TEACHING EMERGENT LITERACY
Emergent literacy is a term that is used to explain a child's knowledge of reading and writing skills before they learn how to read and write words
The basic components of emergent literacy include: * Print motivation: Being interested in and enjoying books. * Vocabulary: Knowing the names of things. * Print awareness: Noticing print, knowing how to handle a book, and knowing how to follow words on a page. * Narrative skills: Being able to describe things and events and to tell stories. * Letter knowledge: Understanding letters are different from each other, knowing their names and sounds, and recognizing letters everywhere. * Phonological awareness: Being able to hear and play with the smaller sounds in words
TEACHING BASIC COMPREHENSION SKILLS
Comprehension strategies are conscious plans — sets of steps that good readers use to make sense of text. Comprehension strategy instruction helps students become purposeful, active readers who are in control of their own reading comprehension. These seven strategies have research-based evidence for improving text comprehension.
1. Monitoring comprehension
Students who are good at monitoring their comprehension know when they understand what they read and when they do not. They have strategies to "fix" problems in their understanding as the problems arise. Research shows that instruction, even in the early grades, can help students become better at monitoring their comprehension.
Comprehension monitoring instruction teaches students to: * Be aware of what they do understand * Identify what they do not understand * Use appropriate strategies to resolve problems in comprehension
2. Metacognition
Metacognition can be defined as "thinking about thinking." Good readers use metacognitive strategies to think about and have control over their reading. Before reading, they might clarify their purpose for reading and preview the text. During reading, they might monitor their understanding, adjusting their reading speed to fit the difficulty of the text and "fixing" any comprehension problems they have. After reading, they check their understanding of what they read.
3. Graphic and semantic organizers
Graphic organizers illustrate concepts and relationships between concepts in a text or using diagrams. Graphic organizers are known by different names, such as maps, webs, graphs, charts, frames, or clusters.
Regardless of the label, graphic organizers can help readers focus on concepts and how they are related to other concepts. Graphic organizers help students read and understand textbooks and picture books.
Graphic organizers can: * Help students focus on text structure "differences between fiction and nonfiction" as they read * Provide students with tools they can use to examine and show relationships in a text * Help students write well-organized summaries of a text
4. Answering questions
Questions can be effective because they: * Give students a purpose for reading * Focus students' attention on what they are to learn * Help students to think actively as they read * Encourage students to monitor their comprehension * Help students to review content and relate what they have learned to what they already know
The Question-Answer Relationship strategy (QAR) encourages students to learn how to answer questions better. Students are asked to indicate whether the information they used to answer questions about the text was textually explicit information (information that was directly stated in the text), textually implicit information (information that was implied in the text), or information entirely from the student's own background knowledge.
5. Generating questions
By generating questions, students become aware of whether they can answer the questions and if they understand what they are reading. Students learn to ask themselves questions that require them to combine information from different segments of text. For example, students can be taught to ask main idea questions that relate to important information in a text.
6. Recognizing story structure
In story structure instruction, students learn to identify the categories of content (characters, setting, events, problem, resolution). Often, students learn to recognize story structure through the use of story maps. Instruction in story structure improves students' comprehension.
7. Summarizing
Summarizing requires students to determine what is important in what they are reading and to put it into their own words. Instruction in summarizing helps students: * Identify or generate main ideas * Connect the main or central ideas * Eliminate unnecessary information * Remember what they read
TEACHING READING METHODOLOGIES
Method 1: Phonics
The phonics method is probably the best known and widely used method to teach reading and writing in the English language. It relies on children being taught the alphabet first. They learn the names of the letters and the sounds they make. Once they have learnt the letter sounds they will begin to blend two letters together to make simple words then three letters, then four and so
Method 2 - The Look and Say Method
With the 'look and say' method children learn to recognize whole words or sentences rather than individual sounds. Your student will look at a word which you sound, and in turn will repeat the sound (the word). Flashcards with individual words written on them are used for this method often accompanied with a related picture.
If you don't use a picture with the word the child will probably make a wild guess as to what it says trying to remember what sound you made previously. This is not a good method if you don't include pictures.
It is also recommended with this method to use whole short sentences rather than individual words. Write a short sentence representing the picture displayed. Say the sentence and ask the child to repeat it while pointing and looking at each individual word as he/she repeats what you said.
Method3 - The Language Experience Approach
The language experience approach is the third method you may like to use. This particular method actually uses student's own words to help them read. Your student may draw a picture of Dad in the car. In that case you would write underneath the drawing; Dad is in the car.
Method 4 - The Context Support Method
When your students are just learning to read it is important to choose books that really interest them. If boys like cars, choose a book with pictures and simple words about cars. This will keep their interest and they will enjoy learning with you. If girls like dolls, obtain a book with doll pictures and simple words. Again it will encourage enthusiasm because they are actually looking at something they can relate to
Some books are especially written to support this method of learning. You will find a longer sentence on one side of the page while the other side has a single word or maybe two to three words for your student to read. You will read the longer sentence while your student reads the simpler version.
You may like to try this method of long and short text or maybe combine it with one or all of the other methods above. The debate still rages among educators, parents, and experts. Which approach to teaching reading works best? That is something only you can answer and it comes with practice and experience.