EDLI636 Week 2 Assignment 3: The Basics of Teaching Reading and Writing

Print awareness: Reading can be learnt in daily personal life, such as during grocery shopping. Exposure to print and books is great for start for children to learn reading. This is a stage for becoming aware of print. Children tend to pretend to read while they play. Reading can be a pleasure for children.

Speech sounds: infants are interested in sounds that they have not heard before. This interest can be measured through sucking patterns, looking time, head turn. Babies can differentiate different sounds, such as b and d. Talking to infants not only build close emotion relationship but also prepare them to become comprehensive readers.

Phonemes awareness: reading aloud may be the best way to put a child become a good reader. To assure a better start, word games can build phonemic awareness.

Alphabetic Principle: a good reading program moves through letter-sound connections in a sensible order. Links between letters and sounds can be reinforced.

Fluency: it is the ability to read aloud without hesitation or false start. Decode and decode quickly with comprehension are important.

Semantic Gradients: a vocabulary strategy that asks children to think about what thye know about words. This can be done through letting children to differentiate words with minor differences in meaning on table. This helps children to build their vocabulary.

Spelling Pattern: exploring words’ features rather than simple memorizing word spelling can be more helpful for children.

Jigsaw: this cooperative learning strategy can help children enhance their reading comprehension. Children work in both home group and expert group for studying and sharing.

Assessing Reading Skills: High IQ is not associated with reading success. Ongoing assessment should be used by all teachers. They need to understand how to diagnose difficulties continuously.