Parents play a fundamental role in the development of language and literacy skills in the life of their children. Simple practices that can be applied on a daily basis will make a huge impact in the school life of your son / daughter.
Some of the practices that you can implement during your daily routine are:
- Talk together about things that interest your child. Ask questions you do not already know the answer. Ask questions that help children think about why and how and not just what. When you talk, be sure to listen to your child’s response and build upon what he/she has to say.
- Introduce new vocabulary words when you talk with your child. When you use a new word, make sure to explain its meaning to your child and encourage your young child or kindergartner to ask when she does not know the meaning of a word.
- Continue your daily read-aloud routine. Continue the routine that you established earlier in your child’s life. Reading at the same time each day and in the same comfortable place, such as in bed or on the couch, make read-aloud part of your daily routine at home.
- Point to the words when you read aloud. You need not do this for every page but pointing to the words in the book’s title, or to the words of a repeated phrase in a picture book, is a good idea. When you point to the words, you show your child that there is a correspondence between spoken and written words and that print goes from left to right if you are reading in English, and left to right when reading in Arabic.
Applying these strategies in the home language of students, will support the acquisition and development of English.