“Listen!” can be an exasperated plea for a child’s concentration. It can be used as a warning: “Listen, I will not tell you again…”. In the classroom, for a child, it can be synonymous with ‘sit down and be quiet’. The point is that listening isn’t necessarily seen as a positive thing by children.
And let’s face it, as an adult, listening can be really hard. I’d be the first to admit that I am probably better at talking than listening…
Listening to someone read aloud – why it’s important
In an action-packed school day, reading a story to a class is still considered really important. And the lovely thing is that the vast majority of children love it. So why should we prioritise what many people consider a younger child’s activity?
Listening to a story or book read aloud is really valuable for children. It can help them with their vocabulary acquisition and structuring arguments and stories; and can give them ideas for creative writing and creative play. It can engage and focus their brain on a plot or discovery of information and let their minds ruminate on it (without keeping an eye on the text, holding the book, sounding out the obscure word etc). Plus, it aids concentration and memory. And I think many of us can understand why reading or listening to a story is known to help us relax and wind down.
If you have the chance to discuss what your child has listened to, it offers an opportunity for them to recall and recount (both important skills). It can offer the chance for them to give their opinion – an important skill and great for their self-esteem. If you ask questions and probe a little further, it can help them reflect on what they have heard and potentially make links with the wider world, outside the immediate story/information that they were listening to. These are also important when it comes to comprehension.
Listening is arguably much more natural for a child than reading or writing. You can listen in any position. You can listen with your eyes shut or while you are doing something else. In fact, many children listen best when they are gazing out of the window, lying down or with their eyes shut!
Plus, listening widely can introduce children to authors (and magazines and programmes) that they don’t currently access. Sometimes this may mean discovering a book or style that would currently be too challenging in print form. But they will gain a lot out of listening to it. In essence, by listening, you take away the “decoding” part of reading and allow them to focus on the understanding (comprehension) part of language.
What age?
I’ve heard people ask what age you should stop reading aloud to their children. If you asked Michael Rosen, he would probably say never! In fact, if you have stopped reading to your children, you could ask them whether they would like to have a story read to them sometimes? I know more than one family with senior school children who have been taken aback by the response…
Is reading aloud different to having a conversation?
Reading aloud is different to speaking and having a conversation. Both are important for this age group but reading aloud exposes continuous prose. When we speak, it is more informal, stops and starts, and generally doesn’t use such complex vocabulary and sentence structure. As our children grow and develop, reading aloud written prose – and indeed poetry and plays – is very different to talking to them.
However, it is also great if we can stop and talk about what we are reading. This way they increasingly appreciate the difference between spoken and written language. You can also encourage them to notice interesting aspects of what they are listening to and gently check their understanding. It is also good if they can be encouraged to stop you when they want to pause. At home we can read and pause at a flow to suit them.
Devices
Devices and screens divide opinion – and there is a post coming specifically on that aspect of family life! However, listening on a device can be fantastic too. It is different to listening to someone read in person as it doesn’t give a shared experience. However, it can be a great low-key add-on to reading and writing at home. It is useful if the child can pause or rewind too. It is also useful if – once your child has decided they want to listen – you can guide your child to interesting authors, books or podcasts. (Guide and suggest – not choose for them!). There is a lot of rubbish as well as great material online!
You may also want to be aware of how different styles influence whether they enjoy listening. Great character voices can really bridge the gap between the fictional world and the real world – a fabulous audiobook with your eyes closed can be pretty close to a TV programme. It also encourages visualisation and imagination – both of which are important for creative writing and comprehension. However, a monotone drawl in a strong, unfamiliar accent can be equally off-putting …
How and what
If you feel that time is a real constraint, consider asking other adults to help – whether that is on zoom, older siblings or local neighbours. Or join together with other parents – reading aloud is definitely something easily done with more than one child. So consider whether you can agree to do this after tea on a playdate or with a next door neighbour. It can be more efficient for the adults that way!
If you have a regular ‘slot’ to fill during your week (with or without other children around) then perhaps you could integrate a reading time then – it doesn’t need to be bedtime. Waiting for a sibling to finish swimming? Sitting outside school in the morning (I’ve never quite managed that but I know some parents who do)? Perhaps you can have a regular book on the go for that particular slot in the week? Or indeed for a particular time of day?
Sometimes it can be good to have a story that provides continuity over time. However, if you want quick fillers, you will find Michael Rosen’s poems hugely accessible, entertaining and easy to read aloud. Perhaps Aesop’s fables for older children? (Some of those are brushing-your-teeth type short but provide some interesting chat!). Or Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats by TS Elliot? What I’m saying is that you don’t need to start War and Peace at 6pm every Thursday. It’s often just having some ideas to hand and small goals.
Reluctant readers
If you have a reluctant or struggling reader, then listening to a story can be a great way to encourage reading or to provide some ‘extra’ alongside reading. In fact for reluctant readers, it can be a real doorway – have a look at my previous 7-step re-set post.
For struggling readers, who may or may not struggle with language more generally, it opens up a huge opportunity to stop literally reading and start focusing on other aspects of language.
Adults listening!
Whilst this post is about children listening, I offer two final thoughts for reflection regarding our role as adults listening.
- When we listen to children read, there’s a passive and active type of listening. To ask meaningful questions on a book as children get older requires increasing concentration! The type of listening we do also indicates the importance with which we treat their reading. Having said that, I do believe there is a role for certain types of multi-tasking (more on that in another blog) and I am a pragmatist: sometimes some passive listening is better than no listening! But food for thought.
- When we ask our child for a comment, or give them a question, do we give them time to reflect? Pause. Silence. Space. As reading becomes more complex, and their understanding of the world more broad, thoughts may be more developed. Sometimes a comment or answer that has been allowed to be grow and develop can be very enlightening.
I would be very happy to hear from you here – either to comment on this post or to request a topic for a future blog post.
