Children
are born with innate language skills. Notwithstanding, there’s need to make
efforts to groom these skills from as early as babyhood as they are most likely
to learn fast in the first 5 years. For pre-schoolers who already possess deep
listening as well as fast developing speech and pre-writing skills, the keys to
greater milestones, including reading, are to keep learning activities simple,
one at a time and fun!
Teach Attentiveness
At
this age, children are not too skilled in reading and writing, so, interaction
and learning is mostly through oral communication. Grooming good listening
skills will therefore aid better understanding, paving way for more learning
and expressiveness. It helps to teach them to keep their eyes on whoever is
talking to them. This may help them focus to avoid distractions while staying
calm.
Have
them practice this while talking to them, make a habit of telling exciting
stories, listen to interesting rhymes, music, stories, and interactive programmes together. Make sure to ask
questions which do not elicit yes / no but allow them talk freely to evaluate each
process. Very importantly, treat ear infections promptly and thoroughly to
prevent hearing defects.
Talk More
Young
children love to tell loved ones details about their new and past experiences,
discoveries, observations, feelings and so on.
If they mention a new word, applaud them, ask what it means, guide them
if they’re not completely right, and then find ways to use that word in other
simple sentences. Gradually, they’ll master the art of arranging their thoughts
sequentially to relay experiences or feelings for effective communication skill.
When
they share these little details with you, ask further questions and help them
find appropriate words to convey their thoughts, feelings and ideas whenever
they’re stuck or stutter. If your child refers to the sky as ‘black,’ ask, “Did
you mean the sky is cloudy?” Tell him the sky is often that way when it’s about
to rain. Correcting him may help him replace the word ‘black’ and use it
correctly next time. Don’t make fun at their pronunciation or expressions. If
they feel you’ll only embarrass them, they may learn to always keep their lips
sealed. Only repeat their words or rephrase statements in the right form, do
this each time they make a mistake knowing they are growing as well as their
minds, with time they’ll learn.
Encourage Scribbling & Drawing
Toddlers
just love to do these, so, encourage them to do more. Activities like scooping
some grains of rice from one bowl to the other, putting pegs on a line, or
scribbling will strengthen their skills required to hold writing materials such
as pencils and crayons properly. Though this may not be fine tuned till they’re
6 years, teaching and allowing them independent access to crayons, markers,
pencils and other age-appropriate writing and art items, accelerates learning
to hold writing materials correctly. It also facilitates early literacy and
creativity.
Majority
of children between 3-5 display controlled scribbling; they are already
familiar with letters and print and are beginning to use letters, especially
those in their names, in their own writing, so, find them more avenues to
scribble. There are several child-friendly apps like ‘scribble kid’ for 3- 6
year old. Encourage them to use during play. Praise little accomplishments and
watch them get better by the day.
Point At and Label Items
As
early as possible, cultivate the habit of pointing at and naming items in your
home or whatever your child is curious about. Also show distinction between
colours (green, blue, red, and so on), shapes and sizes (big, small, huge, and
little) by asking them to fetch items. This helps them match names of items
with their meaning. Creating awareness about letters, the sound each makes and
practicing sounding them out in different words improves their vocabulary,
expression and reading ability.
Have a Routine Reading Time
If
you’ve been reading to your child from infancy, he’ll be very familiar with the
process as he gets older. If you haven’t started already, invest in alphabet,
song, picture, rhyming, story and adventure books for children this age. Teach
them how to hold a book properly, flip the pages and read interesting books to
their listening regularly. Before, during and after these reading sessions, ask
questions which encourage lots of expression as well as evaluate the level of
comprehension. In addition, before reading a new book, let them try guessing
what the content will likely be from the title and images on the cover, and
while reading, allow them predict what will happen next and so on. At the end
of the story, let them try re-telling the story their own way and share lessons
they learned.
Remember,
it’s no time for drills; corrections must be done in a way that they will learn
without having fear instilled into them. Your child mustn’t feel pressured and
lose interest. It’s all about helping them enjoy the process and comprehend
whatever is read to them.
In
addition, let them see you, your spouse and older sibling read varieties of
books often. Research shows this may create a flair for reading in the long
run.
Creative Writing
From
4 to 6 years, your child is already having lots of language drills in school,
so, apart from offering tutoring with her worksheets, encourage creative
writing by asking her to write on simple topics like her day at school,
herself, favourite food or friend, last holiday and so on. Writing skills get
better with regular practice.
Surround With Positive Influence
Children
are like sponges and the bulk of what they learn is most times mindlessly
picked from their environment. So, make sure your home and their school
environment are such that learning the wrong forms of language use and reading
habits are not reinforced. Expose them to other language friendly environments
and keep tabs on errors mindlessly learnt from peers.
This
list is not exhaustive, discover more as you go and modify to suit your child’s
needs and learning pace.
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