Literacy is Vital (A literate generation?)

Name: lucie19

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Product:	A literate generation?
Date:	21/11/00 (58 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A whole world of discovery

Disadvantages: none

Reading and writing are two of the most vital skills that we learn. We need to able to tell whether we are buying skimmed or full-fat milk at the supermarket and we need to know what time the number 3 bus will be along, for this we need to able to read. In my opinion it is never too early to start your child on the road to reading.

A new baby will enjoy and benefit from the sound of your voice, when you are reading aloud your voice is animated and this will help a baby understand different moods through the tone of a voice. An older baby will enjoy looking at the pictures and very soon will be trying to turn the pages, which will help their motor skills. As your baby turns into a toddler their imagination will take off and they will love hearing about far-away places and animals and… well the list is endless.

When you read to your child point at the words as you read them and spell phonetically (ahh, buh, cuh, duh) any new words. In time your child will begin to recognise words that occur frequently and then more and more words until they are reading proficiently on their own.
It is pointless to teach your child the alphabet without any reference; they will just learn to recite something that means nothing to them. Instead, try making up a song that makes the letters relevant, for example “A is for apple, shiny and red and B is for bear that you snuggle in bed”. Try pointing out objects and spelling them phonetically, the human mind needs as many aids to remember as possible, the mind uses all 5 senses for remembering so when you say aahh is for apple talk about the colour, the texture, the smell and the taste and your child will remember it very quickly.

There are many kinds of books available, from all kinds of different places. Don’t turn your nose up at second hand books for babies and toddlers, children at this age tend to be fairly destructive and will scribble on or rip books, so a second hand boo
k may be destroyed but at least it only cost 20p. For young babies, soft books and bath books are ideal. Soft books have easy to turn pages and often have different textures that will stimulate your baby. Bath books are waterproof and again the pages are easy to turn, they frequently are on the theme of baths so your baby will quickly associate the pictures in the books with the objects around them. They can be used as a bath toy, which will instil the idea of reading for fun.

Older babies will enjoy board books, they are fairly solid and therefore they stand up to a lot. There are two kinds of board books, the first are just picture books usually with the word for the object below the picture, and the second sorts are very simple stories. I keep some board books in my son’s toy box again to build the idea that reading is fun.

It is really ideal to give toddler’s board books to play with and only use paperbacks under supervision. However there is a wealth of books aimed at toddlers, there are the traditional fairy tales such as Red Riding Hood and the Three Little Pigs and newer stories such as Spot the Dog and the Very Hungry Caterpillar. There are puzzle books, pop-up books, touchy-feely books and scratch and sniff books. There are counting books, alphabet books, opposite books and colour books. The list is endless.

A really good way to get your child into reading is to make it a sharing experience, read with your child at every opportunity you get and let your child see you reading. Take them along to a playgroup or nursery, most of these have books available to your child and have a story-time when all the children sit and listen to a story read to them. This helps your child to learn good social behaviour and you can get a good idea of the kind of stories that your child likes by watching them or asking the nursery-nurse. Most libraries also run story-time and many other literacy related activities see your loc
al library for details.

Now the controversial bit, Television has a role to play in teaching your child to read. Programs such as the Tweenies have a story-time and you can go and buy the books that they read and your child will associate it with their favourite program. Sesame Street has taught generations of children about letters with their fun cartoons. Also for most children’s programs storybooks containing the characters are available, everyone from the Tellytubbies to Bob the Builder have books in their name. A child’s favourite character in a story will bring the story to life.

Don’t forget that words are everywhere, get your child to tell you which is the right type of butter and which way to the telephones by reading signs and adverts with them.

Watch out for children who find the reading difficult though, all children learn at their own pace but if your child is particularly slow get your local education authority to check them out. Dyslexia is a common problem and if it is not caught it can lead to disruptiveness and unwillingness to learn. My brother was called lazy and stupid until at 12 they discovered he had dyslexia, he was moved to a school that was more equipped to help him and he flourished. He is now at university doing a degree in Drama, but he could have been saved years of torment if it had been caught earlier.

I’m really sorry to have bored you all with this essay, but I feel passionately about this subject and I think we can all have fun while our child is learning an important skill.

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