It is important not only to learn to speak this language, but also to read the written text. This will help you remember new words better, express your thoughts correctly, and in general, reading is interesting! If you ever take an English proficiency test, any of them will have a section on correct reading. So both children and adults learning English need to learn to read.
What to read?
If children start with bright pictures with in English letters And from the simplest audio and video aids, which, based on the verbal perception developed in children, offer the basics of reading, then adapted books are needed for adults. They are designed for a wide variety of vocabulary, for example, Penguin Readers offers the following levels of adaptation of literary works:
- Easystarts– for a simple start (with a reserve of 200 words).
- Beginner– First level(300 words).
- Elementary– basic knowledge (600 words).
- Pre-intermediate– pre-intermediate (1200 words).
- Intermediate– medium (1700 words).
- Upper-intermediate– advanced intermediate (2300 words).
- Advanced– advanced level (3000s catch).
In this case, you can choose a book in the British or American style, classical or modern.
How good is this reading?
Reading adapted books has a number of advantages:
- The ability to select literature that suits your language level and vocabulary.
- Gradually improve by moving to higher level books.
- Such books are soft-bound, light in weight and volume, and can be read on public transport on the way to work or school.
- You don’t need to look for these books in specialized stores; you can buy them directly in the subway.
- The last pages contain tasks, crosswords, and explanations of complex words.
Adapted books, unlike boring textbooks, make learning to read an enjoyable experience. Correspondence between the degree of adaptation of books and the real level vocabulary removes the barrier that is a lot of unfamiliar words. You can even find Shakespeare and Agatha Christie in a simplified presentation and select the appropriate audio accompaniment to practice not only reading the text, but also correct pronunciation words If we are learning to read English from scratch, this literature will be especially useful.
Required skills.
So that the reading process brings maximum benefit When learning a language, it is necessary to develop certain skills that will allow you to assimilate new knowledge faster and spend less effort:
- There is no need to pay attention to memorizing how to pronounce each word. Better master phonetic principles, learn all 44 sounds used in English language– then you will be able to read any word, even an unfamiliar one, correctly.
- Read aloud– this will allow you, while learning to read, to also get rid of your accent and gain skills that will be useful in real communication. By reading to yourself, you will not practice oral speech.
- Some attention is required devote time to studying grammar English language, features of the formation of speech structures and numerous tenses. By mastering the rules, you will learn to use intuitively grammatical forms.
- Important constantly expand your vocabulary. The fewer unfamiliar words you have, the easier it will be to understand the language. In books you can find various ways use of words and remember them easily.
- Necessary read regularly, devoting 1-2 hours daily to this matter, memorizing all the new words, increasing the speed of reading, repeating the text read to clarify its content.
English for children: learning to read.
We offer you some tips that you can use when teaching children the basics of English.
- Do not pay attention to the transcription - it is not needed to read. Transcription icons are used to understand how an unfamiliar word is read. This information is only used to build a dictionary, and young children do not do this. They have many ways to learn how to read words correctly - textbooks with audio applications, computer-readable dictionaries on tablets and smartphones. In the end, any online dictionary has audio and allows you to hear how to pronounce a particular word correctly. Transcription for a small student becomes additional language, used to decipher English. He recently learned Russian letters, but they added English ones to him and he has to keep some other transcriptions in his head - he doesn’t need it!
- Under no circumstances should you try to make life easier for a child by signing their pronunciation in Russian letters under English words. The pronunciation of English words is very different from Russian: many sounds do not exist in Russian at all. If a child reads Russian hints, it will hopelessly ruin his pronunciation. And the way he remembers it as a child will remain forever, and he will have a terrible accent in English. In addition, he will remember not the word in English, but the Russian interlinear, and the word itself, meeting it again, may not recognize it. Therefore, if we are already learning to read in English, do not interfere with the Russian language in our studies.
Kids begin to learn language from the alphabet and sounds, and it is the sounds that play vital role. The child learns the alphabet with various alphabet songs, of which there are many on the Internet. And in order to learn to read, he must learn the relationship between letters and sounds: a letter and several words that begin with it are remembered.
