In a world with coronavirus, many families are concerned about their children falling behind academically. In this regard, school availability has varied widely across the country and many families are opting for alphabetize your child or having to take on a much larger role to educate them.

While teaching a child to read may seem daunting, there are many simple ways to encourage a positive relationship with reading, so here are some easy tips and ways to increase your child's literacy skills, whether they are learning in person, virtually, or at home.

Use nursery rhymes and songs to develop phonological awareness

Not only are nursery rhymes and songs fun, but rhyme and rhythm also help children to hear the sounds and syllables of words, which is beneficial for learning to read.

A good way to develop phonological awareness (one of the most important skills for learning to read) is to clap rhythmically and recite songs in unison. In this way he will be more attentive to signs.

In this sense, this playful, bonding activity becomes a great way for children to implicitly develop the literacy skills that will prepare them for success in reading.

Make word cards at home

Cut out cards and write a word with three sounds on each. Invite your child to choose a card, then read the word together and show three fingers.

Ask them to tell you the first sound they hear in the word, then the second, and then the third. This simple activity requires little preparation time and develops essential phonetic and decoding skills (helping them learn to pronounce the words).

If your child is just beginning to learn the letters of the alphabet, focus on the sound each letter makes, rather than on the names of the letters.

Engage your child in an impression-rich environment

Create daily opportunities to develop your child's reading skills by creating a print-rich environment at home, so seeing printed words on posters, charts, books, and labels allows children to see and apply connections between sounds and letter symbols.

When you are out and about, point out letters on signs, advertisements, and plaques. In this way, over time you can shape the sounds of the letters to form words.

Focus on the first letter of the words and ask your child

• "What sound does that letter make?".
• "What other word starts with that sound?".
• "Which word rhymes with that word?".

Play word games at home or in the car

Starting from the previous step, introduce simple word games on a regular basis. Focus on games that encourage your child to hear, identify, and manipulate the sounds of words.

For example, start by asking questions like:

• "With what sound does the word ____ begin?"
• "With what sound does the word ____ end?"
• "What words begin with the sound of ____?"
• "What word rhymes with ____?"

Understanding the basic skills for teaching children to read

It is important to remember that learning to read involves many different skills, so there are five essential components of reading that you can read about here.

These are the skills that all children need to learn to read successfully. In summary, they include:

• Phonological awareness: the ability to hear and manipulate the different sounds of words.
• Phonetics: recognize the connection between letters and the sounds they make.
• Vocabulary: understanding the meaning of words, their definitions and their context.
• Reading comprehension: understanding the meaning of the text, both in storybooks and informational books.
• Fluency: the ability to read aloud with speed, comprehension, and accuracy.

Play with letter magnets, it helps your child to become literate

The middle vowel sounds can be difficult for some children, so this activity can be very helpful. Prepare letter magnets on the refrigerator and move the vowels to the side (a, e, i, o, u) .

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Say a word (consonant-vowel-consonant), for example cat, and ask your child to spell it using the magnets. To help them, say each vowel sound aloud while pointing to its letter and ask your child which one makes a sound similar to the middle one.

Harness the power of technology to keep your child engaged

Learning to read should be an enjoyable process and should keep children motivated to improve. Sometimes a child may be full of enthusiasm and desire to learn at the beginning, but once they hit a wall they may become overwhelmed and give up easily.

As a parent, it may seem impossible to relearn and know where to fill in the gaps that may be causing frustration.

Tip that further helps your child to become literate

Apps like Reading Eggs use individualized lessons that match each child's ability. In this way, children are regularly rewarded for completing activities and reaching new levels. In other words, this is what keeps them motivated to stay on track.

Parents can also see instant progress reports to see how their skills are improving.

Read together daily and ask questions about the book

Many people do not realize how many skills can be learned from the simple act of reading to a child.

In this sense you are not only showing them how to pronounce the words, but also developing essential comprehension skills. Furthermore, you are increasing their vocabulary and allowing them to hear what a fluent reader sounds like.

Above all, regular reading helps your child develop a love of reading, which is the best way to prepare him or her for success in reading, so strengthen your child's comprehension skills by asking questions during reading.

Tip that further helps your child to become literate

For younger children, encourage them to participate with pictures. For example, by asking questions such as: do you see the boat? what color is the cat?

For older children, ask questions about what you just read, such as, "Why do you think the bird was scared?", "When did Sofia realize she had special powers?"

Play to memorize high frequency words every day

Sight words are words that cannot be pronounced easily and must be recognized by sight. High frequency sight words are those that appear frequently in reading and writing, for example: you, me, we, I am, had and, to, the, have, they, where, went, does.

The strategy for learning high frequency words is to "see the word, say the word." Learning to identify and read common words is essential for children to become fluent readers. In other words, it will prevent them from having problems with reading.

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Most children will learn a few high-frequency words by age four (e.g., I, you, he, we, you, they) and about 20 high-frequency words by the end of the first year of school. In this regard, you can teach sight words by playing with cards and using the reading app described above.

Help the child choose reading material that matches his passions

Too often we force children to read books in which they have no interest at all, so by asking what interests them, what intrigues them, and what excites them, we can find those books that are really tailor-made for their learning.

Final considerations about making your child literate

Each child learns at his or her own pace, so always remember that the most important thing you can do is to make it enjoyable. In other words, your attitude can have an impact on this issue.

I hope you have enjoyed the tips that we have separated especially for you about alphabetize your child Therefore, get to know our Clinical Psychoanalysis Course and get ready to discover new horizons that will change your life! Become a professional in this exceptional area!