How to teach a child to read by syllables at home?

Building early reading skills in a child can be accomplished simply and effectively by teaching them to read by syllables. Through segmenting words into digestible parts, kids can gain a better understanding of how sounds combine to form words.

This technique reduces the overwhelming nature of reading while also aiding in pronunciation. As they learn to read increasingly complex words, it can help children become more confident because it enables them to concentrate on one small portion of the word at a time.

This is something you can easily walk your child through at home with a little perseverance and practice. No fancy equipment is required; a little imagination and perseverance will do the trick.

Step	Description
1. Start with simple words	Begin with short, simple words that have clear syllable breaks. Words like "ma-ma" and "pa-pa" work well.
2. Clap out syllables	Clap or tap for each syllable to help your child understand how words are broken down.
3. Use visual aids	Use pictures or objects to match with the words you"re teaching, so they can associate the word with something familiar.
4. Read aloud together	Encourage your child to read along with you, breaking the words into syllables as you go.
5. Practice regularly	Make reading practice a daily routine to help build confidence and skills over time.

Consequences of early reading and stages of development

• From the very beginning of pregnancy and until the baby reaches 3 years of age, the foundation for his future physical and mental health is formed. At this time, the emotional sphere is actively formed, and the child"s body and cognitive interests develop at an accelerated pace.
• In the period from the age of three to 5-8 years, there is an active development of the senses: hearing, sight, smell, touch, taste buds. Up to 5-6 years, the ciliary muscle of the eye, which is responsible for visual acuity, is strengthened. That is why ophthalmologists do not recommend putting a lot of strain on the eyes during this period, it is dangerous due to the development of myopia.
• At the age of 7 to 15, the child"s conscious psyche is actively developing.

Taking into consideration each of these factors is essential to prevent unfavorable outcomes from early learning.

Watch the next video to find out what age is best to teach a child to read.

Preliminary preparation

Preparing a child for reading requires starting well in advance of the learning process. The child’s sense of rhythm and phonemic hearing must be actively developed. These are crucial elements for learning to read successfully.

Sense of rhythm

Even while you are pregnant, you can start to feel rhythm. By singing lullabies to the unborn child, a pregnant woman can aid in the development of the child’s sense of rhythm. Once born, the baby will settle down to the sounds much more quickly because he will remember their rhythmic pattern. Not only can you stroke your stomach and sing lullabies, but you can also recite poems and follow the beat of the performance.

In infancy and early childhood, you can read nursery rhymes and jokes to your child. While reading, pat him, stroke him, clap your little palms, bounce him on your knees, stomp your feet at a given tempo. Such simple games with your baby will greatly contribute to the development of his sense of rhythm. You can also use short songs and chants, combine them with massage. Starting from 4 months, you can combine songs with rhythmic movements. As an example, you can use the song “We were swinging on a swing. Swing, swing, swing, swing!”. Combine singing a song and swinging the child at a given tempo. Teach your baby to dance, move to different melodies – waltz, polka, march.

Make use of "sounding gestures" with your body, such as clapping, stomping, loud and soft slapping, and clicking your fingers both on your body and in the air. Teach your kid to knock using a variety of objects, such as toys, spoons, and cubes. You can begin rhythmic gymnastics once he is able to walk on his own.

Enable speech to aid in the development of rhythm. In time with the reading, clap and stomp along to words, poetry, songs, and nursery rhymes. The claps will be rare for long syllables and frequent for short syllables. Make use of your hands’ fluidity. Instruct students to mimic the rhythmic pattern you’ve drawn. Make use of the most basic musical instruments, such as spoons, drums, maracas, bells, metallophones, and metal triangles.

All of these easy games will not only keep the child engaged and entertained, but they will also be very helpful in helping them develop their sense of rhythm.

Phonemic hearing

Through phonemic hearing, or speech, we are able to identify and categorize sounds, comprehend the order in which they occur in words, decipher spoken words, and tell apart words that share similar phonemes. If it is not developed enough, the baby will struggle with speech development, articulation, telling stories that make sense, and the development of literacy skills in writing and reading.

