The Ministry of Education and teachers around the country have sent out a warning in recent years about the decline in reading comprehension among elementary school students. Many students cannot comprehend the questions on written tests and therefore hand in a blank piece of paper. Your child may be in the same situation, when he/she gets to elementary school. It is important for parents to take action as soon as possible to prevent this from happening.
Reading is the best way to improve your child’s reading comprehension. However, it is hard for young children to read books on their own. In order for children to get in the habit of reading, it is important that parents read picture books to their children on a daily basis from a very young age. Only a few minutes a day is effective and repeating the same book is fine. The most important thing is that you continue to read on a daily basis. After hearing the same book more than once, children will begin to relate to the characters and what happens in their lives and be able to come up with stories on their own.
Go to the library and/or bookstore with your child and help him/her find a book that he/she likes. Make sure to read it with him/her over and over again at home. Reading the same book will help your child’s reading comprehension improve. It is OK if it is a picture book or comic as long as it has a storyline that is easy to follow. Finding their favorite book will help them overcome their fear that they are not good at reading.
It is nice to go with your child to visit the library. However, it is also important to have lots of books around at home and encourage a lifestyle full of books and reading. Giving your child the opportunity to live around books will help them develop a curiosity towards books and reading. When they are not interested in books with lots of words and sentences it is OK to start with comics and picture books. Four panel comics have a detailed story composition and development that helps improve a child’s reading comprehension.
When children don’t understand something, they will ask their mom or dad. Instead of answering their question right away, it is important to give them some time to think about the answer on their own. This will encourage them to think about why things happen and the reasons behind certain actions on their own. However, young children cannot come up with the answers to hard problems on their own. It is a good idea to give them hints and help them come up with the answers together.
A main reason for the decrease in reading comprehension of children in recent years is the loss of interest in books or literature among young people. With fewer young people and adults making it a habit of reading on a daily basis in recent years, it is not a surprise that reading comprehension is decreasing among students.
Parents can help stop this decrease by offering an environment where children are encouraged to listen to books from a young age. If reading is made a daily activity at home, it will be harder for children to lose interest.
Children often follow their parents’ lead, so it is important that they see their parents reading books. This will lead children to think that reading is fun and an activity that they want to learn how to do as well. Enjoying books and reading as a family will help improve your child’s reading comprehension.