Methods of teaching children language.
The most commonly used method in children's textbooks is the whole word method, which involves pictures, written words, and their pronunciation. The child does not understand the word into sounds; his visual image is associated with the correct sound. This allows you to learn words without even learning all the letters. Then, having encountered a word in the text, the child recognizes it and reads it correctly. This method is also convenient because in the English language there are too many exception words to the rules, and without knowing the rules, you can memorize words.
Another method offers a selection of words that are read according to the same rule. The baby retains the patterns of reading in his memory. For example, having parsed the group of words cat-fat-mat-bat, the child will read the word “sat” correctly.
It is better to use both methods simultaneously; they complement each other well. At 4-5 years old, a child can already master a whole book - if it contains a large picture and a small sentence with simple vocabulary on each page. Thanks to the wide variety of literature, in kindergarten and at home we master not only oral English for children, we learn to read the simplest books.
Features of children's education.
The benefits of teaching English to children starting from 3-5 years old are quite objective, because they psychological characteristics make this task easier:
- The child’s psyche is not yet loaded with stereotypes, and it is easier for him to perceive the peculiarities of a foreign culture.
- Kids willingly imitate, imitate sounds and words, and actively communicate.
- The visual and auditory sensitivity of babies is maximum, they have excellent memory, easily remembering even difficult English words and phrases.
On the other hand, we can note the following characteristics of young children:
- They get tired very quickly and cannot stand a lesson longer than 3 minutes.
- Children cannot keep their attention on something for a long time, so they need to alternate activities - play with pictures, sing a song, leaf through a book.
- Kids have visual-figurative thinking; they understand images and objects better than explanations and explanations.
Thus, if we kindergarten learning to read English, optimal conditions must be created for children.
You can familiarize yourself with the assortment in more detail in the catalog of our online store.
Most parents want their children to start learning foreign languages as early as possible. Teach them to read, understand, speak. And this is correct, although it implies a greater burden on the child. And today we will tell you how to teach a child to read English. You can start classes from the age of three, and the ideal age for learning to read in English is five years old. In order for this process to take place with maximum efficiency and painlessly for children, parents need to follow certain recommendations.
First, you need to establish a clear sequence of training. Each lesson should be divided into separate parts, the total duration of the entire lesson does not exceed one hour. The material is presented in a form understandable to children. For preschoolers just starting to learn the English language, bright pictures are suitable. A large number of practices are the key to success.
How to teach a child to read English: general principles
First, you should start with mastering the alphabet. Each letter is studied separately. The parent says it, and then the child repeats after him. Already from the second lesson, it is worth supplementing the program with repetition of the studied letters in order to consolidate the material.
English for children must take into account certain features of the language:
- Some letters are read differently depending on their location in a word: G can be pronounced as “j” or “g”, C as “s” or “k”, S as “s” or “z”, etc.
- At the same time, individual letters of the English alphabet have an external similarity with the Russian ones (N, X, V, R, etc.). We must not get confused, because we read these sounds differently, for example, “a” in English and Russian, although they are written exactly the same, are pronounced differently - like “a” in Russian and like “hey” in English.
- Combinations of two letters can produce a completely different sound, for example, the, sh, etc.
The discrepancy between the pronunciation of many words and their spelling causes difficulties for children. It is quite difficult for a child who has only recently mastered the Russian alphabet to restructure psychologically.
Of particular importance is correct transcription, which is understood as a graphic display of the pronunciation of letters. It looks complicated only at first glance, but in reality everything is much simpler. Below is a table of vowel pronunciation in English:
It’s worth mentioning the combination of vowel sounds that are pronounced differently:
Each vowel letter in the English language is read either as in the alphabet or in another way. In accordance with the alphabet, the letters “a, e, i, o, u” are usually read in those words that end in the letter “u” or which contain more than one syllable. In short one-word words that end with a consonant, the indicated letters should be read differently. The baby must learn this rule. The situation is similar with the letter “y”. However, the logic here is different: in short words it is read as in the alphabet, if it is an ending, in long words- differently. It is necessary to regularly re-read examples of words with little ones so that they are better remembered.
