Teaching Young Children Reading

In a hospital, I was waiting my turn to be checked by the doctor. Suddenly I heard the voice of a child, spelling some words, creating a sentence with a very loud voice. I was so disturbed by his loud voice as I was very sick and feeling uncomfortable. His mom was sitting beside him and praising his own son.

Child: Sa-ya, saya. Su-ka, suka. Ba-ca, baca. Bu-ku, buku. Saya suka baca buku! (with a loud voice and repeating the same sentence over and over again)

Me: Bagusnya adik pandai mengeja. Tapi boleh perlahan suara sikit tak? Abang pening kepala sangat-sangat. Duduk diam-diam ye.

His mom: Dia memang suka membaca. Selalu di rumah asyik membaca je. Pandai dia ni. (talking to me)

Me: Oh adik dah pandai membaca ya? (Writing exactly the same sentence he was repeating over and over again, and give it to him) Hah, cuba baca ni.

Child: .....................(staring into the paper without any utterance)

Me: Eh tak boleh baca? Kalau nak tahu inilah ayat yang adik ulang-ulang eja dari tadi. Ingatkan pandai membaca, rupanya pandai menghafal je?? Itu makcik tak pandai baca pun dia? Tadi kata pandai baca. Dia ni menghafal apa yang cikgu ajar je. Membaca sendiri belum pandai. Buktinya tadi saya beri ayat sama, dia tak pandai baca pun. (rolling eyes, I am annoyed to be frank)

His mom: (Silent and ask the children to sit quietly)

The moral of the story here is not to humiliate the mom and the child, but to teach a child reading is not as simple as we think. There are some techniques that have to be applied to make sure that a child is completely have the ability to READ, not MEMORIZING. The ability of SPELLING is the basic of reading. Here are some techniques on dealing with children when it comes to spelling and reading.

The adult should read slowly, using lots of expression to bring the story to life, and allowing time for the child to scan the pictures and take in all the details. Sometimes, children become engrossed in particular illustrations, interrupting the flow of the story with questions. This is perfectly acceptable as it engages the child’s curiosity and involvement, and can provide further opportunities for language development and high quality interaction (sustained shared thinking) – the page in question can always be re-read to regain the momentum of the story.

We must use repetition and train the children to read everyday. For a starter, use the same book and teach them until they can read that particular book without spelling the word one by one. A little strict will not harm the child as they will take the matter seriously and will do their best to read well. Sometime a group reading can be helpful too.

Besides, the book choice must be interesting and suitable for their range of age. It is encourageable to enjoy favourite stories or characters, they also need to experience a wide variety of spoken and written language, including traditional tale, fiction, rhymed and pattern text. It is also important to boost up their interest in reading. For example we can make a mini library to trigger them. Colorful alphabet cards and flash cards with pictures is very useful for them. This aid will also help the environment of reading for the children.

As we go teaching in future, we might encounter students with reading disability. This is because of lack of practice during their young age. So it becomes our responsibilities to teach them how to read from the very basic of ABC.

*The video below shows a set of simple words with spelling and its pronunciation.

P/S: Frankly, on what age were you able to read without spelling word by word? I can already read in 'silent mode' when I was 3 years old^_^