Since our kids were babies, we instill a habit of reading together with them.
When they were very little, we went through picture books together. Pictures where we could make interesting sounds out of them are the best! Like, books with animals, cars, and trucks (and when it comes to the Bible, the Noah’s Ark part is always our favourite!)
Until today, our bedtime routine (reading and praying together before they both go to bed) is hardly ever missed.
I mean, even when we get home really late at night and even when we parents wish we could just send them straight to bed because we too are exhausted, Anya especially will ask (read: persistently demand) for her story time with us.
Before we even reach home, she’d say things like, ‘Can we read later? Just for a liiitttle while please. A reeeeallly short one. Pleaseee….’
And IF we say no, she’ll very most likely cry. Really really cry.
[It’s actually heartwarming to see how she seriously rejects the idea of skipping her story time with us. And so usually even though we are very tired and still have tons of work to do after sending the kids to bed, we’d still read something to both of them for a minute or two]
Anyway.
When Anya started Nursery last year, alphabets and simple words were introduced. And every three weeks or so, she’d come home with a little book that her class has already gone through together.
I still remember how she told me what the book was about, page by page. At first it did seem like she could read the words (to my amazement!), but apparently it was more like she REMEMBERED the sentences on each page!
And so since she’s one who’s into reading and books, I thought of slowly teaching her how to read. And I started by introducing phonics to her (ie. the sounds of alphabets).
[Btw, we chose not to send her to ‘I Love Reading’ enrichment classes as we really didn’t think it was necessary. If a 4-year-old doesn’t know how to read yet, we feel it is completely normal. I chose to teach her how to read as part of daily time together. And if she happened to not be able to grasp the idea of reading yet, it’d be fine with us too]
I introduced Anya to a flip book that a friend gave to Anya for her birthday a year ago too (Thanks Astrid, it’s really helpful!) And with that flip book I started teaching her how to connect the sounds of different letters , like ‘b-o-b’, ‘h-e-n’, or ‘d-i-d’.
[When it comes to teaching her how to read, I didn’t have any fixed timing. Basically I followed her cue. Sometimes we spent a good 10 minutes or so going through the flip book together. At other times, we probably just looked at it for a minute. There were days when we didn’t even look at the book at all! But then again, learning – about anything – is never limited to just books, yes?]
Looking back, some nine months later since I first introduced her to reading, I must say Anya’s reading skill has improved by a lot.
It’s amazing to see how she can now read to me her Early Reader’s Bible (I must say, her reading improved a lot after receiving it as a gift. Thanks Nancy for the Bible!).
I also encourage her to read simple story books to Vai (I believe when she reads to others, it increases her reading enjoyment, confidence AND it makes her feel more like the ‘big sister’ too!).
She also likes to read out what she sees on the bus, train, brochures, sticker labels, etc.
It must’ve been a good feeling. You know, to be able to ‘decipher’ and read some of the words she now sees!
And I’m happy with her progress too so far!
Anyway. I’ve uploaded a video clip (taken last month) of her reading a story book before she went to bed.
Click HERE to view the clip!
