Reading for Preschoolers, What is it like and how can we improve it?
Whilst going through the “Life” section of The Straits Times, a local newspaper, an article titled “Read To Succeed” caught my eye. The article written by Senior Education Correspondent, Sandra Davie, talks about how encouraging children to read actually plays a key part in the progression of a child’s ability to excel in not only literacy, but also numeracy as well as analytical and critical thinking skills. Coincidentally, I had just finished this write up on the reading environment in Singapore preschools so I thought it would tie-in nicely.
As a company which writes and produces predominantly reading books for pre-school aged children, it is clear that we understand the importance and benefits of reading. However, because of our target audience, our focus mainly lies in the language and literacy aspect, which plays a key part of anyone’s life. It is this important skill that helps us to communicate thoughts, comprehend others and function as a society. This applies not only to the English language, but any language for that matter. Thus, it is vital that we provide opportunities for children to build a good foundation in this area, and one way to do that is through reading.
With the launch of our online bookstore, BooksForLittleTykes, I noticed many of the reading book orders that were coming in were for books in Chinese, Malay, Tamil and Hindi. This got me thinking, why are these books in such high demand? This brought to mind my time back when I was studying Child Psychology and Early Education at a diploma level. During this period, I had to visit and observe multiple classrooms, at all levels, in different pre-schools in Singapore for fieldtrips or assignments. With each visit, I noticed that though most of the classrooms I saw did have a reading corner, in a somewhat expected way, they were neither very well-kept nor visually appealing. Even though they were stocked with an adequate amount of books and a handful of magazines, many of them were in poor condition and some of the content was not age-appropriate in the sense they were too wordy or difficult to understand. I learnt that these books were rarely changed and noted that almost all of the books were in English, with maybe a couple in Chinese and close to none in Malay or Tamil.
During my studies, I learnt that to create an effective language and literacy environment, it essentially has to contain a variety of materials. However, just as importantly, it needs to be inviting, comfortable, interesting and easily accessible for all children. Focussing on reading corners, besides improving the upkeep of their books and informational magazines, teacher may want to look into providing more books in other languages. Especially in Malay and Tamil as I feel these books may be harder for parents to acquire outside. As a country that prides itself in racial diversity, it is only right that our classroom reflect the same ideology. If possible, teachers should also try to swap out the books on the shelves for new ones each month or so. This keeps the children engaged as they are constantly looking forward to what new books they may find.
Language and literacy is one of the most important developmental domains for a child. In fact, you could even say that it is the base upon which you build other skills. So we need to do our best to enhance this key component in our children. We should also focus on getting children excited to read, “Reading for pleasure” as Sandra Davie put it, so that they themselves will expand their language and literacy skills. And we can achieve this by presenting them with quality reading materials that are appealing and they can read independently.
If you are looking to for a good place to start, you can have a look at our products. We carry a wide range of books, in multiple languages, covering common topics taught in schools, to more locally unique scenarios found in Singapore. Our books are written by early childhood trained, local educators as well as internationally established children’s books authors so you can be guaranteed that they are not only engaging and educational but also age-appropriate. This creates that interest in the books while allowing children to attempt to read them independently building their confidence and eagerness to read.
These are just some of the things I feel can be done to improve language and literacy for all the little tykes out there. What are some suggestions you think will help your little one?
If you would like to take a read at the newspaper article mentioned at the start of this write up, you can find it at
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/parenting-education/read-to-succeed
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