In the beginning

Reading is the gateway to knowledge, the Teacher offers some suggestions about how to get children to read more.

Tips for teachers

Reading must be fun and must lead to discovery – it must never be a chore or a punishment.

Make sure that you make interesting books available. Sport and adventure books work best with boys.

Start with the basics. First a child must be able to recognise and read all the letters of the alphabet, then he or she needs to know the sounds associated with each letter.

Build vocabulary by writing a few words on the chalk board each day that may occur in stories and refer to the words several times a day so that learners become familiar with the spelling and the sound.

Introduce learners to a book before leaving them to read it – discuss the characters they will meet and the background against which the story is set so the learner has ”hooks” on which to hang meaning when reading.

Divide books into different genres and display them like that. For each book prepare a blurb that best captures what that book is about. This will help children pick books that are likely to interest them.

Start a class book club so that learners can exchange ideas about books they have read and swap books instead of buying them.

Talk in class about what learners have read at home.

Use literature to introduce other learning areas. For instance, read a story about a relevant historical event before beginning a social sciences lesson.

Tips for parents

Spend time looking at books with your child so that reading becomes a time of bonding.

Create a regular ”story time” during which your children sit around you and you read to them. Read with enthusiasm. Make reading fun and use voice inflections.

Give books as presents so that children learn that they are valuable.

Encourage everyone in the family, including grandparents, to read.

Take turns when you read with your children – let them read to you and then read to them.

Talk to your children about what they have read at school.

Allow children to participate in the story you are reading by stopping and asking simple questions, such as ”How many cows are there?”, ”Why is grandmother sad?”, ”What colour is the car?”.

Jenny Rault-Smith is chief director of curriculum and assessment in the general education and training phase in the department of education. This article is in support of the department of education’s Foundations for Learning campaign. It aims to strengthen the teaching and learning of literacy and numeracy.