According to Dr. Diana Leyva, it turns out that while
book-reading is important, it may not
be the most vital thing. Yep, that’s
what I said…you read it right!
Book-reading is important, but Dr. Leyva advocates for the significance of
reminiscing and especially of asking your children or students open-ended
questions to positively impact children’s phonological awareness. Why open-ended questions? Because if I ask, “Did you go to the park
yesterday?” the child responding has a lot less mental processing to do than if
I query instead, “Where did you go yesterday?”
To answer the second question, the child has to recall what s/he did
yesterday and where it took place. And
the child may even inform me that s/he went to a whole list of places, instead
of only responding that, “Yes, s/he went to the park.”
So
where does reminiscing come in? Well,
that’s where parents who are uncomfortable reading aloud or don’t have the
resources to do so can still immerse their children in a narrative structure
and where parents can pick up a productive conversation while in the middle of
other activities, like eating or while in the car. This reminiscing can be as simple as asking
and answering the question above, “Where did you go yesterday?” or could be
something more involved, such as a parent sharing stories from
his/her childhood and interacting with the listener(s), for instance, asking children to connect with the stories or say what they may do in a similar situation. The engagement with vocabulary helps children to become more comfortable more words, increasing their phonological awareness as they encounter more words and sounds.
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