Many children are under the impression that English is all about reading stuffy books with no relevance to today’s world, verbs, nouns, and funny men in tights. This misapprehension will lead to them losing out on a whole world of ideas, stories and in fact can seriously hinder their progress forward in an information-obsessed world. Teaching your child to read, and enjoy reading even in our highly technical world, will help your child gain perspective on himself and his surroundings. The best gift we as parents can offer our children is to infuse them with a love of reading and by turn a love of learning. Here are some tips on getting your child interested, and keeping him interested in English.
Choose the books your child reads carefully. Make sure they are good: just because they have red fire engines on the front and your toddler is fire engine obsessed, does not make it a good book. Look for a story line, a plot, look at the words used; do they extend your child’s vocabulary? Your child does not want to read inane stories, nor does he want them read to him (for the younger ones), make story time or reading for the older children a fascinating experience. When reading to a toddler, change your voice, as well as the tempo. If it is an exciting part, then speed up a little and raise your voice (don’t do this at bedtime, rather read slower, calmer books or your little one won’t fall asleep). Don’t be afraid to try new authors, for yourself as well as the little ones. A new author brings a new perspective, as well as a new frame of reference. Most people write from experience and no two people experience something in the same way so you will always be getting new input. Always make sure what they are reading is age appropriate, however never tell them they won’t understand a book and shouldn’t read it. Rather say that they may not enjoy the book as it can be rather hard to understand in places, but if they have questions then they must come to you or go to a teacher to explain what is meant. Don’t underestimate what your child knows. If your child is a little older don’t be afraid to let them read slightly risqué material. Obviously make sure there is nothing damaging in the book, but lets face it, teenagers are hormonal and a little kissing and fooling around is often enough to keep them reading. When I was in high school we had a boy in my class who only ever read Jilly Cooper, it was the only thing he would read, however he now has a passion for horses as well as Opera. Get free download tutorial for english for child lesson.
