Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Top Tip for the Holidays!

Watch TV! Yes, really. All kids are going to watch television at some point during the holidays so use the opportunity to sneak in some reading practice! 


A fun way to increase sight word vocabulary and develop a sense of the flow of written and spoken language is to turn on the closed captioning feature on your television. Also use the closed captioning feature on your child's favorite DVDs. Encourage your child to note the captions and read along. Invite a friend, make some popcorn, and they may even forget they're working!


Finland is a country with a very high percentage of capable readers but what do they do in Finland to encourage literacy? Children grow up watching TV with subtitles, so they read while they watch TV. Isn't that just the simplest, most sensible thing? We could do that! Turn on the captioning on your TVs. Your kids will be reading without even realizing it every time they watch a programme. When they grow up, they will never complain when they watch an undubbed foreign film!

The more exposure to text we can give our reluctant readers in a comfortable, non-threatening situation, the better. Happy reading and happy holidays!

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