Having mastered individual letters, you can move on to reading words in English. An exercise that involves grouping words by sounds works effectively. While reading them, the child remembers letter combinations, thereby forming a clear understanding in his head of how to read a specific word. For example:
- Lay, may, say, stay, play, pay, way
- Game, came, make, Kate
- Sun, gun, fun, nut, cut, but
- Sky, shy, by, my, buy
English classes for children younger age should begin with reading the easiest words consisting of one word: dog - dog, box - box, etc. Gradually you can move on to more difficult words. The principle “from simple to complex” is fundamental in the course of training.
Learning to read in game form– this option is optimal for small children. You can use the option of playing with cards or cubes. They have bright drawings on them - an image of one object: a book, a table, a cup, etc. This form of training allows you to combine in your head the writing of a specific word, its pronunciation and visualization.
Then you can move on to whole phrases. Sentences should be understandable to the child thanks to the words he learned at the preparatory stage. At the same time, attention should be paid to replenishing the baby’s vocabulary. To solve the problem, simple phrases filled with various vocabulary are perfect:
- I can see a …cow, three pens, boy
- I can...jump, run, swim
To make reading sentences easier, you can use pictures with individual words.
The next stage is reading simple texts in English. They should consist of phrases the child has already learned. Some examples of texts:
- Meg is a cat. Meg is small. Meg is black and white. Meg can run and jump.
- Meg is a cat. Meg is small. Meg black and white. Meg can run and jump.
Small rhymes are perfect for teaching children to read. As you fill your vocabulary with more complex words, you can move on to reading texts of greater richness. Playful activities will allow children to learn to read correctly and get maximum pleasure from this process. Don't forget to praise your baby for every achievement.
The priority is not reading speed, but understanding the material. You should not force your child to cram, but ask him to read in English with a translation of the words read. At this stage, audio recordings or audio tales will be useful, which will teach the child correct pronunciation. The child needs to learn the ability to translate text. If you do not understand the meaning of what you read, you need to parse the sentences into individual words and translate them. The main thing is correct pronunciation, the production of which should be given close attention from the very beginning of the learning process.
The described tips on how to teach a child to read in English will be of undoubted benefit in this difficult task. The main thing in the course of training is the boundless patience of parents. Don't rush your baby: slowly but surely you will come to desired result. More practice and everything will work out.
Video of one mother who lives in America and teaches her children to read on her own:
Views: 235
Hello my dear.
Very often, parents want their children to learn English as soon as possible. And reading skill is far from the last place in this matter. But if in the Russian language it is clear on some intuitive level what needs to be done, then the English language is already a problem. So mothers turn to me for advice on how to teach their child to read in English.
And today I decided to answer all your questions: how to do it at home, how to do it quickly and correctly, and what exercises you should pay attention to first.
The most important thing before you start
To teach your child to read from scratch, you need to learn at least a few words in another language. Believe me, if you immediately sit down to learn to read, you will only get screams, hysterics and a wild aversion to learning the language in the future.
While you are still very young and have not entered 1st grade, simply learn new words together, memorize them by ear, and teach your child the sound of English words. It is important that he understands what the word he pronounces means.
Most educational institutions include a foreign language in their curriculum only when students enter 3rd grade. But it won’t be difficult for your child to start learning the basics immediately after entering 2nd grade.
By this time he will have already been taught how to read his language correctly. native language, he will understand that letters form certain sounds and form words. Believe me, in this case the learning will go much faster. By the way, if your child is already a schoolboy, I advise you.
Where to start?
If we talk about how to properly teach a child to read in English, then the most correct answer will be -. This should be done in the most interesting ways for the child: teach him with the help of songs, toy blocks or magnets, cards and coloring books - in general, everything that your imagination can reach.
But remember that letters and sounds are different things, especially in English. Therefore, when studying, pay special attention to this. By the way, your child will quickly learn this point if it passes here is a course from LinguaLeo - Milana and I really liked it, so I recommend it - and you can also taste it!))
