Teach children how they should read

Over the years, different reports have continued to indicate low literacy and numeracy skills. In 2018, for example, The Monitoring Learning Achievement of Primary Two in Literacy report by the Directorate of Education Standards indicated that almost six in every 10 primary school-going children assessed were unable to read.

Alive to these realities, Julia Kushemererwa Singa, a human resource consultant at Success Africa and author My Child Loves Reading took the bull by the horns and gave a gift of reading to her son. She shares her journey and what can help other parents nurture a reading culture.
“I have always been a reader for almost all my life. I grew up in a home where we were exposed to books. I was always looking through the shelf for a new book,” Singa recalls.
To her, becoming a parent four years ago changed her life. Life ceased to be about her, but someone else who had high expectations she couldn’t afford to disappoint; her four-year-old son, Daniels Singa.

“As he was growing, I kept asking myself – ‘as a parent, what can I give him that outlasts time?’ Meanwhile, I was part of a project to designing a primary school website, compiling stories for children on that website. In the middle of that, and me wanting to give my son something that will last forever that would benefit him, and others around him, I thought, reading would be the perfect gift,” she shares.
But to do that, she also had to do a lot more reading, resulting into writing her own book. “I found out that if your child meets a book within the first year of their life, they have higher chances of loving to read because books will not come off as strangers to them,” Singa shares.

Embarking on reading
Sharing her experience, Singa discusses creative ways to help your child love reading. She hints on playing games that inspire reading such as rhyming games, finding sounds, reading for children, role model reading and the old-time bedtime story reading as tools parents can employ.
She, however, admits that this is not and will not be an easy journey so it calls for a lot of patience and time. She notes that children are curious so the first time you introduce a book, they will want to open it. But what are the chances they will want to open it after six months? So, observing and following their interests is helpful.

“Sometimes, you already have a child who has shown interest in something. emphasise that. For example, my son loves animals, and I capitalise on that. All his books, up until now are around animals – farm, wild animals and all sorts of animals and he loves them. Now, he knows their names, when he opens his books, he laughs, if their name is a bit hard, he will say it and laugh at himself, but all the while, he is learning something. So, observe where your child is going and walk with them on that journey,” she advises.

Do it as a pleasure activity
Furthermore, for a parent who wants to teach the love for reading, you cannot teach it as something to be assessed. It should be something you do for pleasure and let the child grow into.
“If parents would encourage a reading culture, even teachers would have much less work because the child is self-driven. Children learn faster as long as you kick-start them and it is the parents to do this kick-start then going through school will be much easier,” Singa notes with concern.

But again, not every child will learn to read quickly. It could be failure to pronounce the words, or reading and understanding what they are reading.
“As I taught the love to read to my son, I made sure to teach comprehension as well – after reading, I would use various ways to ascertain if he has understood what he has read,” she says.
This could be through questions, quizzing, or the child relaying the story for you.

Alternatives
• Singa advocates for reading clubs as a viable alternative to encourage reading. There is a lot to learn in these because children are reading in smaller groups and you have an opportunity as a parent to teach manners, values, influence of friends, neighbours or the schoolmates,” she says.
•The excitement from TV, she notes, is a bit higher for children but not lasting and passive yet the excitement from books is at a different level but it has a long-term effect and it has an active effect on the mind. She, therefore, encourages less television and more active reading.

• “There are also alternatives such as audio books, games around reading. However, electronics are very distracting for children, so reading with electronic gadgets is tricky so I strongly believe that the better way to teach a child to read is with hard copy books, and not a tab. With electronics, you have to worry about how to redirect their attention, so yes, electronics come with lots of options.