Reading With Children

Some guiding principles byMr. Martin Kennard

Location

• Find a safe and comfortable place, not on the MTR on the way home from a restaurant!

• For younger children, the bedroom may be the best location.

Preparation

• Read what your child is interested in, repetitive language is recommended. This can get children more involved in the story.

• The difficulty should be slightly above their current reading level with about 5% of the vocabulary being new words.

• Take some time to prepare by reading the book yourself.

Make it fun

• Show yourself enjoying the book

• Use different voices. Highlight punctuation.

• Use puppets, if you have them.

• Personalize the reading.

Interacting with the text

• Focus on the positives. Don’t dwell on errors.

• Be prepared to answer questions. (This takes priority over ‘getting the book done’).

• Try to think of some open ended questions of your own.

• If your child wants one part of the story to be repeated, that’s okay.

Develop a routine

• To instill a love of reading, make it an enjoyable routine.

• Keep sessions short and sharp. About 20 minutes each day is recommended.

• Keep it separate from homework.

Go beyond the story book

• Reading can take place in many different forms and contexts

- talk about signs

- put messages in lunch boxes

- write notes

- play word games

Be a good role model

• Let your children see you reading all different kinds of texts.

• Be a reading family. Keep, borrow and buy books.

References

• The Read Aloud Handbook, Jim Trelease

• Reading Magic: Why Reading Aloud To Our Children Will Change Their Lives Forever, Mem Fox

• http://www.youngreadersfestival.org.hk