How to Teach a Child to Read

Learning how to read is one of the biggest obstacles for any child to achieve, especially for those who are learning English as a second language. Many spend good money for private tuition, extra lessons, fancy reading gadgets to try and speed up the development of their child, but what I can say is that, every child learns how to read at a different pace.

To the parents and teachers who are reading, I hope that you take in the key tips that I will outlay. I have taught hundreds of hundreds of students, some who were faster in their development, and some who weren’t. Though what I can tell you is that all students are perfectly capable of being able to read!

What does a Child need to Read?

Every child needs a good teacher and what many parents forget, is that you are the child’s first teacher! A teacher is the major influencer that help motivate the child to do better, giving them the sense of achievement that they need. Look back to when you were very young, you were applauded for the littlest things, like taking your first steps, even your first words! Positivity is the first thing that a child needs for reading.

Moving on from positivity, what else do you remember as a child? Patience. Our parents, god bless them, gave us the patience to learn from our mistakes, we need to show the same to a child. Reading is not something they will pick up straight away. A child needs a teacher who will go through the mistakes with a positive outlook. With this, time and dedication is needed. Reading is not achievable overnight and a child will not simply get it all of a sudden. It is achieved through a lot of work, so time and dedication is needed.

So to recap, every child needs a teacher that has the following:

• Positivity
• Patience
• Time
• Dedication

The Basics

Many get this wrong, as they think reading only comes from words and books. This is wrong, reading is more than just text, it is context. A child needs to be able to put all the words they read aloud to context in order to understand it. I have taught students before who were able to read out the sentences in their Oxford Reading Tree books perfectly, but had no idea what they were actually reading and what the page was about! A lot of parents overlook this and forget that as a child, you pick up reading through curiosity.

A student should first start off with learning the alphabet and the single sounds that can be produced from the letters. This is the very basics when it comes to reading, but this will not help a student with context. Context is achieved through daily conversation. To widen their understanding and vocabulary range, expose them to the English language as much as you can on a consistent basis.

What is often overlooked is that pronunciation of sounds and vocabulary exposure. A child picks up vocabulary and pronunciation at a very young age. Do you remember the toys you played at school or even the toys you had at home? These were all pivotal in your learning. The best way for a child to pick up key pronunciation skills and vocabulary at the same time is by getting them to grips with physical objects that will stimulate their thirst for exploration.

Blending and Sight Words

Once the child has all the basics covered, here comes the biggest challenge of blending and sight words. This is the biggest hurdle I have faced over the years, as it can take months, even a year for a child to pick up the concept. Blending is combining the sounds produced by a letter or a combination in a word, and putting them together in a continuous sound. This may sound easy right?

There are many different ways to teach blending, but time, patience and consistency is what is needed. A child will pick up the skill eventually, it will just take time for their minds to figure it out. When they do get it, it is a joyous occasion let me tell you! In my experience, a student picks up the concept of blending quicker when you stick to a set routine, and credit them for any attempt that they make. Once they start fearing the concept, their development will hinder.

CVC is a great way to test your students ability to read at a very early stage. It is a three letter word that only has single sounds. So after learning the single sounds from the letters of the alphabet, you can assign these kind of worksheets to the child to test their reading and spelling!

For the best CVC worksheets, you can visit here.

Now sight words do not follow the same rules as normal words. Sight words are words that do not follow the normal phonetic process. We remember them by memorising. Learning sight words is as simple as the name, looking at the words and remembering how to read it! Native speakers pick up sight words through high exposure to books rather than flashcards, so I highly recommend you get your child to read as many books as possible. The best books to follow are from the Oxford Reading Tree.

Fluency – Speed and Accuracy

Parents are usually worried that their child reads far too slowly. This is common! A child will always start off reading slowly. Accuracy and speed comes through practice, so again time, patience and dedication is needed! Picking the right kind of books are essential to help build up their fluency.

Learning and mastering sight words helps with speed, as a child will be able to pick up a formula/predict the next part of the sentence. For example, a student will be able to pick up word combinations such as ‘they are’ and ‘he is’. A pronoun with a verb ‘to be’. Accuracy can be improved on through practice, nothing else.

A good way to improve accuracy and speed is actually reading the story with them! This will help a child develop their sight word knowledge and builds up their confidence. As a child, our parents and teachers did that with us, more than you think! Don’t think that getting them to read by themselves will help improve their independent reading, read with them. Even if it involves reading one or two words in a sentence, it will help them learn and pick up the pace.

Final Thoughts

Teaching a child how to read can be frustrating in the beginning, but once they pick up the basics, they will be able to pick up their development. Remember the four things a child needs, time, patience, dedication and finally positivity. Make their learning a joyful occasion, not a chore. Once they find a love for reading, their motivation and progress will improve vastly.

Do not forget that reading is more than just reading words, it is context. A student needs more than reading, they need proper engagement with the English language. Conversation is highly important, so a high exposure to the English language can help with their reading ability.