1) Use flash cards
Many mothers start this for their children when they're as young as 3 months old! Get a set of flash cards (or you can make some yourself using vanguard sheets, just that it is more troublesome) and flash them to your child every day.
Experts have recommended that you do so at the same time every day, but practically, it may be difficult for busy Singapore mothers to do so. Make it a point to flash the cards every day, and if you can, do so in the morning as most children are at their freshest right after they wake up (that is, if they have had a good night's sleep).
2) Make the most of every opportunity
There are many opportunities for parents to engage their children with words than they can actually imagine. What about when you stop at that red traffic light? Singapore is full of billboards at bus-stops, signboards and posters that have words printed on them.
Use these seemingly insignificant details of life to help your child acquainted with words. Just keep them reading wherever they are.
3) Role Play stories / bedtime stories
While reading with them a story book, get your child excited about choosing his or her favourite character in the story (and you can pick one too!). Ask your child to pretend to be that character during the reading of the story book and get him or her to mimic the character's voice and play pretend with the character's actions!
These are fun times when you can also educate your child creatively by asking him or her questions like "Why do you like that character?" and "Do you think it's a good thing for Emily to be selfish? Why?" These are excellent times also, to impart good character morals and values.
4) Create a game / project that's interesting for your children
Get your child interested on reading internet articles ('cause some reading is better than none!) and how you can do so is by letting them research on a project that you set, for e.g. where to go for a family holiday, the places of interest that you can take them to, or the latest information about a movie that they'll like you to take them to.
5) Read subtitles of Chinese prorammes or the news at 10 on channel 5
Many school-going children in Singapore spend their time idling in front of the television set. Getting them to read English subtitles is important so they can familiarize themselves with proper sentence structures while watching programmes that they are interested in. Reading English subtitles while watching Chinese language programmes will enrich their bilingual abilities at the same time.
6) Doing fun things, e.g. reading cookbooks for an exciting dish or dessert together
Does your child like eating chocolate chip cookies, banana muffins or chocolate marshmallow ice-cream? Get cookbooks that teach you how to cook and bake and let your child choose his or her favourite dish in the cookbook.
Read the cooking instructions together with your child and get him or her to help you prepare the ingredients and then have him or her read out the step-by-step instructions to you while you do the cooking together.
This not only familiarizes your child with procedural (step-by-step) text types, it also proves to be a great way to bond with your child while doing something purposeful together.
7) Set aside a half-an-hour family reading time
The family that reads together stays together? Yes, say childcare experts and pediatricians. Studies have shown that when a child is accustomed to the sight of his or her parents reading materials ranging from books to magazines, newspapers, even articles on the internet, the child grows up to be an avid reader.
Many parents bemoan their children's lack of interest in reading, but guess what? Children are great at mimicking adults, as in the case of "monkey see, monkey do". Who else is a better role model at inspiring their children to read but their parents!
Therefore, remember that the half an hour that you put aside to read with little Johnny will be well worth the effort when you see how he can grow up to be an avid reader alongside his parents!
8) Make books readily available throughout the house
Children are great observers. Once they observe that books are a common feature everywhere in the home, they automatically realize that books must be a rather important part of their lives and in the lives of their parents!
Also, having books, newspapers, magazines, and even comic books lying on the coffee table in the living book, on a bookshelf near the dining table, or even in a magazine rack in the little boys' room (toilet) encourages your little ones to pick up the titles that interest them.
Just remember to keep changing the materials so the titles don't get boring to them.
9) Set up a small cupboard specially for your child
Instill a sense of responsibility and ownership in your child by assigning a "gift" such as a small cupboard or bookshelf for him to put all his little "books and such" reading materials in. Let him paint it if he wants to in his favorite color or let him create original designs.
If it's possible, assign a small "space" in your house e.g. in your living room and call it his or her "reading corner" where you can put the cupboard or bookshelf. Keep the reading corner colorful and aesthetically attractive and pleasing for your child (perhaps with a cushion or little armchair) so he or she can feel comfortable "hanging out" in that reading corner just to read.
10) Simulate a library "check-out" counter
Make the very act of reading books fun by simulating a check-out counter for your little one just like a trip to the library. Have your little one pretend to borrow books and you man the check-out counter by sticking a little piece of paper detailing when the due dates are for returning the books.
This will make future library trips more interesting and fun for your child.
11) Let your child pick out his or her own books at the library / bookshop
Encourage your child to develop his or her own taste for a particular genre of books when you take him or her to the local library or bookshop, either to borrow or buy books.
Encourage him or her to borrow books that will be educationally beneficial for your child, but at the same time, avoid stuffing books that your child has absolutely no interest in down his or her throat. You don't want to end up with a child who's turned off from the habit of reading simply because mummy "doesn't allow me to choose books that I like!"
Keep his or her choice of books to about 1-2 pieces while you try to encourage him or her to read books that you think have more educational value for your child.
12) Help your child write his or her own books
This may sound quite an impossible task to undertake, but don't despair. You don't need to be a writer yourself to do this! Simply encourage your child to fold two pieces of A4 sized blank paper into halves and have your child think of a title that he or she is interested in so he or she can write a story about it.
It can even just be a book about your child's favorite animal, like a dog or a hamster, and the contents can be something like that animal's habitat, breed, temperament, physical appearance and feeding habits and tastes.
Even better if your child can learn to conduct a simple research on the internet just by keying in the word like "dog" or "hamster" in a search engine before writing down a few important pieces of information in his or her very own book.
Get your child to design the book cover and pages the way he or she likes it before writing down how he or she wants the contents of the book to be designed and written.
FAQ
What if my child only likes to read only comic books?
My reply is this: don't worry. Any book that interests your child is better than none. At least your child is reading! Worry only when your child reads nothing but comics and his or her grades suffer as a result of following the comic books' sentence structure!
In fact, some comic books have fairly decent sentence structures and expressions that your child can use in his or her writing in school. The trick is this, not to over-use on comic book language. Instead, get your child to focus on good story and content plots that the comic books have to offer.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment