Author: RSathome

I'm based in the UK with experience in state and private schools; special needs; and a parent. Keen to share ideas and encourage families supporting literacy at home.

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support

Listening for literacy

 “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?

rabbit listening
Really listening

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. 

  1. 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.
  2. 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.

Categories
Reading Reading for meaning

5 tips to help reading comprehension

letters, text, meaning
understanding reading equals reading comprehension

For some children, learning to read aloud isn’t the difficult bit.  The difficult bit is understanding what they read – reading comprehension.

But it can be really hard to know how to help with this problem – especially when they just don’t seem to ‘get’ it.  So here are 5 specific ideas to support reading for meaning.

Where is the child with their general level of understanding – outside of reading?

1. Even if our child is bright and able, it is worth checking their understanding of everyday situations. This might sound odd, but it does help separate out some of the potential problems around reading. I have been surprised at some of the responses I’ve had from children when I’ve asked them specific questions about situations around them.

For example, ask about people’s reactions or their comprehension of spoken stories and language. If any of this is a challenge, we can try modelling our own thought processes and answers in everyday situations. (This takes the pressure off the child though it puts a bit of pressure on us sometimes to explain our thought processes – how do we know?!). This is particularly useful when we have to infer meaning – work out what is being implied even when it’s not explicit.  For example,

“Your coat is soaked, you’ve just walked in from outside, so it must be raining.”

“Wow, he’s red in the face. Either he has just run a race or he’s very cross or embarrassed.  But I’m guessing he’s finished a race because he’s in PE kit and looks pretty smiley and happy – not embarrassed or cross.”

Modelling thought processes and answers is especially useful if the child is reluctant to answer questions! It is also a way to practise this skill outside the “reading environment”.

Pre-teach before reading

2. This is all about helping create success with understanding – setting up the situation before actually reading.  So, talk about any real life activity / place / person the child may relate to which links to the text.  Discuss what we can deduce or learn from the pictures or title – and how we know.  Talk about any vocabulary or concept which might be tricky before reading.  You can pre-teach through talking, showing (objects, photos) or even acting out.

The purpose of this is to give the child a good basis for understanding the reading themselves – which in turn gives motivation and self-esteem.

Become a reading comprehension detective

3. Encourage the child to spot “clues” in the text which lead to understanding.  If we give a specific question, then they can highlight the words which lead us to the answer.  Perhaps they can spot a clue then we can spot one? (If you spot first, don’t take the easiest clue, leave it for the child!).

For example, in this writing, can you answer the question, “What is the man’s job?”.

A man rang the doorbell.  Mum welcomed him in and showed him the leaky tap in the kitchen. There was a big pool of water under the sink too. The man got out his tool bag sand started removing the tap and checking the pipes.

It is important for the child – and us – to explain why they think the word is a “clue”.  Some clues are secondary clues (eg “rang the doorbell” infers he is a visitor, but not a plumber).  Even if the child answers the original question immediately, it is worth following up with “how do you know?”.  More text usually equals more clues, so it’s often easier to do this exercise with a few sentences initially.  

Detective work can be made more exciting if we have time and resources by using post-it notes to identify clues; seeing who can come up with the best / most clues; using highlighters on a photocopied page etc.

The above is also a good example where pre-teaching might help – it would be important to know what a plumber does before reading this text!

Make reading fun

4. I know it’s a cliché…However, for children who have developed a habit of reading without understanding, reading is not particularly interesting.  I can read aloud (decode) in German. My understanding of German though is so poor, that reading in German is pointless and boring for me….

  • Start with a book of high interest, then diversify into less comfortable topics
  • By including the above points in ‘reading time’ at home, we automatically expand the content (and hopefully interest) of reading time. “Reading time” will include talking, listening, looking, highlighting….and hopefully with the focused attention of an adult (which most children enjoy!)
  • If reading has become a difficult task, break the cycle and do something differently: read in a different room, at a different time, with a different person etc. If reading has become a real battle, consider my “7 stage re-set“.

Predict and imagine to improve reading comprehension

5. If you can imagine what is going on when you read, you are likely to understand better. You can empathise with the characters and engage more readily with plot or flow of the text. If it’s difficult to predict an appropriate end to the story – or a possible ‘what happens next’ – then it might be worth practising visualisation.

  • Look at a picture and ask the child to describe it in increasing detail – transferring the visual image into verbal language
  • Ask them to describe a place they know well, such as a classroom – transferring a memorised image into detailed verbal language
  • Encourage them to describe a recent event and ask them questions to flex their memory and to visualise it again
  • Can they guess a simple one-off event? Eg what might be for dinner?

This is answering a simple, fairly predictable questions, without knowing the answer

  • Can they discuss an unknown outcome (eg the end of the a story) with our explained suggestions?  

This is about suggesting possible ideas and the child discussing why the ideas might or might not be likely to happen.  They see that uncertainty is normal.