A method of teaching a child to read, which is called Phonics(Phonix). The gist of it is that your children do not learn letters separately from words. They learn the SOUND, which in most cases is formed by this letter. That is, they remember the letter “s” not as “es”, but as “s”. It’s like in Russian: we call the letter “em”, but pronounce it “Mashina”.
Remember, my dears, that all children are different and sometimes remember information for a very long time, so you should not rush your baby, much less move on to learning something new until you have mastered the previous material 100 percent!
If you want your child to develop their thinking at a super fast pace, you need to practice motor skills. It has long been known that any activity related to manual work will have great importance for the mental victories of your children!
Nowadays new toys are constantly appearing on the market, many of which are pure trinkets!!! Personally, I’m only for useful games! Therefore, I strongly advise you this is the thing for his future prodigy. Not only your child, but also you will absolutely love it. Enjoy your time!
The next stage after the alphabet is reading syllables. Tell your child how vowels connect with consonants, how much they are friends. And only then move on to the last stage - words.
Transcription is the basis
One of the most important points when learning a language both at school and at home, this is the correct transcription.
Transcription is graphic display of pronunciation(I dedicated it to her, where I sorted out all the icons, gave exercises with answers and shared the secrets of memorizing the signs of English transcription ) .
At first, it seems that it is simply unrealistic to read the transcription, because there are some incomprehensible “hooks and icons”. But I assure you, everything is much simpler. Below I will show you in the most detailed form how all the sounds of the English language are read. If you already know what it sounds like english alphabet, then you will be interested to see how the letters you are already familiar with are designated in transcription.
But in addition to the sounds that we know thanks to the alphabet, the English language also has sounds that are not shown in alphabetic letters, but are created by certain combinations of them. Let's look at their transcription and voicing in Russian speech ().
Unconventional way
There is another way to teach children to read. It is practiced both when teaching the native language and a foreign one. This method consists in starting learning not from parts to the whole, but, on the contrary, from the whole to parts, that is, from whole words to letters. I would recommend using this method from early childhood - from the age of 3. On you will find common English words for children (voiced), which, if desired, can be printed and used in the form of cards - so the child will quickly remember not only their translation, but also the correct one way of reading.
This method is based on the child’s ability to associate a written word and an audible combination of sounds. And given the fact that children’s memory is usually many times better than our adult memory (if there is a moment of interest, of course!), this method can bring much faster results than the traditional one. I will definitely tell you more about it, but in a separate article. Subscribe to my blog so you don't miss out.
I can also recommend the book to you « Learn to read English» (wonderful author Evgeniya Karlova) - it perfectly combines usefulness and interest. Every parent will be able to teach their child to read English words, since the material is presented in a very accessible form.
Another worthy book — How to learn to read English (M. Kaufman) . What is very remarkable is that in parallel with learning to read, acquaintance with the English-speaking culture occurs. This awakens the child’s interest and curiosity in the language... And interest, as you know, is already 50% of success! If not more...
Practice, practice and more practice
Oh, how I love the practical parts. So today I have prepared for you some exercises with words that will help your child quickly master this difficult task - reading in English. The essence of the exercise is to group words by sounds. A child, reading a certain group of words, will remember the combinations of letters that he sees. Thus, a clear concept will be formed in his head of how this or that word is read. Of course, exceptions in English... are a dime a dozen, and it’s impossible to keep up with them all. Therefore, the more your child reads, the faster he will master correct reading.
say, may, lay, stay, way, pay, play
mate, fate, rate, late, gate
game, came, make, Kate
sun, fun, run, gun, cut, but, nut
twice, ice, rice, mice, ice
sit, pit, fit
fine, nine, mine, shine, line
not, spot, lot
gone, done
fork, cork
cope, smoke, rose, nose
here, mere, fear, tear
pure, cure, lure
mare, bare, dare, care
shy, sky, my, by, buy
And if you still have questions - and I’m sure that if you don’t have any, this moment, then they will definitely appear again - then welcome to the comments. I will be glad to explain to you everything that is unclear, dispel all doubts and help you understand even better how quickly.
