Tips on Reading Aloud Children’s Stories to Children

 

In familiarizing children with English literacy, parents must accompany their children when reading children’s books. This is because early childhood has not been able to process information in books independently because of their limited abilities. In addition, children will be more focused when they are accompanied than not. Children tend to be easily distracted by other things. At early childhood, children are very unique because they children get bored quickly. They have high curiosity and imitation. They tend to be noisy. Therefore, the learning methods provided must be really interesting and fun for them. The following tips are the methods for assisting children in reading English story books.

1.     Making Gestures

Reading aloud with gestures allows children to physically participate in the story. Parents need to encourage children to make certain gestures when children hear certain words or perform various actions mentioned in the story. For example, while a parent is reading the fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood, a child can pretend to be a girl who is holding baked candies in a basket, roars like a wolf, or squeaks when she opens a door.

2.     Reading Aloud with the Right Intonation

Reading aloud a story must be in the appropriate tone. If the story has a happy theme, parents must also tell stories in a happy tone. If the atmosphere of the story is sad, reading aloud must be done in a low tone, alert or sad. Intonation in telling stories must be paid close attention so that children do not misunderstand in receiving the information given when reading stories together. For example, sad, angry, happy, embarrassed and etc. if parents are expressive, children will be enthusiast. Before reading stories to children, parents need to read the storybook first so they understand the plot/storyline, the atmosphere of the story and the characters. This will make it easier for parents to adjust the right intonation when reading stories.

Moreover, reading aloud brings a variety of opportunities and benefits for children of all ages, from strengthening vocabulary to increasing attention. It is also important to read expressively and identify the voices of the different characters. Turn up the voice to get the child's attention while talking, which makes children less bored and distracted.

3.     Being Interactive with Children

Interacting with children can make children pay more attention to the stories being read. Interacting with children are such learning to name the vocabulary in the picture, mentioning what the characters in the picture are doing and counting numbers. For instance, when there are many animals in the picture, parents can teach them to count on how many animals there are. This is done so that the child's memory continues to develop, because learning basic concepts such as counting and knowing vocabulary applies to all early childhood. It is due to children’s cognitive abilities are still developing.

When reading story books, parents are expected to explain and give understanding about the book being read; not just read the text and then finish. Children will find it easier to understand stories when a scene is re-explained by parents in their mother tongue which is easier to understand. When reading books in English, it is necessary to explain the meaning of the word.

When a child likes illustrations, there are chances whether the child also likes the story. When children already like the story, children will want to read other story books. So, over time the habit of reading books is embedded from an early age. This also applies to the habit of reading books in general, not only for English story books, but also for Indonesian.