How to learn to read in English. How not to teach children to read English

Reading trainer (S. Matveev) — a good analogue to the previous edition. With regular lessons with your child, progress is guaranteed.

How to read with a “five” (E. Zhuravleva) — I decided to add this edition here, since it is fresh (2018). Its structure is similar to the previous ones - a short rule and a lot of training exercises for it. You can study both in class and at home - as additional material and to consolidate what you have learned.

In fact, each of these benefits will help your child learn to read English with interest and without problems. Choose by price and cover.

After mastering these reading lessons, you can continue learning using the reading rules, which are given in beautiful tablets. Learn the rules in two parts: and

For those who want to find a tutor for their child at home or via Skype (in English or any other subject), I can advise . Find and contact the teacher you like. Good luck!

The online course will be very useful for those who are not yet particularly familiar with the alphabet and English speech. « English for little ones». At one time, we enjoyed going through it with our daughter.

I would be glad if you leave your comments, reviews or questions under this post, and also share the article on social networks - I’m trying for you and therefore I humbly ask you to take a minute for these actions. And also don’t forget to subscribe to my delicious portions of English - I will please you you only with useful materials!

Good luck and new victories to everyone!

The first thing a person who begins to learn English encounters is the difficulty of reading most words. There are many jokes about this among even the native speakers of this language, let alone those for whom it is not native. One Dutch linguist even wrote a poem containing the most difficult and controversial cases of English phonetics - it is difficult to read without errors even for someone who knows the language well.

But jokes are jokes, but we need to learn to pronounce words correctly. The rules of reading in English help with this. For beginners, they will be a little difficult, but this is just out of habit. Once you understand them and reinforce the theory well with examples, you will see how much they will make your life easier.

What are these rules for?

Without knowing them, learning to read will be difficult. Of course, you can memorize the transcription of those words that you come across. But in this case, your reading abilities will be very limited. What if you come across a word with a familiar root, but an unclear suffix or prefix? Or In such cases, mistakes are inevitable if you do not know the rules of reading in English. For beginners, they are especially important because they allow you to feel and understand the logic of language construction at all levels, starting with phonetics.

Reading consonants

• always pronounced firmly;
• voiced sounds are not deafened at the ends of words;
• after the sounds there is aspiration, because the lips open faster than in pronunciation in Russian;
• the sound [w] is pronounced pronouncedly, with two lips;
• when pronouncing the sound [v], on the contrary, only the lower lip is involved;
• many sounds are pronounced with the tip of the tongue touching the alveoli, and not the teeth (as in Russian pronunciation).

Vowel reading: 4 syllable types

We continue to analyze the rules of reading in English. For beginners, it is better to present the material with examples. Then it will be clearer how to pronounce this or that sound.

There are only six in the English alphabet, but the difficulty of reading them is due to the presence of four different types of syllables:

• open;
• closed;
• vowel + r;
• vowel + r + vowel.

Let's look at them all in order, not forgetting about examples.

In an open syllable, the vowel is read as it is called in the alphabet: O is read as “ou (eu)”, U is read as a long “yu”, etc. The only exception is the letter Y, which is pronounced as “ay”. How to determine that a syllable is open? It must end with a vowel, which can stand:

• at the end of a monosyllabic word (me, go);
• at the beginning or middle (game, time, music);
• next to another vowel (suit).

In a closed syllable that ends with a consonant (sometimes doubled), the vowels are read truncated:

• Aa [æ] turns into something between the Russian sounds [a] and [e], for example: cat, apple.
• Uu [ʌ] is similar to the Russian sound [a], for example: rubber, jump.
• Ii is read as a short Russian sound [and], for example: sit, finger.
• Ee [e] is read with the sound [e], for example: pen, egg.
• Oo [ɔ] is read with a short sound [o], for example: shop, fox.
• Yy [i] under stress must be read as a short sound [i], for example: mystery, myth.

This is the minimum that includes the rules of reading in English for beginners. It is better not to rush with exercises for all 4 types, but first to thoroughly understand the differences between closed and open syllables. Then you can move on to more complex cases.

The syllable type “vowel + r” is read as follows:

• -ar is pronounced with a long sound [aaa];
• -or is read as long [ooo];
• -ur, -ir, -er are similar to the sound [o], but only pronounced in the throat.

The syllable type “vowel + r + vowel” turns the sound into a special two-part phenomenon of English phonetics - a diphthong:

• Aa is read [ɛə], example: dare.
• Ee is read, example: mere.
• Ii is read, example: fire.
• Uu is read, example: cure.
• Yy is read, example: tire.

The exception is the letter Oo, which in the fourth type of syllable is not read as a diphthong, but simply as a long [ɔ:]. For example: more.

Reading letter combinations

Rules for reading in English (for beginners and advanced learners) cannot do without an explanation of the various combinations of consonants and vowels. Let's start with the first ones.

The combination wr at the beginning of a word: the sound [w] is not pronounced. Examples: write, wrist, wrong.

