Learning to Read – A Note to Teachers & Parents

Teachers are often asked by eager parents… “When will my child learn how to read?” Or better yet… “When will YOU teach my child how to read?” (Yikes!)

To be quite honest, the first time I was asked these two questions I was kind of at a loss for words. Reading is not only complex, but it takes time, patience, and the mastering of various skills before it can come to fruition. All learners do not master reading at a ‘specific age’. As with anything else, we all progress at different speeds. Even when a learner has learned to read, they will continue to develop and master reading for years to come.

The act of ‘reading’ can be defined as:

To look at carefully so as to understand the meaning of (something written, printed, etc.)

Dictionary.com

To utter aloud or render in speech (something written, printed, etc.)

Dictionary.com

To have such knowledge of (a language) as to be able to understand things written in it

Dictionary.com

Woah… sounds super complex right? More than just ‘sounding out’ and reciting the alphabet.

In fact, there’s a lot to be done to set the stage for a child to successfully learn how to read. But there are 2 powerful predictors of early reading success. Let’s unpack this together, shall we?

Learning to Read and the 2 Most Powerful Predictors

There are 2 predictors of early reading success:

1. Letter Recognition – the names and sounds that they represent
2. Phonemic Awareness – the understanding that words are made up of separate sounds

These two skills are the most significant skills to set your learner up for early reading success. Simply put, without a thorough knowledge of letters and the understanding that these letter create words (which are made up of sounds), your learner will not learn how to read.

It doesn’t matter how much you push them to ‘sound it out’. If they don’t understand what sounds to make and which letters make those sounds… its not happening. So, if your learner has a solid grasp of these skills, then they will have an easier time learning to read.

There are many things that you can do to help them develop these skills. The simplest starts with what many of us already do from birth and continue into their preschool years:

• Singing the alphabet
• Exposure to alphabet books
• Watching educational videos
• Listening to alphabet songs

In fact, because of this early exposure to the alphabet, most learners actually enter kindergarten being able to say their ABCs, identify the letters in the alphabet, and maybe even recognize a few printed words.

But we know that simply being able to say the letters is not the same as knowing the letters. Knowing the letters, means that your learner must be able to identify the printed forms of all the letters (in and out of sequence), and they should know the most frequent sound associated with each letter.

Learners who are able to do this, and understand the connection between the letter and the sound, have a much easier time learning how to read. I cannot stress the importance of letter recognition and phonemic awareness enough.

Learning to Read by Teaching Letter Recognition

It’s no doubt that learners who can recognize letters with accuracy and speed, have an easier time learning the sounds associated with those letters. Children who struggle with letter recognition, struggle with learning the sounds.

I’m sure you’ve witnessed it either within your classroom, home, or another learning environment. A learner who is just not sure which letters or letter combinations make which sounds, and then becomes discouraged or frustrated as they try, or are pushed to read. They just don’t know where to begin. This is why letter recognition is so imperative for learning to read.

In fact, research has shown that as children become familiar with letters, they become interested in learning more about them. This includes their sounds, and how to use them. They begin to realize that learning letters and sounds leads to reading, which opens up a whole new world with endless possibilities to use their imaginations, nurture their curiosity, and expand their knowledge.

Start teaching your learner their letters by at least age two, or as soon as they show interest. The sooner the better. But even if you begin early, don’t expect mastery simply because you introduced letters early. It will still take time, repetition, and meaningful activities, before your learner will be able to correctly identify all the letters of the alphabet.

Immerse letter recognition practice within all areas of your learning environment. Use hands-on, engaging activities to give them ample opportunities to practice. Here are some fun and hands-on activities you can start with.

Phonemic Awareness

With practice and exposure, your learner will develop some routine skills that successful readers do.

What are routine skills? They are the things that readers do automatically, without having to pause to consider what to do next:

• Pause when they see a period or comma
• Reading from left to right, and top to bottom (or the correct directions in which their primary language follows)
• Begin reading at the front and move towards the back
• Recognize high frequency sight words
• Using prior knowledge to understand what they read
• And the most critical and routine of all… associating specific sounds with specific letters and letter combinations – phonemic awareness.

Some learners will develop phonemic awareness naturally over time, and through exposure to poems, readings of familiar stores, and rhymes. But most children need to be engaged with hands-on, meaningful activities in order to build this important skill.

Here are some things you can do help your learner with phonemic awareness:

1. Focus on one sound at a time – allow your learner time to fully grasp one sound at a time
2. Help your learner listen for sounds – remember part of learning letters and sounds is being able to identify them. Any type of literacy activity you implement should have an oral component to it.
3. Apply letter and sound recognition to reading – If you point out the letters and sounds you have been working on while reading, your learner will begin to see the how they connect. This is powerful. Do this with your learners favourite book and work together to find letters and sounds that you have been working on.
4. Laugh and learn! – Always, always, always… make learning fun and memorable. Learning and memory creation happens when emotions are involved. So have fun with the letters and sounds. Create alliteration of words, or create silly tongue twisters that will keep your learner engaged.

These are other things in which you can do to help your learners further develop their phonemic awareness; including implementing intentional activities. But remember, repetition will help to teach recognition, and variety will help to meet each learner’s needs. So give your learners lots and lots of practice.

How do we give our learners ample opportunities to engage with and build these 2 skills?

We create a language – rich, hands-on environment that is intentional in its effort to build upon letter recognition and phonemic awareness skills.

Use the environment, and the activities in which you implement, as tools to help you teach the crucial skills of letter recognition and phonemic awareness. It’s not enough to implement these activities once, twice, or occasionally. Fully immerse your learner with activities and plenty of opportunities to engage with the activities in order for them to fully grasp the concepts.

Final Thoughts

The best thing you can do for any learner is to offer a language – rich environment in which they can explore, and strengthen these skills. Helping a learner to become a fluent reader will not only set them up for school success, but will be one of the most rewarding things you do. Reading is fascinating! So share your excitement and interest in laughing and learning, and introduce your learner to the joys of reading!

How do you teach letter recognition and phonemic awareness in your learning environment?