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Learning English throughsharing picture bookslearning toge ther is fun!
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Child le a r n ing
T e a che r Pa r e nt
T he global exper ience of the Br itish Council tells us that childr en have mor e chance of being successf ul with their lear ning when teacher s and par ents wor k together .
Fo r e w o r dGetting involved in your childs lear ning can have a positive impact upon both their attitude and the speed at which they lear n. When par ents he lp the ir childr en outside the classr oom, the r e ar e r eal benets f or childr ens achievement inside the classr oom.
Jim Knight, the UKs Ministe r of State f or Schools and Lear ner s: Par ents have six times mor e impact on the lear ning of pr imar y age childr en than teacher s do. T her e ar e some simple steps you can take to encour age your child and build their condence in using English. Br itish Council educational exper ts have developed new Lear nEnglish Family pr oducts and ser vices in or de r to suppor t par ents. We hope you en joy using these pr oducts with your ch
ild. Af ter all, lear ning togethe r is f un!
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The advan tages o f
beginning early From the ver y rs t in troduc ti
on to lis tening to English,
children can en jo y care full y se lec ted pic ture books.
Young learners soon pick up the shor t tex t o f a pic ture
book, i f ini tiall y i t is shared wi th an adul t who brings the
pages ali ve .
Children are alread y familiar w
i th s tories. From a ve r y
young age the y talk in narra ti ve s t yle . I t is through
the ir s torie s o f e ve r yda y experiences tha t the y de ne
themsel ves: expressing their ideas, hopes and emo tions
in language as well as in dra wing and imagina ti ve pla y.
Man y children are alread y used to decoding s torie s
and in forma tion from te le vision or lm in the ir home
language , while o thers ma y ha ve
alread y en jo yed the
in te rac tion o f sharing a pic ture book. Mos t children,
i f guided b y a paren t, soon work ou t ho w to trans fe r their
indi vidual decoding skills to ge t meaning from pic ture
books in English.
Sharing pic ture books is no t onl y abou t picking up
ano ther language, i t is also abou t gi ving children a wider
windo w on the world, guided b y th
e ir paren ts.
The one- to-one in te rac tion o f sharing pic ture books gi ves
children added oppor tuni ties to de ve lop holis ticall y a t
T here wa s an old lad y who swallowed a y
M T winn 1973. Reproduced b y kind permission
o f Childs Pla y (In te rna tional ) L td. Allrigh ts reser ved.
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Pic ture books also he lp children nd meaning wi thin their
o wn li fe . Children can pore o ver emo tional si tua tions
con tained wi thin pic ture books tha t ma y he lp
to re lie ve
pe rsonal frus tra tions, or the y can encoun te r exci ting
and imagina ti ve experiences wa y be yond their o wn
en vironmen t or e ven the ir dreams. Imagine the po wer
a child feels as he or she rml y shu ts a book and sa ys,
GOODB YE Gian t!
Selec ting pic ture booksPic ture books ma y be:
s t o r y books shor t simple s tor y tex t including
con ve rsa tion and rh yme
in fo rma t ion books , wi th shor t explana tor y tex t
rh ym e books , which migh t in
troduce one s tor y rh yme
or an an tholog y o f poems
no ve l t y books , wi th shor t tex t and 3D paper sculp ture
charac t e r se r ie s books , wi th an accompan ying
charac ter doll or puppe t.
Paren ts need to se lec t books tha t the y en jo y and fee l the
y
can read con den tl y en thusiasm is in fec tious! Be fore
the y in troduce a book, the y need to plan ho w the y are
going to read the tex t and, each time the y re-read, follo w
the same plan. Children nd i t more di f cul t to pick up
language i f the reading di f fe rs each time .
Monke y and Me
Emil y Gra ve t t(Macmillan Childrens Books
, London, UK )
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In selecting books par ents need to think about gender and include some books that appeal to both boys and gir ls, so childr en have some common stor y exper iences to exchange.
Some boys nd it easie r to r elate to inf or mation books r ather than stor y books.
CD-ROMs and DVDsSome stor y books ar e sold with an attached CD-ROM or DVD. T hese of f er childr en a dif f e r ent, less intimate and mor e passive exper ience than shar ing pictur e books. For pr of ound lear ning, it is best to shar e the book until childr en know most of the text by hear t bef or e exposing them to either the CD-ROM or DVD.Apar t f r om the wealth of all-r ound exper iences that come f r om shar ing, childr en may not be r eady, bef or e they ar e f amiliar with the text, to cope with a voice and even accent that is dif f er ent f r om their par ents.
By this time childr en ar e likely to have f ound out how to en joy the pictur e book, and may even want to r ead by themselves.
De a r Z o oRod Campbe ll( Macmillan Childr ens Books, London, UK )
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I t is a good idea to share the choice o f books to be read,
as childrens reques ts ma y hide emo tional or language
needs. A ne w book is bes t in troduced once children
are beginning to read the o ther books success full y.
Presen ta tion o f a ne w book should be sa ved for a da y
when bo th paren ts and children feel good.
Paren ts role in in troducingnew booksIn the ini tial s tages children a
re dependen t on the
paren ts reading and in terac tion for inpu t and picking
up language.
The role graduall y changes as children begin to share a
li t tle o f the reading. As childrens reading abili t y increases,
the role o f the paren t graduall y diminishes.
B y the time children kno w the tex t b y hear t and are
capable o f reading the book aloud to themsel ves
or to o thers, the paren ts role is reduced to re-phrasing
mis takes and praising successes.
Throughou t this time the paren t is managing the
experiences and tuning in to the ir child to nd ou t wha t
s tage the y ha ve reached and where the y need added
suppor t. This c ycle repea ts each time a ne w book
is in troduced, bu t as children learn more English the
c ycle takes less time.
Can Y ou S pot the S pott y Dog?John Ro we(Random House )
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Many childr en who ar e alr eady r eading in the ir home language soon under stand how simple decoding wor ks and continue by themselves to r ecognise other shor t wor ds in the text. T o he lp their decoding, however , par ents need to tell them how to r ead shor t, but dif cult wor ds to decode, like the.
If par ents sing an alphabet song, explain that letter s have a name that is dif f er ent f r om the sound it makes and in most alphabet songs we sing the names of the le tte r s.
Some childr en teach themselves to r ead a text they alr eady know or ally, especially if it is r hyme. T hey use a number of str ategies to decode the text and a little guessing to ll in until they know the text by hear t. Many childr en have been using these str ategies f r om an ear ly age to r ead logos of well-known pr oducts. Pr aise their e f f or ts to r ead the text, but r ealise that this is r estr icted r eading based on a text they know or ally.
S i l l y S u z y GoosePetr Hor c ek( Walker )Cover illustr ation 2006 Petr Hor c ek Fr om Silly Suzy Goose by Petr Hor c ek. Repr oducd by per mission of Walker Books Ltd, London SE11 5HJ
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One of a series of booklets commissioned by the British Council to support parents:
How children learn English as another language
Speaking English with your child
Learning English through sharing picture books
Learning English through sharing rhymes
Written by Opal Dunn, Author and Educational Consultant from the UK and founder of RealBook News British Council 2008
The United Kingdoms international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities.A registered charity: 209131 (England and Wales) SC037733 (Scotland).