The combination wh at the beginning of a word: the sound [h] is not pronounced. Examples: why, what, white. But there is an exception here: if -wh is followed by the letter -o, then the sound [w] “drops out” when reading. These are the words: who, whole, whose and others.

In letter combinations kn and gn at the beginning of a word: only the sound [n] is read. Examples: knot, gnat.

The combination ng at the end of a word sounds like the sound [ŋ] pronounced through the nose (going), and in the middle of the word it sounds like just [ŋg], for example: hungry, singer.

The combination ch is read like the Russian sound [ch’], soft. For example: cheese, coach.

The combination sh gives the sound [ʃ], similar to the Russian [ш] in the soft version of pronunciation. For example: she, push.

The combination of letters qu is read, for example: queen, quite.

The unstressed combination -our is read [ə]: colour, favorite.

The combination of letters -sion after a consonant is pronounced [ʃn], for example: mission. And then voicing occurs before [ʒn], example: decision.

Before the letters e, i, y: the consonant C is pronounced with the sound [s], G is pronounced . In other cases it reads like this: C - [k], G - [g]. Compare: cell - cat, gym - game.

The letter combinations of vowels: -ee, as well as -ea give a long sound, the combination -ai is read, the combination -oo conveys a long sound. For example: bee, seal, moon.

True, there are sometimes exceptions. For example, blood: in this word the double O is read as the sound [ʌ]. But there are few such cases. They are easy to remember and do not complicate reading rules in English too much.

For beginners

For children and adults, the explanation of the rules will be different. Young “Englishmen” will learn knowledge well if it is presented with elements of play and fairy tales. For example, we can explain types 1 and 2 of reading as “open” and “closed” doors, where in the first case the letters feel free and shout their name (from the alphabet) loudly, and in the second they are almost inaudible. In a similar way, you can compose a kind of grammatical fairy tale and tell it to your child. An interactive element could be a task: “unspell” words by reading them correctly. This makes it much easier and more interesting to remember the rules of reading in English.

For elementary school

The small table below includes rules for reading vowels in two types of syllables. For the convenience of a child who is new to transcription, next to the sound is placed its approximate reading, written in Russian letters. In any case, the table must be read aloud with an adult who knows the language: you need to pay attention to how the same letter behaves in different types of syllables, and understand the proposed examples of words.

Students are often given homework to learn transcription icons. You can make a set of cards and practice like this: you read a short word with a certain sound, and the child shows a card with its designation. When working in groups, everyone had their own set.

Read without hesitation

How can you quickly and efficiently remember the rules of reading in English? For beginners, exercises will be the best option. It’s great if you can combine 2 types of activities: listen to samples and read on your own. However, this approach can quickly become boring, so it would be good to include elements of play and competition. For example, take two different lists of words with different rules - one for you, the other for a friend - and check who reads it faster and with fewer errors. The game option could be this: using mixed cards with individual words and transcription icons, find and post matches.

Who needs reading rules in English? For beginners to study it (this goes without saying), for those who continue - to test themselves, and for those who have forgotten - to remember knowledge that has not been used for a long time.

Instructions

Of course, you need to start with the alphabet and sounds so that the child becomes familiar with the Latin alphabet. Sounds must be introduced gradually, since pronunciation of English words is a separate big problem. It often happens like this: a word has 8 letters, but fewer sounds are pronounced. It is also necessary to introduce the child to, since not everyone obeys certain reading rules. From simple sounds, gradually move on to combinations of letters and sounds and from monosyllabic to polysyllabic words.

The presentation of any reading rule should be accompanied by exercises so that the child has the opportunity to learn and work through the material covered, and also to see that the rule actually “lives” and works. Try to combine learning letters and sounds with memorizing words and colloquial formulas, so that the process of learning a language is directly related to the process of communication. This way the child will become more interested: he will understand that this is not just an “add-on”, unnecessary and burdensome, but an invaluable means of communication.

Try to make the process interesting for the child from the other side. Rules and exercises can get boring even for you, let alone your child. You can’t explain to a child why he needs this, why he needs to learn English. He is unable to understand that this is one of the world languages, that it is spoken in many countries, that once a person learns it, he will always have an advantage. To motivate a child, it is best to frame the process of learning to read in the form of a game. This way, the words and rules will be absorbed by the child during an interesting game, unnoticed by him.

Do not neglect also special literature on the topic. Now, in the era of rapid development of the Internet, when access to the World Wide Web is available in almost every home, searching for books for learning children reading in a foreign language is not such a big problem. Try to focus your attention on special books for learning to read - the so-called “reading books”. They exist both for teaching reading in Russian, and there are also for teaching reading in English.

And finally: when learning to read, it is necessary to praise and encourage the child for every, even the smallest achievement, because everyone loves to be deservedly praised. Try to adapt to the child’s mood, do not go too far, so that the child does not associate English with swearing, parental dissatisfaction, or something that he does not understand. Make the learning process as easy as possible for the child, since at an early age children are not as good at working and overcoming difficulties as adults.

