Listening to your child read

Here are some helpful hints for making the sharing of reading an enjoyable experience.

  • Choose a time when you can be relaxed and give your individual attention;
  • Praise what your child can do - give encouragement and build confidence at every opportunity;
  • Make it enjoyable for both of you - enjoy the book, it's not just about reading every word correctly. Even if you think the text is too easy, talk about the storyline or characters, and discuss the vocabulary and literary features used;
  • Choose a time in the day when your child is receptive;
  • Encourage your child to concentrate on the meaning of what they are reading and to make a sensible guess at an unknown word;
  • Remember, listening to your child read is not restricted to their school reading book. They could read newspapers, magazines, recipe books, letters, joke books, invitations, instructions for games and models, reference books, leaflets ...;
  • If your child is a confident, fluent reader they still need to read aloud to help them develop expression and use punctuation correctly. They will also benefit from discussing the text read - forming opinions, summarising, guessing what might happen next;
  • Encourage your child to read different kinds of texts;
  • Spend some time discussing the material read in order to develop your child's oral skills, reading comprehension, and ability to analyse information.