Do you make your (older primary) child read aloud to you?

[KizzyWayfarer]

I’ve just read an email from our headteacher which (among other things) goes on about the importance of older children still ‘reading with parents’. But it doesn’t explain why, and I can’t see what they would gain as opposed to the risk of putting them off reading. If they’re happy reading on their own would you just let them get on with it? I guess we all look back to our own childhoods and I was a bookworm who certainly never read aloud to my parents once I could read.

[TrumpsTinyCheesyWotsit]

Plus, we have dictionaries lying around the house too. I am a writer, and recently completed my MA and am starting a second degree, in STEM so we have lots of etymology, lexicon and liguistics stuff lying around. I love talking about it all with my kids and my 18 year old son has such a thirst for language based knowledge he has surpassed my research ( and his is just for fun).

[Norestformrz]

"But it's quite unlikely that in the couple of thousand words that are read in 20 minutes of reading, that there are many" does it really matter whether they encounter one or a hundred new words in what they read

[TrumpsTinyCheesyWotsit]

I do not ask my kids to read aloud from the age 8-9. All of my kids have been very young readers and have massive collections of books. My youngest is ten now and she took 3 novels on a recent camping trip and read two Jacqueline Wilson's and The Meg over 5 days! She stops and asks me things at times, about context or subtext but she takes a great deal of enjoyment out of reading a book alone and then re reading it a few weeks later. In her own words, its like having fresh eyes and you see the things you missed the first time. I would hate to rob her of that! All my kids, even my teen boys and 20 year old daughter still read regularly for sheer pleasure ( as do I) so I am happy with that.

[brisklady]

'Classic' books often have new vocabulary. We've recently read the Secret Garden and there was plenty in there (along with Yorkshire dialect words that even I didn't know the meaning of!!). We're currently reading some Lloyd Alexander, and out of interest I've just opened a totally random page. On one double page we've got: bard, docile, skittish, rugged, canter, gait, defile (in the sense of rocky gully), ravine, outcropping and lolling. DS would have known some of those well, others vaguely but not precisely, and some not at all. As well as teaching new words discretely, reading together is also a great opportunity to talk about word derivations, which helps with future unknown words. So if you come across 'conspicuous' you can talk about the 'spic' or 'spec' bit of a word meaning 'see' like in 'spectacles', and that then equips your child better to decode 'retrospective' or 'perspective' or whatever other 'spec' word they might meet in future.

[Kokeshi123]

My daughter is a bit younger than the kids being talked about here. But when she was reading about "life in the rainforest" to me today, she encountered numerous new words on the two pages she read--canopy, ecosystem, fertile....

If she was a couple of years older, she'd be reading a higher-level book and there would continue to be new words that she didn't know yet.

[Changemyname18]

Please encourage your child to read out loud to you. I echo the sentiments above as even the most able readers are not always grasping the full meaning and/or reading too fast and mispronouncing words. It also helps extend their understanding of English. A bright kid can phonetically read almost all words correctly, but may be guessing at the meaning. This will help enormously with any 11 plus verbal reasoning if relevant. I've been a volunteer reading helper for many years, and remember being astonished by one child aged 8. One of the most able in the class, they read to me absolutely perfectly, but with no 'feel' for the story. Also, when we went back over what they had read and I asked them what several words meant, they had no clue whatsoever, and told me they didn't like to ask else they would appear thick. Learning the nuances and meanings of words is a lifetime skill, next time you check with your DC a word and ask them what it means, you'll often find it quite hard to give a clear definition yourself. So, please hear your older primary child read out loud.

[sirfredfredgeorge]

of course they are going to encounter new words!!

But it's quite unlikely that in the couple of thousand words that are read in 20 minutes of reading, that there are many, and in non-fiction those that are new will likely be defined in what you're reading unless the source material is very poorly chosen (ie a book where pre-knowledge of the topic is assumed)

Perhaps my idea of the receptive vocabulary is odd, but whilst yes you keep learning new words throughout your life, the vast majority of words you meet are ones you've met before.

[sproutsandparsnips]

I never got ds 1 to read to me after about year 3. He was an able reader and I thought it wasn't necessary as he reads every day to himself. However, although I don't think it's done him any harm, he does come out with some odd pronunciations which I think is as a result of not hearing them or being corrected. He knows the meaning but pronounces them wrongly (quite funny sometimes actually!)

