Powerful Strategies to Boost Your Kid’s English Comprehension
Here are 2 powerful strategies your kid can start using immediately to help boost her English Comprehension:
1. The PQ3R Strategy (Preview, Question, Read, Reflect and Review)
Your upper-primary child can apply this simple technique to every comprehension assignment and exam. It can improve her recall of the given passage, as well as glean the most information from it in the least amount of time.
• Preview: Note the title and skim the passage quickly, then read any instructions or subheadings twice. Read the first and last sentence of every paragraph, then the first and final paragraphs in their entirety. Look at the pictures, if any, and their captions.
• Question: This is where your child actively engages with the text and asks questions based on her preview. Questions may be as basic as who, what, when, where, why and how, e.g.: What is happening in this passage? Who are the people involved?
• Read: Read the questions again, so you have some idea what you need to look for. Then read through the passage completely, underlining relevant words or information.
• Reflect: At the end of each paragraph ask yourself: What new information or development does it offer? How does it build on the previous paragraph? Does it provide answers to any of the given questions?
• Review: Think through the main points of the passage one final time. Have all your questions been suitably answered? Do you completely understand what the text is about?
The more your kid practises the PQ3R strategy, the more fluent she’ll become in reading comprehension. Truly the most effective way to build a solid foundation for the English language is through reading widely which brings us to the next strategy.
2. Read For Pleasure Without the Pressure
If you want your child to pick up the reading habit start by taking notice of her current favourite song, singer, actor, sports, etc. If it’s a song, search for the lyrics to the songs and have fun figuring out the meaning of the song and words together, and sing along if you wish. She can then follow up by reading magazine or internet articles about the singer. Once she is in the habit of reading for pleasure introduce other interesting topics. Soon you should see a dramatic increase in her interest to read.
© 2008 Elly Sim
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