Your baby’s hearing begins to develop as soon as he is born. Speak to him and make the sounds he makes but is still unable to pronounce. Read him nursery rhymes and poetry, as well as children’s songs and lullabies.

The age range of six months to two years is critical for the development of hearing. However, it ends at the age of seven, at which point the child’s speech starts to resemble that of an adult.

Beneficial pursuits between the ages of six months and two years:

• When the baby gets older, you can invite him to "listen to the silence" with his eyes closed. Let him then tell you about the sounds he heard (ticking, dripping water, noise from neighbors), and then compare them with the sounds you heard.
• Invite the child to find the sound. To do this, hide any thing that makes a sound and let him find it. You can play "blind man"s buff", blindfold and ring a bell.
• Show how different objects sound (the sound of a spoon, a ball hitting the floor, the rustling of plastic, the rustling of paper sheets, the creaking of a door, something falling to the floor). Then blindfold the child and ask him to guess what object makes the sound. Play like this with musical instruments.
• Make noise-making toys with your child. To do this, fill small jars with different loose objects (sand, stones, semolina, millet, beans, small metal objects). Make a pair of each type. Then ask the child to close his eyes and make some noise. Let the child find a pair, a jar with the same filling.

Playing rhythm games can aid in the development of phonemic hearing.

• Play the game "Loud-Quiet". Agree to perform one action for loud words or the sound of some objects, and other actions for a quiet sound.
• Find the right one. For the game, select words with similar sounds (dot-night) and corresponding pictures for them. Call the subject, and your baby should find it in the picture as quickly as possible.
• Ask the child to clap or stomp only when you call the subject correctly. Make an error in pronunciation, replace the first letter: grilov, drila, trilavka, counter, Srilaovka ..
• Let the baby find mistakes: we lit a sheep (candle). A house (SOM) swimming in the river.
• Agree on the pronunciation of only the same syllables, and if you make a mistake, then the child says “stop”, claps or stomps. Ra-Ra-Ra-Ra-Ba-Ra-Ra.
• For the development of phonemic hearing, use onomatopoeia. Ask to say how the cat says, a dog, how a fly flies, a mosquito ..
• "Whose House". For the game, draw houses with a different number of windows (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7). Pick up words with the corresponding number of sounds (mind, mouth, tiger, mouse, forty, gift). Explain that each word has its own house and in order to find it, you need to count the number of windows in the house and the number of sounds in the word. For one sound – one window.
• “Runaway letter”. Ask the baby to guess which letter ran away: _orona, _agon, _orobey, _arenie, _arezhka. (The letter B ran away).

Learning games can aid in the development of phonemic hearing. Numerous of these games can be played not just at home but also in a line, while strolling, or while traveling.

Teach your child to break words down into their constituent syllables at a young age. In the video below, educator Svetlana Orochko walks viewers through the process.

How to understand if a child is ready to learn to read?

A number of factors can help you determine whether your child is ready to learn to read:

• the child builds coherent stories, does not get confused when making sentences, speech is meaningful and intelligible;
• he pronounces all the sounds, does not have speech therapy problems;
• his hearing is fine;
• development of phonemic hearing is at the proper level;
• has spatial landmarks, can show where left is right, top is bottom.
• is interested in literature and may even ask you to teach him to read.

When all of these conditions are met, you can begin teaching him to read.

Choosing a teaching method

There are now many of them, whereas previously everyone only used the conventional approach. The selection of an appropriate program requires careful consideration because each one has benefits as well as drawbacks. The Tyulenev method, Zaitsev cubes, Glenn Doman’s teaching approach, and his cards are all trendy training techniques that haven’t been researched in a while.

A child can frequently read by the time they are three or four years old. Teachers, neurologists, and speech therapists might not agree with this, though. Youngsters whose parents choose to commit words to memory may struggle with deciphering word sounds. Pupils who learn non-traditionally might find it challenging to break words down into their constituent syllables, effectively "swallowing" word endings. For teachers, retraining such children is far more challenging than teaching them from the beginning.

Issues related to hyperactivity and heightened excitability may emerge on a neurological level. The child’s socialization process could be quite challenging. It’s possible that reading is mechanical. The child can read sentences fluently and quickly construct words from syllables, but he is completely unable to comprehend what he has read.

