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By now it is rather obvious that learning does not begin at school. A child develops the ability to hear and identify sounds while at home and even begins to speak even their native language. This ability is further grown when they go to school and they also develop more skills as pertains to language and expression.
Reading is one way to express what they can see and register in their minds. At first, a child may not necessarily understand what they are reading but they can read nevertheless. Experts at math homework help acknowledge the systematic nature of learning how to read. Below are the five building blocks of teaching children to read:
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1. Creating Phonemic Awareness
Spoken language is made up of small units called phonemes and just for the record, English consists of about 41 of them. These units are the ones that combine together to form syllable and words that can finally be pronounced. Speaking of phonemic awareness for children, it simply refers to the ability to first identify then manipulate these units into words. For a child to learn how to read, they will also need to understand the sounds that make a particular language. A child should be taught the difference in sounds for similar phonemes depending on the language they are learning to avoid confusion as they grow.
2. Learning Phonics
The word phonics refers to the understanding of the predictable relationship between sounds, letters, and spellings. Words are made up of several letters that make up sounds and so unless a child knows how they are related, it is hard to read. As the child begins, all the letters and sounds do not make much sense. However, with practice and over time, they learn to relate sounds and are able to predict the pronunciation of a word just by its spelling. This is because language is artistic and the relationship in sounds and syllables makes it predictable.
3. Developing Vocabulary
After the child gets aware of the existence of phenomes and their relationship with letters, they are now ready to have their vocabulary developed. This is the process of retrieving stored information and converting it into words that are necessary for communication. This is important as the child begins to verbalize the sounds that are already registered in their minds. They listen to the sound of the word as they pronounce and determine if it makes sense or not. Vocabulary development must begin with the basics for daily communication then advance to higher levels.
4. Cultivating Fluency
Once the child can pronounce sounds and read the majority of words accurately, they now move to the next step of cultivating fluency. Trying to get a child who can barely read to become fluent is as bad as putting the cart before the ox. Writers at write my paper know the value of fluency especially when it comes to converting written work to spoken. Being able to articulate simple sentences is the first step to getting fluent.
5. Comprehension Strategies
The ability to comprehend what one is reading is the culmination of the process. At the end of the day, the child should be able to fully understand what they are reading otherwise all the other skills may not be of much help to them. As the child reads, they should be fully aware of the words and their meanings. This requires them to develop literacy skills both in school and at home.
Final Remarks
Even though the rates at which different children learn how to read may vary, the above-discussed building blocks are the basis for the general process.