The rules for reading English are quite complicated. A child can learn their own pronunciation, learn to understand speech by ear, but learning to read English without the help of adults will be impossible. And the point is not only that the same letter can be pronounced differently depending on the environment, but also that the rules do not cover the whole variety of options for reading the same combinations. There are many exceptions.
In this article, we will give recommendations that will teach children the rules of reading English in an accessible and fascinating way. It will not take a lot of time for classes: only 10-15 minutes daily.
When can I start reading English?
There is only one rule: the sooner the better. One can argue with this, because it is known that most children begin to read in their native language at the age of 5-6 years. But wait for this age is not worth it. After six years, the possibilities of the child are no longer so wide. The sooner the baby begins to learn English reading skills, the easier it will be for him later. It is important to give tasks in strength. You should not expect a cursory reading at the age of 6. Just get ready for it. For example, learn songs about letters and the alphabet, they are very easy to remember. At school age, it is more difficult to learn them, and regardless of the child's abilities, this will take more time.
How to build training?
The rules of reading English for children are taught on the principle of "from simple to complex." For some strange reason, students in Russian non-specialized schools begin to learn English with transcription, which is perceived by most as something tedious, obscure and completely unnecessary. Forget about it, adults need it. When teaching children, follow the sequence "sound - meaning - letter". How much joy the first word read delivers, the meaning of which is clear!
So:
1. For teaching reading and to replenish vocabulary, you can use techniques based on the technique of Glenn Doman. They are all turned to the incredible memory of the child. You will need cards with printed words and images that describe these words, and, of course, good pronunciation. These cards can be played even with a newborn. First you should show the picture and voice it, then show the written word and voice it, then go on to more active activities. For example, offer the child several cards with words, show an image and ask to find the word in written form. Of course, the kid does not realize the rules by which these expressions are read, but in the end he reads them the same way as an adult: he sees the inscription and immediately understands its meaning, notices if it is written with an error. The only difference: in order to read like this, the child did not need to move from letters to words. Memory allows you to gain a decent vocabulary in just two years.
2. Get to know the sounds, not the names of the letters. For example, the sound "k" and the English letter "c", as in the word "cat". Point to the letter "C" and say: "K!" - "CAT!" It is important for reading examples to select words whose meanings are already familiar to the child. You can type vocabulary simultaneously with the study of sounds and their symbolic designations - letters, but this is more difficult.
3. First choose the more common sound options. Say, the letter “C” reads much more often as “K,” as in the word “Cat,” and less commonly, “S,” as in the word “Sity.” Study all consonants first. As a rule, they are read the same everywhere.
4. Now you can proceed to reading syllables. We need cards with syllables and letters that can be put into words. Words are chosen the simplest and those that are read by the rules. For example, the syllable -at. From it you can make the words "cat" (cat), "rat" (rat), "fat" (fat). The technique is as follows: an adult reads one word and suggests, by analogy, to read similar ones to a child.
When the baby reads even new words without difficulty and determines how one letter or another sounds (whether it is consonant or vowel), you can proceed to the next stage.
5. Learning to read consonant combinations. The rules for reading English in this area are quite simple, although they are unusual for us. Sh reads like w , ch reads like h , etc. Give more simple examples. For example, "ship" (ship), "chin" (chin).
6. Next, follow the same principle: master all new letter combinations. First work out the simplest rules for reading English, then move on to the difficult ones. In this case, combinations of vowels and consonants, such as ar (bar, star, war), are simple. More complex are combinations of vowels, for example, ee , as in the word "sheep".
7. Words with an open syllable, that is, those in which they are not closed by consonants, are perceived more difficult, they must be left in the end. For example, the word "Tale". It has two syllables, each of which is read differently than in closed syllables. The letter a here does not sound like the word "cat". But you do not have to explain to the child what open and closed syllables are. In the presence of practice, he will understand this difference unconsciously. Such patterns are often formed in adults who read a lot of texts with parallel translation. Without knowing the rules, they correctly determine how a particular word is pronounced, simply because they have already seen many times how other similar ones are read.
If a child likes to draw, he will be interested to get acquainted with the letter at the same time. First, the letters simply draw, then you can sign the drawings with familiar words. You can create your own vocabulary, involve your child in drawing cards, which in the future will be needed for learning to read.
But you can clearly separate these two tasks - reading and writing, and learn first only the first.
The rules for reading English contain many exceptions. They will need to be separately pronounced with the child, paying attention to one or another expression. Facilitates this task that the wrong words are the most common and very common. So you will have no difficulty in explaining this or that non-standard rule of reading the English language.
Following this technique, you can learn to read by the age of six. A child can learn all the rules of reading English in two to three years.