Moving from reading out loud to reading silently to oneself. How does it happen?

[SunshineOnTheBalcony]

DD is 7 and has just suddenly "clicked" about the idea of reading for pleasure, rather than as a chore.

We don't live in an English-speaking country, and I have been teaching her to read in English - but she has really made progress recently since learning to read in her second language.

Now she wants to read in english ALL the time. I think what she is reading is the right sort of level for her age - Roald Dahl, Enid Blyton, Astrid Lindgren, Laura Ingalls Wilder - and she seems to read fairly fluently, with just the odd stumble (today she struggled with rough, guess and Missouri, but had no problem with candlelight and Mississippi, which she sounded out).

She still reads aloud rather than reading silently to herself. I don't know if her UK peers read to themselves by now, and how I can encourage her to do it. Or is it normal to still be muttering each word out loud?

I think if she reads out loud, it helps her to sound things out - often after she sounds things out, she realises she has got them slightly wrong, and finds the right pronunciation/word. And she tries to read with expression, but sometimes gets the emphasis wrong so the sentence makes no sense, and then she hears it, and rereads it with the correct emphasis. And I suppose if she was reading to herself she might be tempted to skip over unfamiliar words and not go back to correct emphasis when she comes to an unexpected full stop.

So at the moment I suppose it is better for her to still be reading out loud. But how can I help her transition to silent reading? Or will it happen by itself when she is ready? I presume this is what my UK friends mean by "Free reading", which according to Facebook lots of their 7 year olds are now doing.

I wouldn't be worrying, except we might be moving back to the UK next year, and I don't want her to be behind. I really have no idea of what is expected for her age-group in terms of reading fluency in the UK.

Of course there is a place for silent reading just as there is a place for reading aloud.

Mary that's great, but our juniors considers reading aloud to be a separate skill that needs to be kept up alongside 'normal' reading. i was where you are at the end of Y2, DD hated reading aloud as it slowed her down too much, but she has come through that. We just share a book at bedtime, taking turns to read a few pages at a time, then DC have their own silent reading time after that.

I think it's just something that Happens.

Ds1 is 7, a very competent reader but has no interest in reading to himself.

Ds2 is 5 and doing well on the Biff and Chip books...and a few weeks ago started getting his book out and reading silently, and has started to do this with other books too. I know he's reading 'properly' because he will pipe up to ask the pronounciation on the odd word and his comprehension on the story afterwards is excellent.

I remember, so clearly, the moment I realised for myself I could read in my head. I was in Year 1, so was probably 6 (I was one of the oldest in the class), and was probably the best reader in the class, as I was just about reading before starting school.

I remember sitting on the carpet during a bit of free reading time, and thinking "it's a bit noisy with all these people reading at the same time". Then I remember it suddenly dawning on me that I could just say the words in my head! I remember feeling really smug to have worked that out!

Speaking as an Infant Teacher myself now, and a Year 1 teacher. None of my current cohort are at the "reading in my head" stage. And in my experience, it's something that starts to settle in around only Year 2 sort of age, and only then amongst the more able.

If your daughter is quite confidently reading the books you mention, it sounds like she's very ready to read in her head, without you with her, but just the idea that she could do it hasn't occurred to her yet. I don't see why you couldn't suggest to her that she tries it?

If you are concerned at all, tell her to read a page or 2 in her head, then indicate to you when she's finished them, and hand you the book, and tell you about what has just happened. That would confirm to you she has taken it what is going on.

I wouldn't be concerned about her missing out words, or getting them wrong at her stage. Even adults replace words we aren't sure of with our own gibberish! Usually names or place names. But to combat that, she could keep a pen and paper handy and jot down any words she isn't sure of.

Zingally, that's what ds does, in fact he came into me this morning having written down a couple of words from reading in bed last night and first thing this morning. I am encouraging him to use his dictionary too. He LOVES the David Walliam books and Diary of a Wimpey kid books, he can't get enough of them, think he's read nearly the whole collection though so we'll have to look at other collections.

I dont think asking what happened in those two pages does tell you if a child is reading accurately, only that they have the gist of the story. It's how reading difficulties can be so easily missed.