10 Strategies for Preschool Language and Literacy Development

There are many theories about young children and teaching. I the guest article below the author outlines the conservative position. I would like in the preface to outline some alternatives:

• Multilingual literacy. Some parents use the preschool age to develop their child’s literacy in foreign languages. This may have a negative effect during the first couple of years at school when the child is confused but pays off later.

• Natural approach. Anna and myself allow preschool children to do basically whatever they want within accepted boundaries, providing various stimuli for their curiosity and creativity.

• Science education. My own parents and grandmother used my preschool years yo provide me with intuition in physics and basic understanding of history. There are many illustrated science books and shows suitable for children.

• Choose one thing and focus on it. Some kids show immense progress in preschool age. This is the age to learn piano and violin, start playing chess or develop some gymnastic agility. This practice is controversial, since child stars often suffer emotionally and seldom succeed as grown ups. The public usually remembers the success stories…

Some parents and teacher believe that its best to let children be children for as long as possible. They tend to think that children should not be pushed to grow up. And they should not be forced into an education structure while they are still in diapers.

Children should not be forced to study when they are not ready. However, it is important for both parents and teachers to start developing literacy skills as early as possible to promote healthy development and success in their future.

According to college paper writing services, developing literacy skills is not just about teaching the child how to read or write right away. There are several strategies you can use while reading to your child to help him or her develop literacy skills from an early age. Today, we are going to discuss the ten strategies for preschool language and literacy development. Let’s get started!

1.      Run your finger after words (metaguiding)

Educators from essay writing service report that running your finger after every word you read will help in developing literacy skills especially in small children. Educators have reported that this is one of the best ways to help a child read easily. Running your finger after the words you read will help the child develop orientation.

Most children don’t even notice what their parents are doing but sooner or later, they will. Your child will start looking at the movement of your finger. While he or she does this, he or she will start developing the orientation to read and write.

Additionally, he or she will start learning the concept of words and spacing. Sooner or later, he or she will start copying what he or she sees you doing. He or she will start pretending to read and this is a major step towards literacy development.

2.      Vocabulary matters

Building vocabulary does not require a child to know how to read. A child develops his or her vocabulary when he or she starts reading. Building vocabulary is a key to learning how to read in the future. Children who develop a strong vocabulary at a young age learn easily and quickly compared to children who don’t.

Most parents have no idea that a child’s brain learns new things by associating new information to old information. Attaching a new concept to an older well-understood concept makes it easier for most people to learn.

As essay-writing service reports, developing vocabulary by building a child’s background knowledge will make it easier for him or her to read when starting school. You need to use your storytime to expand the vocabulary of your child. Use books with pictures to help children develop associations between objects and meanings.

3.      Point out punctuations

Pointing out punctuation to a three or four-year-old may not seem like a big deal but it makes a big difference in developing childhood literacy. You need not start teaching your child what a question or exclamation mark means. All you need to do is point them out. Punctuation is not as easy as it seems. Most adolescents are intimated by punctuation.

Introducing a child to punctuation as early as possible will help him or her feel comfortable with punctuation when he or she starts reading in school. The most important thing is building familiarity with punctuation to make it easier for your child to learn.

Editor’s note: This particular approach did not work for me. Using various colors for nouns and verbs or rhyming word endings worked fine with my daughter.

4.      Voice inflections work

A-writer.com reports that 93% of all communication comprises of body language and tone of voice. The same applies to reading. The meaning you communicate when reading not only comes from the words you use but also how you use the words.

When reading with your child, it’s important to use voice inflections.  Voice inflections help a child understand how reading is supposed to sound. And they hold his or her attention and keeps him or her engaged to the reading. You need not exaggerate your words. Just use voice inflections whenever possible.

5.      The letter hunt

If your child is seven years old and above, a letter hunting is one of the best ways to make reading fun for him. All you need to do is make this exercise interesting. If her name is Alice, you may have her search an entire page for the letter A. You can choose any letter in the alphabet.

6.      Look for sight words

Recognizing and understanding basic sight words is important when it comes to teaching your child how to read.  According to the best coursework writing service, the common sight words found in most books include a, is, the, in, to, it and of to name a few. Similar to hunting letters, let your child count the number of times a sight word appears in a page. Repeat this exercise for every sight word.

7.      Let your child predict

Before reading a book, let your child look at the cover and flip through a couple of pages to look at the pictures. Ask your child what he or she thinks about the book. After reading the book, ask your child to tell you how close his prediction was to reality. This exercise will improve the attention span of your child.

8.      Look at comprehension

Reading comprehension is one of the vital skills every child should have. Unfortunately, most children struggle with comprehension throughout elementary and high school. Focusing on comprehension will help your child develop the necessary comprehension skills required for him or her to succeed in school. Ask a few questions after reading a comprehension.

9.      Memorize the alphabet

It’s important for preschoolers to get comfortable with the alphabet. Coming up with an interesting and engaging song will develop and improve their fine motor skills. And this will help them learn how to write letters of the alphabet without help from anyone.

Editor’s note:  This works quite well for phonetic alphabets, like Russian or Korean. Not sure I can recommend this approach so early with Hebrew or English the same letter means more than one thing depending on the context.

10. Keep reading

Repeating the same book every time might be tiring after some time however if the child enjoys, he or she will love reading. Repetition is key when developing literacy skills. Reading the same book regularly will help you practice all the strategies we’ve discussed above.

Conclusion

Your child’s vocabulary will be easily enhanced making it easier for your child to read on his or her own by putting to practice the tips mentioned above. So what are you waiting for? Start learning with your child today!

Bio

Becky Holton is a journalist and a blogger at best essays. She is interested in education technologies, writing expert and is always ready to support informative speaking. Follow her on Twitter.