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| Young Woman and Girl Reading - by Jessie Willcox Smith |
Here are some techniques I've used with success with my kids:
1. To Be Continued...
I recommend a tip that was inspired by Hollywood: the "to be continued", or "cliffhanger" approach to reading aloud. Read exciting, engaging chapter books to your children, but make sure to stop your reading session at a point where it's exciting and they're anxious to know what will happen next. Close the book and tell them they'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out what happens.
Your kids may protest when you stop, but they'll be begging you to read and looking forward it with greater anticipation than they had before.
Also, make sure to leave the book in a conspicuous place once you're done reading for the day. You may see your children meandering over to the book and reading it on their own because they can't stand the suspense!
2. Turn on the Subtitles
Take full advantage of any time they're watching TV or movies and turn the subtitles on, so that they have the opportunity to read during this normally more mindless past time.
Next, try a show where the characters have strong accents, so they'll be more reliant on reading if they want to follow along. Finally, watch movies in a foreign language with English subtitles. Now they'll HAVE to read if they want to know what's going on.
Another advantage of subtitles: they'll be able to watch people pronounce words they are unfamiliar with.
3. Get Graphic
Don't be afraid of comic books! The exciting illustrations in books like the The Adventures of Tintin, or Calvin and Hobbes lured my son into reading the stories inside. Just like any other genre, comics books have a range of quality and age-appropriateness, but well-written comics will introduce children not only to imaginative story lines, but also dynamic art, advanced vocabulary words, and will engage even the most reluctant readers.
More on why comic books are great: https://www.parentmap.com/article/comic-books-get-kids-reading
4. Don't Always Answer Their Questions
Kids love to ask questions we don't know the answer to. "Do spiders blink?", "What is the largest star discovered so far?", and "How much does a Narwhal weigh?", have all been asked in our house recently. I typically have to go to the internet to find the answers to questions like that, however, I don't just read the answer to my kids' questions anymore. I find a "kid-ppropriate" website that contains the answer and hand it over to them to read over and find the answer themselves. The curiosity that sparked their original question will provide more of a drive to read and find the answer than you might typically see. In my experience, doing this usually leads to more questions, more searching and more reading.
Also, great bonus lessons spring up during these Q&A sessions, such as how to safely search the internet for answers and how to differentiate between reputable sources and fluff websites.
5. Go Digital
Some kids, like my oldest, LOVE electronics, and may be more motivated to read a story if it's on a kindle or ipad than in a traditional book. An added bonus is the on-board dictionary most of these devices have for kids to easily look up the definition of unknown words. Just beware of any games that might distract from reading on these devices.
This strategy can help beginner readers, too! Some early reading apps will pronounce unknown words for them when they touch the word, helping them build their sight word inventory. (Our kindergartener loves the Dr. Suess treasury for iPad.) Obviously, apps like this shouldn't substitute for reading with you, but should be used as a supplement. It's always nice to have a little help!
Have any other tried and true methods for motivating your kids to read? Please share them with us in the comments below!
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