Cape Argus

How parents can boost children’s reading skills

TEACHERS and educators in South Africa were shocked to find out that 81% of Grade 4 pupils cannot read for meaning, according to the latest Progress in Internatio­nal Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS). But it is not a problem isolated to SA. In the United States, two-thirds of American Grade 4s cannot read for meaning. And just like here, it is children in underprivi­leged schools with limited resources, who struggle most.

Research shows that pre-reading skills in early childhood education (before formal schooling) are vital for future academic success. While not all parents can afford to send their children to early childhood developmen­t centres, there is still plenty that can be done in the home to improve pre-reading skills. What is certainly worrying, is that the fact that only 5% of South African parents report spending time reading to their children, with 60% of homes having no books.

Fortunatel­y, even without books, it is possible to learn to read and to gain pre-reading skills. Reading takes place in five stages: there’s phonemic awareness – how to identify sounds. Then there’s phonics: how letters work together to make words. Then there’s fluency and vocabulary. When a child has a grasp of these four skills, they should be able to reach the fifth and final stage of reading comprehens­ion.

Here’s what we can do to help our kids’ developmen­t:

Teach pre-reading skills

The PIRLS study indicates that it is in the pre-reading stage of developmen­t that pupils struggle. Outside of early developmen­t centres, parents can practise pre-reading with their children. This is also known as the phonemic awareness stage. This is the ability to identify and manipulate sounds. Some games that could be played by parents are: rhyming riddles like ‘I spy’, or clap-it-out sound games for syllable recognitio­n and silly tongue twister games.

Next come simple reading skills: this refers to pattern recognitio­n and symbol recognitio­n, listening and understand­ing, making the connection that text is all around us (stop signs, shop names). Then reading from left to right and grasping that letters actually have sounds associated to them such as “a in ant”, not just names like “A for Annie”. It is about helping children make connection­s - showing letters on a magazine or a newspaper and looking at the similariti­es and difference­s between letters: b and d, p and q, n and m. If they see you reading to yourself – even if it’s not story time – ask them questions about what they think you might be reading based on the cover of the book or any related pictures. A big part of reading is using cues and what educators call “picture power”.

Enrol in Grade R

Basil Manuel, executive director of the National Profession­al Teachers Organisati­on of South Africa, says: “Grade R is the beginning of the formal learning phase in a child’s life.” It is the children who attend Grade R who have a head-start when they get to Grade 1. They are school-ready, and they do not suffer the prolonged catching up that children who have not had the privilege to attend Grade R experience.

Grade R teaches children many of the foundation­al skills needed. A big problem, however, is that ECD programmes, including Grade R, can be too expensive for most South African families to afford. It is estimated that 94 percent of ECD centres charge fees, and only 34% of children are enrolled in ECD centres because of this.

Establish a reading habit

For most of us, it usually takes just over two months to build a habit. That can sound like a long time – but really, even ten minutes a day is enough for the habit to form.

There are many ways to establish a reading habit, depending on your child’s stage of developmen­t. First, you should read to your own child. Later, have them read back to you. When they can read, encourage them to use the school library. If their school has no library go to the one in your community or nearest city centre. Library membership is free and our city libraries have many interestin­g and age appropriat­e books.

Buy newspapers

As their reading skills improve, your child should be able to take on a variety of material. Newspapers can be a good source, they contain a number of different kinds of stories, with different styles of writing being used for different subjects, and they only cost around R10.

Read the newspaper alongside your child, and talk about the stories after. Ask them to pick a favourite story and to explain why they liked it. This teaches comprehens­ion skills and encourages vocabulary building as the child needs to interpret and articulate what they read.

One TV-free day…

If we intervene early, at the pre-reading stage when children are four to six years old, we can build a strong foundation that can contribute towards improving literacy levels. According to some education experts, the trick is teaching a love of reading.

“We need to make more books available to our children, especially stories set in our local context, and told in their mother tongue,” says Lucia Ndabula, Oxford University Press’s national education manager. “This has been proven to help children learn to read faster.”

Busy and overworked parents may frown at the thought of adding to the daily burden. So how about this: a television-free day in your home. For just one day, all entertainm­ent can come from print. And if you have more than one child, why not get them to read to each other, or stage a little three-minute play? As the famous children’s author Dr Seuss once wrote: “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” Isn’t that what every parent wants for their child?