First comes listening comprehension
Learning to read begins at an early age and children learn to read through being read to. First comes listening comprehension followed by reading comprehension. Read to your child as a baby and as a toddler, and they will begin to learn to read before they even go to school, and that’s the way it should be.
Not only does reading aloud develop comprehension skills, it also builds vocabulary and teaches the child about the world around them. That is why it is so important to read to your child and encourage them to take an interest in books from an early age.
Therefore make reading aloud to your child the very first reading comprehension activity which you do with them.
Books should become an important part of child’s young life..
My one year old nephew, Ashton, has recently learned to walk. As a baby he was calm and content. As a walking toddler is he is still content but now he is, well, quite manic in his eagerness to learn about and experience the world around him. Take his fascination with balls for instance. He loves to throw balls. He will throw the ball at you, you throw it back and he throws it to you again. His serious face is full of steely determination, and if up to him he would continue doing this until his bedtime.
Now he has taken this same determined approach to books. No, he doesn’t throw them, but instead picks a book up, passes it to you, then fetches another. This too, could go on for hours. The point I’m getting to is this. Books have already become a fascination, an interest, an important part of his young life (like the balls he so loves to throw). This should be encouraged and developed. This is, in its very early stages, a reading comprehension activity. Showing the book to him, flipping through the pages, looking at the pictures, talking about the book and eventually reading the story to him is the natural progression from this. It is never to early for a child to develop a love of books and to learn to read!
My nephew, it seems, as well as becoming a bowler for the England cricket team, will become a enthusiastic and dedicated book worm.