For additional guidance on selecting a method, view the following video.

With the correct method, teaching a child to read by syllables at home can be easy and enjoyable. Help them identify individual letters and sounds first, and then gradually combine those sounds to form syllables. To make it more interesting, use lighthearted techniques like clapping or tapping in time with the syllables. Since children learn best when they are encouraged and repeated, consistency and patience are essential.

Learning letters

It is recommended that you begin learning the letters "a", "o", "u", "e", "y", and "i" first. Teach your child the meaning of the term "vowels" for these letters. Consonants cannot be sung aloud, but they can be.

Vowels are taught first, followed by voiced consonants like "m," "l," and "n." The child’s attention must be directed toward the letter and its graphic writing rather than the picture that corresponds with it (A is for stork, B is for hippopotamus).

Once the infant has thoroughly examined vowels and voiced consonants, you can start teaching voiceless consonants (like "t," "p," and others) as well as the hissing sounds "zh," "sh," "ch," and "shch."

Recall that you should never use a letter’s name when learning it. The youngster must use sounds to help them remember letters. Just "R," "D," and "M"—no "ER," "DE," "EM," etc. A baby still finds it hard to comprehend why a letter called "EM" is not read that way in the word "MAMA." He’ll peruse EMAEMA.

Play educational games, create letters out of plasticine and salt dough, color them, build them out of wire, matches, and counting sticks, have the kids draw letters on their palms, or use a magnetic alphabet to help them remember letters. Watch video lessons and search for the letters you have learned in books, newspapers, billboards, and store signs, among other places.

Reiterate what you have learned each time. Make sure to keep in mind the letters your infant already knows as they learn new ones.

Remain composed and patient. Not even adults receive things immediately. Recognize that a child’s understanding of letters is extremely limited. You shouldn’t chastise him if he can’t recall the letter you studied yesterday; instead, have him repeat it and make sure he remembers it the following day. Till the child is comfortable with the material, go over it again.

Learning to read syllables correctly

Teaching letter addition should begin almost immediately. Once you have mastered a few vowels and a few consonants, you can combine syllables.

Children can easily understand how letters are combined to form syllables in N. Zhukova’s "ABC."

A happy boy hops from one letter to the next. Up until it reaches the second sound, the first one stretches. You can use any of your child’s favorite toys in place of the happy boy. It might be an automobile that goes from one stop to another, a boat that sails from one port to another, or a teddy bear that travels from one letter to another. There are plenty of options, and the child may even propose a plot.

Introduce reading to students by teaching them to read in syllables, such as AAAAUUU and OOOUUU. Proceed to syllables with a consonant + vowel combination (BA, DA, NO) once the child has demonstrated an understanding of sound connections. Acquire knowledge of the letter and associate it with syllables. The child will find it more challenging to combine syllables that contain hissing consonants (ZHU, ZHA, CHA). The next training phase will be this.

Proceed to closed syllables (vowel + consonant) once the child has mastered the ability to combine open syllables (consonant + vowel). The baby can be pleased that he can read words (AH, OH, DA, and UZH).

When the child is first learning to read syllables, have him sing the words instead of asking him to pronounce each one. You can teach each other to read syllables by singing. Reiterate everything you have previously learned. Pre-made presentations or video lessons are available for use. Your lessons will become a little more varied as a result.

Watch the following video for an illustration of how letters should be merged to form syllables.

How to teach to read correctly by syllables?

It’s time to teach the child to read by syllables once they have mastered reading syllables and all of the letters.

Provide basic reading words first: MOM, RAMA, SOAP, BABA, MILA. Observe how your child pronounces words. Instruct him in reading the following words: CHEESE, CAT, HOUSE, MOUTH. Afterwards, read words like CROWN, MAGPIE, and MILK that have three syllables or more. When reading, pick words that refer to particular things or activities.

Once your child is proficient in reading single words, have them read short sentences. MYL RO-MA MU-RA, MA-MA ME-LA YA AND RO-MA ARE WELL DONE, MI-LU. The child pauses between words and sentences and pays attention to intonation and rhythm. You can use this time to explain to the youngster the purpose of punctuation marks. You must explain the difference between a period and a comma, question and exclamation marks, and the idea that a sentence contains a complete thought.

