten steps your baby will find reading will come naturally and easily as all the foundations and pre reading skills will be learned.