Teaching preschoolers (and children in grades 1-2) to read is a topic that raises so many questions that I decided not to write about it in about preschoolers, but to highlight it in a separate article. So, today about the most pressing issues of teaching reading in English.

Very often, parents, remembering how they once learned the language, ask this almost classic question:

What about transcription?

First of all, transcription doesn’t teach you how to read.. And I never taught. Those who have studied transcription, admit it: when reading a text in English, do you imagine it written down with transcription symbols? Of course not. No transcription is needed to read.

Transcription helps you find out how to pronounce an unfamiliar word. Previously, almost the only way to find out when there was no teacher nearby was a paper dictionary. Therefore, while studying the rules of reading (in the fifth grade, by the way), we immediately took transcription icons so that the children could use the dictionary at home. I repeat, not for reading, for using a dictionary! But now we have a lot of all kinds of resources at our disposal. There is also a textbook with an audio application, where new words, texts, songs, etc. are voiced; you have a computer, smartphone or tablet with voiced dictionaries, and in extreme cases, almost any online dictionary provides the opportunity to listen to a new word. Children look at a paper dictionary less and less often. And that's okay. This is progress.

Secondly, transcription will only confuse a small child. It can be given starting from early adolescence. In the same fifth grade it is quite possible, although now it is no longer necessary. Imagine, a preschooler or a first-grader who has just recently learned the Russian alphabet is studying the English alphabet - these are already two sign systems that he must keep in mind. And here some introduce a third sign system, which is needed to decipher the second. Doesn't it sound complicated? Now imagine how difficult it is for a child. No, a child with a good memory will, of course, master this too. But why? Everything has its time.

Why can't you sign words in Russian letters?

Sometimes I see that some parents and even (oh horror!) colleagues sign the child’s word as it is read in Russian letters. You can't do that. Never. At all.

Firstly, Russian letters cannot convey English sounds. By writing words in Russian letters, you spoil your child’s pronunciation. Which, by the way, is formed most naturally in childhood.

Secondly, if the word is signed in Russian, what will the child do? That's right, he will read it. Do not remember how it is written in English, but read these same Russian letters. He will remember how the word sounds, but if he encounters this word in a new text, he most likely will not recognize it.

With preschoolers and primary schoolchildren, learning to read begins with alphabet And sounds. And the main role is played not by the alphabet, but by sounds. It is very easy to remember the alphabet - just regularly play alphabet songs for your child, which are available on YouTube great multitude. But in order to start reading, a child must learn which letter of the alphabet makes which sound. To do this, my students and I (using games with cards, videos, TPR - about it) for each letter of the alphabet, remember its sound and one or two words that begin with this sound. For example, seeing the letter Bb, children immediately remember the ball, and therefore the sound /b/. At home you can additionally listen to these: phonics songs.

There are two ways to teach children to read. And the best effect will be if you use both methods at the same time.

Whole word method.

This method of teaching reading is offered by the authors of most children's textbooks. According to this method, new words are given as follows: picture + word. Children look in the textbook at pictures with words labeled with them, listen, repeat after the speaker, play with cards. Typically, the teacher uses two sets of cards: picture cards and word cards. In special educational games with these cards, children remember which word goes with which picture.

That is, the mechanism is this: the child does not parse the word into sounds, he correlates the visual image of the whole word with its sound (thanks to this, the method of whole words can begin to be used in parallel with the study of the alphabet and sounds, without waiting until all the letters are learned). Then, seeing the studied word in the text, the child remembers how it sounds and can read it. This method is good because almost half of the words in English are exceptions that are not read according to the rules and there is simply no other way to learn these words or remember them.

Phonics teaching method.

The whole word method alone is still not enough. In order for a child to really read well, it is better to support the textbook with its whole-word method by studying reading according to the rules. For this purpose, phonics are used with children from the age of 6 - these are manuals where words are collected in groups, depending on the rule by which they are read. By listening and reading these groups of words, the child develops reading patterns. For example, after listening, repeating after the speaker and, perhaps, playing the words cat-fat-mat-bat in games, most children themselves will be able to read the word sat and similar ones.

Usually, phonics are beautiful books with pictures, audio and sometimes video applications (the ones I like are Oxford Phonics World for preschoolers and Sounds Great for starters, both in 5 parts), there are also interactive programs (Starfall, Teach Your Monster to Read) and video courses (for example, an amazing course Hooked on Phonics). Some authors provide phonics directly in the textbook, for example, the Family and Friends textbook contains phonics, but they are spread out over several years (!) of study. In fact, one school year is enough to learn all the rules of reading for children.

Gradually, when children learn to put letters into words, you can begin to select simple books for 4-5 year old children, in which each page has a huge picture and one small sentence. Many of them contain simple vocabulary that is already 80 percent familiar to students, but there is a lot of delight from such books - even if you read a whole book in English!

This is how, even from kindergarten, you can teach your child to read in a fun and interesting way, without discouraging him from learning transcriptions that he does not understand, and instill a love of reading.

I hope you found this article helpful. If you have questions or additions, please write in the comments. Good luck in learning English!