Spoken Language and Reading: Just How Different Are They?

As adults, it is easy to forget about the disconnect between written letters and the words they correspond to. Knowing what to say when you see a word written out on a page is a luxury that young children do not have. Learning how to read and write is, for many children, extremely difficult. What is it exactly that separates learning how to speak from learning how to read, and what can we do to help make literacy more fun?

Language acquisition is spontaneous, meaning that from the moment children are born they are learning about speech patterns and pronunciations from the people around them. They make many "mistakes" along the way (such as only saying 'gain for again, or saying dada for daddy) but these early speech sounds are seen as a successful and important stepping stone on the way to learning a language (Lindfors 36). Both spoken and written language are everywhere in the daily life of a child, but spoken language requires no effort to take in and subconsciously learn from. 

Written language, on the other hand, seems much more complicated to a child. Despite this, most children are very eager to learn how to read, as it opens a door to another part of the world for them to enjoy. One of the most important things to consider when teaching or working with a child who is learning how to read is to keep them from getting caught up in the letters on the page. Help them enjoy the story they are trying to read, along with supporting them if they get stuck sounding out words. Brainstorm a list of words that start with the h-a-s sound, if the child can not figure it out, and talk about what words would make sense with this story. If they have read it before or already know the story, ask them to retell it from memory to see if that can help them remember some important words. These can be useful ways to keep a child who is struggling interested in reading and in exploring language.

When it comes to writing, there are three important principles: Ownership, Community, and Guidance (Lindfors 30). They should have the opportunity to write things that are important to them, such as grocery lists or letters to their parents. Forced writing takes away the opportunity to explore and learn from a child and limits them to copying correctly or spelling things properly. It is also important to support a positive writing community, where children can share their experiences and writings with peers or their parents. Finally, guidance requires a conscious and sensitive response to children's writing. If the focus is put on spelling properly and writing the correct letters, much of the fun and enjoyment will be sucked out of the writing. It is up to the teacher or parent to support the child's exploration but also strive toward more effective and diverse writing over time (Lindfors 30).

These things that come so naturally to us can pose many issues for children as they learn how to deal with brand new literacies. Let them learn, explore, and grow through their own enjoyment and they will be on the right track to success.


References:
Lindfors, J. (2008). Children's language: Connecting reading, writing, and talk. New York: Teachers College Press.

Teaching Strategies in the Home

Many parents feel like they do not know enough in order to support their child's learning compared to what the child is learning at school. Though teachers have a significant amount of training and knowledge, it does not mean that teaching strategies used in the classroom cannot also be used at home. There are a few strategies in particular that lend themselves to one-on-one interactions like a child gets at home.

The first one is the idea of "teacher talk", or simply using rich language to help your child expand upon the topics that are present in a book or a TV show they have just been exposed to. By responding to what your child says and adding in new vocabulary or suggesting new ideas, you are able to help the knowledge they have on the topic grow in a manageable and logical way. Tidbits of information that connect to what children already know are easier to categorize and remember than information that is happened upon without any background knowledge.

Another strategy that can make learning fun at home is providing interesting writing utensils to help children stay interested in writing activities. Instead of just using markers and pencils, think about letting children write with a wet sponge on a dirty chalkboard, or putting shaving cream on a table and letting them trace letters into it. Having new kinds of activities at home can rejuvenate a child's interest in writing-related activities and make it much more fun. This also allows them to practice their ABC's in a setting that has a lot less pressure than some preschool classrooms.

Finally, I have already made a post about a strategy that can be extremely successful for parents, and that is the idea of storybook reading. Read-alouds have many benefits for children that have been covered in my post here, but there are even more benefits past the basics that I discussed there. If children are able to read through books that are familiar to them, they can develop many early literacy skills. One of these is the fact that children who are familiar with a story are developing their storytelling abilities as they describe what is going to be happening on the next few pages. Finally, because they are familiar with the story and the pictures they can also follow along with the words in order to help develop their concepts of letters and phonics.

All of these strategies from the classroom are easy to implement at home in order to really spark your child's interest in early literacy and help fuel their learning as they move through preschool.

The Value of Take Home Literacy

Becoming literate should be an enjoyable, exciting, and fun journey for a preschooler to undertake as they study the world around them. However, many children find themselves falling behind when they reach the kindergarten and primary grades because they were not read to enough by parents or caregivers during their early years. This can occur in lower-income homes that cannot afford as many books and forms of print to keep around the house. When a child isn't exposed to enough print, they are not getting that jump start they need in order to have an easy time learning how to read in school.

One way that preschools combat this problem is by creating take home literacy bags. Children are able to borrow books they are interested in from the classroom and take them home to be read with a parent. This is a wonderful way to encourage parents to get involved in supporting their child's literacy, and it leads to new and interesting stories being told in the household. These take home literacy bags help to support preschool literacy and make it so more children enter kindergarten and elementary school ready to be successful at reading.

As a parent, it is important that you take advantage of this great resource! New books are regularly being brought into your home to enjoy and experience with your child. Considering how important read-aloud time is (see this post), it is up to you to support your child's journey through early literacy. If your school does not offer a take home literacy program, try bringing it up with your child's teacher to see if it will work for your classroom. Happy reading!

Reading Aloud to Children

Reading aloud to children is a valuable part of early literacy for the preschool child. I recently listened to a Read Aloud Lesson by Mem Fox that discussed not only how important reading aloud is, but how important it is to read aloud well. She says that the more engaged the children are when being read to, the more interested they will be in books and pretending to read. This is such a great way to enhance your child's early literacy, and it can be a very fun experience for the reader as well!

An important aspect of being a good storyteller is using the words on the page to guide the way you read. Instead of just idly reading through the words on the page if you have already told this story a hundred times, think about what you can do to keep a child interested and invested in the tale. One suggestion that Mem Fox has is to speak a little faster in times of drama and excitement, and to speak slower when building suspense or indicating sadness. You can also use a higher voice to express excitement and to voice smaller characters. A lower voice will help you portray frightening parts of a story or big loud voices for giants or large animals. These small changes in your storytelling will help the child get a feel for the story past simply hearing the words. It may also keep you engaged with a story the tenth time through as you think of these storytelling techniques!

Literacy is Cultural

In class today we read a short article about three major ideas behind research in the field preschool literacy. My group read about how literacy is a cultural practice, and I found it very interesting. One thing that really got me thinking was the fact that all families are literate in their own ways, either culturally or based on where they live. Just because a child does not know what we call literacy in schools does not mean that they are illiterate! I think it is important to know each child's background in order to help them transition their literacy at home into successful literacy at school.