Be the first to gain new knowledge.
That's all for today.
Bye!
It's not a big deal if you have difficulty reading English. After all, even in the United States, more than 10% of the population has reading problems. Another 20% read no better than a first grade student. But it’s never too late to learn this skill.
Let's start with the basics
- When wondering how to learn to read English from scratch, we should remember how we learned to read in our native language as children. The initial stage was learning the alphabet. After all, all of its 26 letters will appear in various words in the future, when reading. The main thing is to find the most optimal way for yourself to learn it. This can be done b in the process.
- syllabic approach, when syllables and parts of a word are first pronounced separately, and only after that the whole word;
- “As I saw, so I said,” a whole word is immediately pronounced.
Phonetic this method called because it requires listening to how a word or syllable sounds. To do this, you can study with a tutor or use an online self-study program.
- Comma. Indicates a pause between words.
- Dot. It marks the end of a sentence. Here you need to stop, take a breath and continue reading.
- Exclamation mark. When reading such a sentence, you should place special emphasis on the words. After all, this sign is designed to attract attention.
- Question mark. Here the intonation should be slightly higher, which will be typical for interrogative sentences.
Start reading
Methods of teaching reading
You need to look for visual cues. Often books have illustrations. This is what can make it easier to perceive the text. If you find a connection between what is written in the book and the picture.
Sounding out words. It is necessary to pronounce the word clearly and slowly. After that, repeat each sound, starting from the very beginning.
Share the word. It is necessary to look carefully at the word, and if possible, then divide it into its component parts, i.e. suffix, prefix, ending. Read each part separately, then compose and repeat it all together.
Find a connection. As you read, you will encounter many unknown words. But some of them may be similar to those you already know. Here it is worth considering whether they will have a similar meaning, since some parts of the word are repeated. You can try replacing an unknown word with a familiar one. Sometimes the meaning of the sentence will not be lost. This means that such words may well be synonyms.
- Read the same sentence again. When you have read the sentence, it is better to repeat it again, replacing the unknown words. If, with familiar words, the sentence begins to make sense, the reading process will become easier.
- Don't stop, read on. Don't focus on an unknown word in a sentence. It is likely that as you continue reading, what you have written will begin to make sense, and it will become clear what the sentence is saying. When an unfamiliar word appears in several sentences, and its meaning remains unclear, it is worth comparing the sentences with each other. Perhaps this logical chain will make it possible to understand why this particular word is appropriate in both sentences.
- Using background values. When reading, it is worth considering the point of what is already known about the title of the book, section or specific paragraph. Perhaps this will make it easier to understand the meaning of an unknown word.
- Preliminary guesses. Even before you start reading the book, you can study all its illustrations. These can be pictures, diagrams, tables, etc. Judging by these pictures, first write down for yourself what this book is written about. And after reading it, compare whether your assumptions were confirmed.
- Make up questions. As you read, reaching a new chapter, you can make a list of questions for yourself, based on drawings and other illustrations. And then try to answer them. But if, even after reading, some questions remain unanswered, it would be right to ask for outside help.
- Visualization. When reading, you can imagine that you are watching a movie rather than holding a book in front of you. It will be good to imagine in great detail the main characters of the story and mentally think through the possible plot of further events. It will be useful to sketch it all out on paper. And then compare how right you were.
- Building connections. After reading a chapter, stop and think about whether there are any parallels from your own life experience and read in the book. Sometimes the main characters may be similar in some ways to you or someone you know. The situations described in the story may seem familiar. All your thoughts can be put in writing. This is what will help you better understand the general meaning of everything written.
- Retelling what you read. To make sure that you were able to understand the meaning of what you read, the best option would be to retell it. Maybe not the whole book at once, but, for example, each individual chapter. And if you cannot answer some of your listener’s questions, this will mean that either you did not read very carefully, or you simply have not yet read to the point where you can find the answer.
Training assistance
What do you recommend?
- It is worth understanding that the most difficult thing is at the beginning, the main thing is- don't give up.
- You should learn based on the calls of your body, because we are all individual.