  • Can they predict what happens next in a story (perhaps with some prompts)?

This is talking through the ‘clues’ which lead us to a prediction – and having the confidence to suggest an answer.

Most of the above can be done without reading.  They can be integrated into everyday conversation and events.  We just need to be on the look our for opportunities and then actually talk a bit more about what we are thinking and why. However, it all underpins reading comprehension.

Finally, my suggestion is to take your time but keep going.  If your child struggles with reading for meaning or reading comprehension, don’t be afraid to focus on that even if it means “reading” less (and recording less pages in a school homework diary!).  Good luck!

PS For further help you may wish to review the reading for meaning webpage too.

Categories
My child refuses to read at home support

7-step re-set for reading time

Exhausted by the battle of getting your child to read at home?  Given up and feeling guilty about getting your child to read?

If you have hit a real wall with reading at home try this 7-step approach.  The idea is to totally transform and re-set reading time at home. Of course, if you feel like things are not too bad, you can pick and choose within the stages. But if reading at home is a real problem, I suggest starting at the beginning and taking it slowly… 

Step 1. Tonight, you don’t need to read.  Tonight, you just get to listen to a story.

At which point you start to read (their school book or an appropriate book of their choice). Chat with them about what you are reading.  This is about sharing a book together in a calm and relaxed way – no-one is tense or preparing for the reading battle. If they engage with you and talk about the book (they don’t even need to look at it), congratulate them on a good reading session.  Personally, I write this in a school reading record as ‘shared reading’. You may wish to do this a few times.

Step 2, start reading as before but encourage them to look at the book.  Talk about the pictures with them. If they want to sit, stand or lie, you may wish to do the same.  Or consider bath-time when they’re contained in one space!

Step 3, If there is some speech, the caption to a picture or a fun word (like “stop” or “wow”), point and ask them to read that individual word or group of words.  Make sure it is a word you’d expect them to be able to read.  It is especially good if they can shout it (“help!”) or whisper it (“Ssshh”)! Then you carry on reading and chatting about the book. Congratulate them.

Step 4, start reading, but to ensure they are following the text as you read, ask them to read the word that you’ve got to when you click your fingers (you remain silent for that word).  Eg “Peter loved going to play [click] in the park”.  This can be presented as a fun game.  When will I click?!  To start with, read a bit before you click, then choose an easy word and click. Put your finger under the words as you read.  As they get better, you can increase how often you click, or choose slightly harder words.  I’d probably still read the difficult words myself at this stage.  You want to keep their confidence and enjoyment high.  Congratulate them. 

Step 5, start reading but ask them to read the last sentence on the page.  It is important it is the last one.  This gives them a sense of success and completion.  The first sentence at the top of a page or paragraph can seem a bit daunting.  If they are reluctant, try the last few words instead of the whole sentence. It doesn’t need to be every page either – judge their mood and don’t push it! Congratulate them.

Stage 6, ask them to read the first sentence on the page with you.  You literally read it together, slowly, and you just carry on if they stumble. Don’t go back and discuss or sound out a word.  Congratulate them on reading with you. 

Stage 7, ask them to read a paragraph or a couple of sentences, but then promise you will read the rest.  This can gradually evolve into taking turns to read (sentences, paragraphs or pages).  Congratulate them.

As you get to turn taking in stage 7, you just gradually increase the amount that they do over time.  Or if they seem reluctant again you might give them a choice: how do you want to read?  Do you want to read the first and last sentence on the page?  Do you want to do the click game?  Shall we take it in turns to read a page?  Do you want to read with me?  

Some of these ideas will work better for you than others.  You can also mix them up so that they are gradually reading more and more themselves.  Don’t rush it though.  You are trying to get your child back into enjoying reading at home.  The first step is to sit down and tolerate it!  Then you want it to be a fun time together.  If you rush it, they will back away.   So flex it as you need to.  On a tired, grumpy night, you might need to go back a step or two.

After the first stage, try to ensure they are following as you read, even if they are not reading aloud.

If they get distracted, take a break, but explain you will finish it (eg when they’ve brushed their teeth).  5 minutes + 5 minutes might work for some 7 year olds for example, whereas others will manage longer in one sitting.

Keep talking about what you are reading as you can help with their comprehension this way.

If you feel that they are on the wrong level of book, don’t be afraid to talk to school or check they have brought the correct level of book home. 

If you can have some spare books at home, give them a choice.  It’s always easier to engage with a book we’re interested in.  Libraries are a great option but you can also pick up cheap books from charity shops, fetes and school fairs.  Perhaps you could borrow books from friends? 

And remember, learning to read is a marathon not a race.  Some children learn slowly, some quickly, some seem to go backwards at times!  We all have bad days.  Keep in mind their progress over months not days. Try not to compare with others, only with themselves.  And remember that regular support at home really does help, even if it’s not perfect…

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