5 free ways to improve your child’s literacy

Teaching methods may have changed, but parents still have an important role in helping their children acquire this component skill. Here are her five new ways to improve your child’s spelling.

1. Talk the Talk

Forget trying to teach your kids the alphabet before the first day of school. Talking to them is much more beneficial, according to Samantha Taylor, a teacher and mother of her four children.

Taylor, director of Andrell Education, says that before teaching children the “phonic code” of spelling, they need to be exposed to spoken language.

“Not many parents understand the importance of oral language for improving literacy skills, such as reading, writing, spelling, speaking, and listening,” she says.

“We need to expose our children to as many different languages ​​as possible. We need to use the correct pronunciation of words and correct them when they say them wrong.

“No matter how cute it is to say ‘loose’, it needs to be fixed with ‘yellow’ to model that way of saying it.”

“If they didn’t, they’d go to school and spell it yellow with an L because that’s the sound they hear when they utter words.

“Their speech and pronunciation play a big role in their choice of spelling.”

Taylor loves hosting “Frightfully Posh Fridays” with Bella, 4, Charlie, 6, Bella, 8, and Oscar, 10. Conversation and exposure to new words.

2. Accept your mistakes

Don’t be discouraged if your school-aged child misspells something. Mistakes are a valuable tool that can actually help them spell better in the long run.

Dr. Tessa Daffern, a spelling expert at the University of Canberra, has developed a “spelling error analysis” system. This system checks whether children understand the spelling of different parts of words. more like a ‘t’.

“Instead of evaluating whether the entire word is written correctly, we need to evaluate specific parts of the word,” Daffern explains.

Looking at the types of mistakes children make can tell you where there are gaps in spelling learning.

While this analysis is designed for teachers, Daffern says parents can do their part by “unpacking” new words. “Parents can ask, ‘Why is this word spelled this way?’ or ‘How many other words can you make from this word?’ are encouraged.”

3. Go Green

A new Australian study found that dry, dead vegetation around homes is associated with poor academic performance. found an association between below-average reading and writing, grammar, and punctuation on the NAPLAN test.

Researchers are still investigating the link with vegetation, but green space increases physical activity and reduces exposure to noise and air pollution, according to study author Salma Ahmed of the University of Queensland School of Public Health. , reduce stress and improve concentration.

4. Read to them

This may sound obvious, but new research shows that getting kids to read to them at an early age is rewarding when they enter elementary school.

A Charles Sturt University study of 3,547 children and their caregivers found that children who were read to by their parents at ages 1-2 improved in reading, writing, spelling and spelling in grades 3 and 5. I found my grammar skills to be excellent.

5. Spelling Bee

Prime Minister’s Spelling Bee is a great way to hone your spelling skills.

Run by Kids News and News Corp Australia, the free online competition has three levels. Orange for 5th and 6th graders. 7-8 year old red. The student randomly takes her 30 words from a competition-level word list and each word she spells in 25 seconds.

School rounds will run August 15-26, with state/territory finals on September 1-2 and national finals on September 8.

National Champions in each age group will win a Prime Minister’s visit to Canberra, an iPad and a HarperCollins book pack. The national winning school will receive her $1,000 voucher to purchase books and supplies.

Teacher registration is open until 5:00 PM AEST on August 19th.

visit kids news For more information and registration. kidsnews.com.au/spelling-bee

first published as What parents can do at home if their child is having trouble with reading and writing tasks