Supporting your Child’s Reading and Language At Home

Jenny Killion joined us for an evening of exploring reading and language at home through our lecture series.  The session began with the big idea that comprehension is the whole purpose of reading…

Jenny went on to unpack some of the key areas of comprehension and then focused on two of the most important parts: vocabulary and background knowledge.

Through the example, a report shown in the slide below, Jenny pointed out how having some background knowledge of the topic that the writers is discussing is essential for the reader to understand and appreciate the information shared by the writer.

For those of us with little understanding of cricket, sports and the rules of cricket the text above can seen quite confusing and challenging.  Jenny shared how important it is for us to support our children’s background understanding of the subject, context or time in history that might support our children’s understanding of the text.

To support understanding of vocabulary and explanations of terms Jenny offered the following advice for explaining during a read aloud.

Jenny went on to share the importance of home language in building comprehension and how important it is that we support the use of home languages in building vocabulary and background knowledge. She also shared some strategies, including telling stories in a home language, expanding vocabulary and interest through podcasts and audiobooks, and finally making sure that books you choose are mirrors of the child in terms of their identity, but also windows into the worlds of others.

Jenny also explored how powerful read alouds can be in developing social and emotional skills and empathy for others.  Through questions like those below.

Jenny concluded the lecture with a powerful image reminding us of the power of reading with our children and importance of us modelling reading for our children.

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