- For reading, it is better to choose literature that is interesting to you, then the process will go easier.
- Main - patience, even a small shift- this is already a success.
What to warn against?
- When deciding how to learn to read in English, reading the whole word at once seems more promising. But in practice, the most effective method is the phonetic one.
We have already talked to you about how to learn English using the Pimsleur method, but there we looked at learning English from the aspect of speaking. And in this article we will consider the question of how to learn to read in English using the Pimsleur method? It's hard to say what the priority is. However, spoken language is the basis of meaningful reading aloud. So, let's learn to read English! Learning to read English using Dr. Pimsleur's method Therefore, the course with the first level of mastering English using Dr. Pimsleur's method includes 21 reading exercises. You can work on these exercises while simultaneously studying 30 audio lessons of the main course. This will be your next step in learning the language.
In preparing these exercises, Pimsleur's goal was, first of all, to help you establish the connection between the letters of the alphabet and sounds oral speech. To start working on free online exercises you just have to have an idea of the letters and American sounds.
During online learning, consistently studying the material of each free lesson, you will gradually move from the already known repetition to the acquisition of new knowledge. Step by step you will learn letter-sound combinations, gradually learning to read more and more complex examples and combinations.
Learning to read English
Don't forget that the lessons contain the basic patterns and rules of spelling and pronunciation adopted in American English. Of course, various exceptions to these rules remain. However, as you delve deeper into the language and build up your vocabulary, you will learn to quickly recognize these exceptions. 
How to learn to read English? And in order for you to encounter as few difficulties as possible on your way, material online lessons reflects more commonly encountered constructions and examples. Soon you will be able to easily recognize and comprehend English words without having to spell them.
Although, of course, learning to read at any foreign language It will require work, patience, strength, and great desire from you. All exercises are recorded at the end of the English for Russian Speakers course after the online oral lessons. You can study them completely free of charge and without interfering with the course in any way.
You also decide which option to work with reading exercises to choose: you can alternate them with mastering 30 audio lectures of spoken language, or you can postpone reading until you have mastered the main cycle, or you can not study the main cycle at all.
However, keep in mind that the reading exercises will contain words from the main course as well as new information. Therefore, you may find it easier to understand the reading lessons after completing the main course.
Exercises for reading in English
Choosing the pace of work on reading lessons using the Pimsleur method is up to you. Repeat the reading exercises as many times as you deem necessary in order to move on to the next lesson. You will receive other instructions for working with the course from the speaker as you begin to study the audio recordings. 
Pimsleur course “English for Russian speakers” Listen carefully to how the American speaker pronounces the word. Then repeat the word or phrase several times after the professional, as close to the original as possible. Keep in mind that speech structures should be repeated out loud for the most effective results.
Of course, nothing is given for nothing. But to date, nothing better than Dr. Pimsleur’s language system has been proposed. Put in minimal effort, and you will be pleasantly surprised when you quickly learn to read English and understand American speech.
On this site you will find all 21 reading exercises from Dr. Pimsleur, which you can listen to online or download for free. Learn to read English with us!
Below you can go directly to the exercises.
Lesson No. 1 Learning to read English, Pimsleur method
Lesson No. 2 Learning to read English, Pimsleur method
Lesson No. 3 Learning to read English, Pimsleur method
Lesson No. 4 Learning to read English, Pimsleur method
Lesson No. 5 Learning to read English, Pimsleur method
Lesson No. 6 Learning to read English, Pimsleur method
Lesson No. 7 Learning to read English, Pimsleur method
Lesson No. 8 Learning to read English, Pimsleur method
Lesson No. 9 Learning to read English, Pimsleur method
Lesson No. 10 Learning to read English, Pimsleur method
Lesson No. 11 Learning to read English, Pimsleur method
Lesson No. 12 Learning to read English, Pimsleur method
Lesson No. 13 Learning to read English, Pimsleur method
Lesson No. 14 Learning to read English, Pimsleur method
Lesson No. 15 Learning to read English, Pimsleur method
Lesson No. 16 Learning to read English, Pimsleur method
