How to read with your children

The Foundation for Educational Services has published a parents' guide to using its reading pack, in collaboration with the HSBC Cares for Children Fund and Klabb Kotba Maltin.

The guidelines, written by Dr Valerie Sollars, could of course apply to the sharing of any books with your children. The following is a section from the guide.

Successful shared reading activities are characterised by several factors. It is crucial that:

¤ The time chosen for reading is ideal for both the child and the adult. Neither the adult nor the child should be in a hurry to get this activity over and done with.

¤ The reading activity should not become a long-drawn out or prolonged activity. Depending on the child's interest, the length of the book, the time taken to go through the text etc., one book may not necessarily be started and completed in one sitting. On the other hand, do not stretch one story so much that the children lose interest and forget how it started.

¤ The reading activity should be presented as something which is enjoyable and which both parties look forward to, rather than another chore on a list which has to be done.

¤ Children, rather than adults, decide on the book which they want to read/or be read to. Selected books should have content which is intrinsically interesting for the children. Adults should guide the children when they are making choices, especially if the child insists on reading a text which is too difficult for him/ her.

¤ Children are helped to develop a positive self-image and adults' expectations are realistic, especially when dealing with struggling readers. Adults should avoid responding in a negative way as this may be humiliating for the child.

¤ Adults and children take turns at reading. This is facilitated where there are roles/dialogue. Adults and children can take on the different roles and read their parts using the correct intonation patterns.

¤ Turn taking should also be used when a child is struggling through some words, sentences or passages and the adult takes the cue to take over the reading until the child is confident and comfortable enough to carry on alone.

¤ Adults take the opportunity of the shared context to assist children in developing strategies that will help them develop into independent readers. Parents can:

- refer children to the pictures to improve their understanding of the story;

- they can direct them to use phonetic cues and sound out the letters/syllables to read a new word (this is more suitable in Maltese than in English);

- they can encourage children to try to guess/predict what a particular word could be, by focusing on the context.

¤ Adults can prepare the children for the reading activity by first discussing what the book is about. This can be done by browsing through the book and looking at the pictures. Children will already start formulating a possible story and how it could develop.

All the four major language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) are mutually reinforcing and develop in an interrelated manner. This means that development and improvement in any one area helps the development in other skills.

It is essential that prior to, during and following the shared reading activity, parents speak to their children about what they are going to read, ask them questions while reading the book and where possible, conduct follow-up activities.

For example, one ideal question which encourages prediction, ensures comprehension and promotes thinking would be, "What do you think is going to happen next?"

Follow-up activities could include a simple writing activity or card games. Writing activities could take the form of letter writing (to emulate an incident in a story) or drawing up of a healthy menu for the family; or making a list of ingredients which need to be bought to bake something. Such a variety of follow-up activities not only make the reading activity more enjoyable but also help the children become aware of the purposes for which we can use reading and writing. Follow-up activities also help children remember the story, repeat and use new vocabulary in a meaningful context.