[megletthesecond]

Yes. Although we moved to newspaper articles at that age.
I tidied the kitchen while DS read at the table.

[eddiemairswife]

They're probably reading Dickens or George Eliot!!

[Kokeshi123]

Children continue to learn new words from reading right through their teens. If it's a remotely challenging book (esp nonfiction), of course they are going to encounter new words!! New concepts as well.

[sirfredfredgeorge]

What sort of books are people reading where there's a high enough frequency of words to a 9 year old that you actually have ones to discuss?

So, maybe reading aloud at a fast 150 words per minute, twenty minutes of reading means the 3000 words, what books have such a high frequencty of unknown words where pronounciation and meaning might be lost on a kid with a receptive vocabulary of maybe 30,000 words.

I do think regular discussions with an adult have a huge benefit, and reading could help facillitate that, but that's not really being read to that is actually the thing. And of course reading aloud is a skill itself, so I all think it's a great idea. I just don't get how often an older KS2 kid should be finding words not in their vocabulary that a random 20 minute read to an adult is going to find them.

[eddiemairswife]

I would never have wanted to read aloud to my parents. We did quite a lot of reading around the class when I was at junior school. My children didn't bring home reading books, so I didn't have to hear them read, but I had to suffer it with my grandchildren.

[TwoOddSocks]

I think it depends on the child. I think when you read together not only are you enjoying the book you're enjoying the time together and probably discussing the book (what do you think will happen, why did she do that? etc) in the same way you'd watch a film together. As others have said there's usually a mismatch between comprehension and reading ability. I don't think it should be forced if the child finds it excruciating but it's a nice idea.

[Ariela]

I used to get mine to read to me while I cooked tea - my excuse being I liked to read but if I was cooking tea I couldn't, so it worked well. Used to pick some of my old childhood books for her to read rather than the school stuff, so we went through things like Milly Molly Mandy, various Enid Blyton and ended up with Pullein-Thompson & Ruby Ferguson..

[Baumederose]

As other have said, plus very good readers may be able to read the words but have absolutely no idea what it means. So you can ask them questions about the page or book and discuss the story. Do they understand what's happening? Why characters may be saying or doing the things described?

[TeenTimesTwo]

What ^^they all said re

• meaning of words
  
• pronunciation
  
• reading with expression
  
• accuracy
  

It also helps with summarisation skills. I used to get DD2 to summarise where she was up to. She would then read a couple of pages out loud, and then return to silent reading.

Like a PP we stopped too early with DD1. Her pronunciation of unknown words is much worse.

[Norestformrz]

I think it's very important to continue to listen to your child. It's very easy to develop bad habits like skipping or substituting words when meeting new vocabulary. It's also important to discuss unfamiliar words. Does your child know what they mean.

[Kokeshi123]

Depends on the child. I do think that "reading aloud well" is a good skill to learn. On the other hand, my main concern for older primary age kids will always be, how can I make reading a positive experience so that they will do lots of it? If a child really hates reading aloud I would not push it.

[user789653241]

My ds's school asks children to read aloud even in upper primary.
Ds(10) still reads a chapter a day most of nights. We do actually enjoy talking about the books together. And he is a very good reader.

[Tomorrowillbeachicken]

My son is very good reader and is seven and starting year two. With him he reads a short amount to me then reads rest in his head.

[Ihatemycar]

I find if they read out loud you can identify what words they may not be able to pronounce or know the meaning.
Our son is an avid reader but we read together for years. His vocabulary is extensive. Worth doing and you get to hug them a lot.
We used to read one page each.

[BikeRunSki]

I like to read to, and be read to, by DS (very nearly 10). It helps with comprehension and pronunciation, and we both enjoy it as a bed time ritual wr’ve had since he was born. It almost always triggers other discussions. We don’t do this every night, although he reads to himself every night. We read together about twice a week.

[MrsZB]

We have a book of poems and take it in turns to read one each night. The kids love it and it’s a very gentle way to hear them reading aloud.

[RhinestoneCowgirl]

Both DC were great readers by age 6/7, but they really didn't want to read aloud to me. I didn't push it, but did talk about what they had been reading (to help with comprehension). DH and I also carried on reading aloud to the DC - and still do now, even though they are 9 and 12.

It's great if you can get them to read aloud, but for us it was becoming a sticking point and I didn't want to put them off reading.