How teach a child to read fluently?

Children who read syllabically need a great deal of time and energy to read. The young reader reads the word word by word after breaking it up into its constituent syllables. Every time he reads a sentence, these processes take place for every word. It is only then that he can put the words together into sentences and comprehend their meaning. Consequently, the young reader may not always be able to understand a small text when reading it. The text is not understood in its entirety.

The child will still read increasingly complex words by syllables as they progress to reading well-known simple words as a whole in the next learning stage. He starts to guess words and change their endings at this point, which makes it easy for him to make a lot of mistakes when reading. It is crucial that you do not pass up this opportunity. You should read more slowly if you find many mistakes in your reading. This is done to prevent eye movement regression caused by frequently going back to previously read material to correct errors.

It is only after completing this phase that the child will acquire holistic and fluent reading skills. Errors become less frequent as the reading rate rises at the same time.

For a child to acquire fluency in reading, the following factors must be considered:

• development of working memory (information is stored in memory for the time it takes to complete a task, achieve a goal);
• widening the angle of view;
• development of attention;
• inadmissibility of regressive eye movements;
• expansion of vocabulary;
• good development of articulation.

You will be able to read more fluently if you practice reading regularly. It’s not necessary to make your child read for an extended period of time; after five minutes, let him rest. You can schedule these five-minute reading breaks into your schedule multiple times a day. Visual dictations are going to be very beneficial. They are excellent at fostering the growth of working memory. The ability to read fluently will be developed through tongue twister and expressive reading.

You can let the kid play the following games to help them with working memory development:

• We consider a picture with objects depicted on it for 30 seconds – 1 min. Close it and ask the baby to name objects or write them down. By the same principle, you can place several items on the table (about 10) and let them consider them. After that, ask the baby to turn away and remove 2 items or change their places among themselves. Ask the child to name the items that were removed or tell what has changed.
• Can help the game "Find the same cards". All cards are turned downward downward. The child alternately opens a pair of cards and searches for the same. The one who has the collected couples will win.
• Within a few seconds, offer to consider the picture, and then removing her, ask the child to tell how more about what was depicted.

Schulte tables are an excellent tool for helping children’s field of vision.

The games listed below can aid in the development of attention:

• "Find the picture". Several bright, colorful pictures are laid out in front of the player. You need to point to the picture named by the leader as quickly as possible. The game will be more interesting if there are 2 or 3 players. Whoever points to the right picture faster takes it for themselves.
• "Cross out the letter". The child is offered a sheet of paper with letters written on it. Within a few seconds, he must cross out all the letters on the sheet that the adult said (For example, APIGPYYOPARTAABDRLTSA – Cross out the letter A). The time given for crossing out is determined based on the number of letters on the sheet.
• "Clap when you hear" Various words are spoken to the child at a fast pace. He needs to clap his hands when he hears a word on a given topic. You can offer different topics each time: vegetables, fruits, wild animals, pets, dishes..

Regression of the eye movements can be prevented by reading with a portion of the text closed. Immediately after reading, a ruler, bookmark, or piece of paper is placed over each word.

These are just a handful of the games that can aid in your child’s fluency in reading. Observe them and develop your own ideas while accommodating your child’s requests.

For vital information on how to assist your child in learning to read quickly, watch the upcoming program.

A child’s reading abilities are strengthened when they are taught to read by syllables at home, which is a rewarding process. Children can more easily understand the sounds and patterns of language when words are broken down into manageable chunks.

Consistency and patience are essential. Frequent practice with easy and enjoyable techniques helps your child and you both enjoy learning.

Since each child learns differently, it’s critical to support development without placing undue pressure on them. To keep them inspired and self-assured in their reading journey, acknowledge even the little accomplishments.

Video on the topic

How to teach a child to read by syllables at home. Learning to read by syllables.

🔤 Learning to read by syllables.🌻 Reading training. 🧸How to teach a child to read

COLLECTION | Learning to read by syllables | Part 1 | Cards using Zaitsev"s method

We taught a child to read in 10 minutes (a real story)