Child do not like to read books

[icemountain]

atutor2001:

I observed that most kids with parents in the academic field tend to do well in language. Further kaypohing found that those with parents who read a lot share the same trait. Maybe it is the environment. If babies see their parents reading everyday then books will become a part of them naturally. So mahybe instead of reading to our kids, we should \"pretend\" to be reading everyday.

I'm not in the academic field but I'm a bona fide bookaholic. At home, I'm most likely found with a book on my knee. My 5 year old does the same thing once she's home from school. When my younger one naps, we'd spend 2 hours of pure pleasure, lost in our books.

We trawl bookstores as well as libraries every week. Once in a blue moon, she doesn't feel like school, we'd lay in bed and read the morning away.

My house is stacked with far more books than toys and I'm constantly searching for new reads, for adults and children.

Consequently, my elder one picked up reading very easily, with basic phonics taught to her. At 5, she's completed a couple of unabridged children's classics by herself. All I have to do is nudge them in her direction and suggest she reads a couple of chapters to see if she wants to go on. More often than not, she does. I help her with hard words if she asks, otherwise I leave her alone.

What I did consistently is read to her every day, even though she can read by herself now. I cultivated the habit of nap/bedtime reading when she was a wee babe so by 2, she could sit for an hour with me, begging me to read book after book. She still does the same now, begging to read one more chapter before I turn out the lights.

3 years old is still v young IMO, I didn't bother to teach mine at that age and she surprised me when I realised she COULD read at age of 4, and very well too. In the early years, cultivating the love of literature is far far more important than teaching them to read as early as possible.

My theory is if they love the world of books, they'd be motivated to learn how to read for themselves.

Read to them, read in front of them, read every single day.

[Assabella]

I guess you can start with building up a gigantic library. I was really bored when I started poring over the books in my mini ‘library’ and then I got hooked on reading. Try bringing your child to a bookstore and ask him/her what interests him/her. From then on, you will know what type of books to fill the library with. After he/she loves reading, expose him/her to other type of books. M two-cents worth.

[tamarind]

Hi sunset_dae,

I am glad to know that your son is progressing very well.
My advice is to focus on reading books until 6 years old, then start to teach grammar at K2. You will find that it is so much easier to teach grammar when he is already reading very well. In fact, I did not teach grammar at home, I only let my kids do some P1 grammar worksheets when they were in K2 and I am amazed that they can answer 90% correctly even before they formally learn the grammar rules. This is because they have read many books like Charlotte's web, Charlie and the chocolate factory, the original Wizard of oz, etc, by 6 years old, and they naturally know whether a sentence sounds right or not. It may be difficult for most parents to understand because most of us did not learn English this way. My hubby who also reads extensively told me that this is how children should learn.

After completing the Peter and Jane books, my advice is to continue to ask your son to read out loud to you from other story books, and make sure that he understands every word. If a child is left to read on her own, she may skip sentences or even pages, and may be too lazy to ask about words that she does not understand.

sunset_dae:

Hi Tamarind

Long time never email you! My 4 year old son is able to read P & J 4B by him ownself now! He is also reading Usborne Early Reader Level 2 books!
I didnt send him for proper phonics classes, except those card which i make, following yr blog. Is that sufficient enough? Im worried about his grammer and tenses..

tamarind:

Hi Oppsgal,
At 3 years old, you should start by teaching phonics. Then continue by teaching sight words using graded readers. A child who has a strong foundation in phonics, will be able to learn to read very quickly, and will also be able to spell effortlessly. Both my kids do not need to spend time learning their spelling lists in primary school.

Check out my blog about how to teach phonics and sight words :

http://tamarindphonics.blogspot.com/2008/08/how-to-teach-phonics.html

[Oppsgal]

Assabella:

I guess you can start with building up a gigantic library. I was really bored when I started poring over the books in my mini 'library' and then I got hooked on reading. Try bringing your child to a bookstore and ask him/her what interests him/her. From then on, you will know what type of books to fill the library with. After he/she loves reading, expose him/her to other type of books. M two-cents worth.

I did bring kid to bookstore, but so far what interest my kid is those one word picture books.

Tried at least 3 words or one sentence book, not interested at all.

Bought lots of books too. Having like a small library of books.

[Oppsgal]

tamarind:

Hi Oppsgal,

At 3 years old, you should start by teaching phonics. Then continue by teaching sight words using graded readers. A child who has a strong foundation in phonics, will be able to learn to read very quickly, and will also be able to spell effortlessly. Both my kids do not need to spend time learning their spelling lists in primary school.

Check out my blog about how to teach phonics and sight words :

http://tamarindphonics.blogspot.com/2008/08/how-to-teach-phonics.html

Thanks. I have teach phonics like your blog. very nice blog.

Kid only like to read to me one letter word book. Wonder when can read one sentence each page book? Kid can pronounce phonics already.

[tamarind]

icemountain:

Read to them,...

Every expert will tell you to just read to your child. However, a full time working mother like myself have very little time with with my kids every day, it is impossible for me to spend a few hours reading to them. Also, reading to a child works only if the child is always paying attention and looking at every word. Many kids simply ignore what parents are saying and only look at pictures, like my boy. Thanks to phonics and and the Peter and Jane series, I only spent less than 30 mins a day teaching him, and he could read long novels by 5 years old. He was not interested in books before he could read well. After I taught him to read, he can now spend a few hours a day reading silently on his own, and he has learned an amazing amount of knowledge from children's encyclopedia.

In the case of my boy, he learned to read very well through systematic teaching and repetitions, and his confidence in reading developed into a love for reading. The reverse will not work for him because of his very short attention span.

Ever child is different, parents need to find a method that suits each child. If you find that reading to your child does not work, then try other methods that actively involve the child, like playing phonics games or ask the child to read out loud.

[tamarind]

Oppsgal,

You need graded readers. Try the Peter and Jane books, start from book 1a, then 1b, 2a, 2b, etc. These are the best books for teaching children to progress from words to sentences, then to long novels.

You can also try any phonics readers available in local bookshops.

Oppsgal:

tamarind:

Hi Oppsgal,
At 3 years old, you should start by teaching phonics. Then continue by teaching sight words using graded readers. A child who has a strong foundation in phonics, will be able to learn to read very quickly, and will also be able to spell effortlessly. Both my kids do not need to spend time learning their spelling lists in primary school.

Check out my blog about how to teach phonics and sight words :

http://tamarindphonics.blogspot.com/2008/08/how-to-teach-phonics.html

Thanks. I have teach phonics like your blog. very nice blog.

Kid only like to read to me one letter word book. Wonder when can read one sentence each page book? Kid can pronounce phonics already.

[sunset_dae]

P & J does help, but as my son is progressing he will ask me:\"Mummy, how come got more and more words?\"

[tamarind]

sunset_dae:

P & J does help, but as my son is progressing he will ask me:\"Mummy, how come got more and more words?\"

My boy used to say that : the words keep getting smaller, will the words become tiny black dots at book 12 ?

[sunset_dae]

:rotflmao: :rotflmao: :rotflmao: :rotflmao:

tamarind:

sunset_dae:

P & J does help, but as my son is progressing he will ask me:\"Mummy, how come got more and more words?\"

My boy used to say that : the words keep getting smaller, will the words become tiny black dots at book 12 ?