Reading books can be the most natural, motivating and effective way for parents and children to learn English together. This article gives eight key tips on when and how to do so.
When to start reading English books with your child
Although this is not necessarily true about English lessons, with reading books in English it really is a case of the earlier the better. This is because older kids are much more likely to reject books that they don’t understand. Very young kids are as likely to chew the book as they are to remember the English names for the food that the Hungry Caterpillar eats. However, this will at least get them into the habit of enjoying doing something in English, something that should stay as a good impression of learning the language even if they reject English books later on. If you keep the books in the house, they are also likely to feel nostalgic about and go back to such books when they are much older, and hopefully even use them with their own kids.
When to read English books with your child
Like picture books in your own language, bedtime is a great time to read relaxing books like Goodnight Moon. Children might be especially receptive to enjoying the rhythm of the words without worrying too much about every word at that time of day, and they tend to especially enjoying repeating bedtime books, which is great for language learning. In addition, it can’t hurt their English if some of those words go into their dreams!
However, you should make sure that kids don’t associate reading English too much with falling asleep. There is also a danger that reading at bedtime is much less dynamic. You should therefore also have other times for reading in English, e.g. ten minutes of “English time” every weekday or half an hour every Sunday, perhaps with more dynamic books and ways of reading such as copying the actions in From Head to Toe.
Choosing English books for your child
The best way to select books is to take your child to a bookshop with many English language picture books and let them choose the ones which they find most interesting. If that isn’t possible, perhaps the closest thing is to watch read throughs of picture books on YouTube and then buy copies of the stories that your child likes most.
If you want to check that your child is choosing something suitable or to choose for them, criteria include having vocabulary that they already know in their own language, and having lots of illustrations. A difficult point to choose can be what age range each book should be for, as your child’s English level will probably be the same as younger native speaker kids. However, as enjoyment is the most important thing and kids tend to be good at ignoring unknown vocabulary (as they do in L1), it’s probably more important to avoid books which are too babyish than to worry about them understanding every word. Similarly, books with interesting illustrations and stories will be more motivating than seemingly more useful books like A to Z guides to vocabulary.
Note that how difficult or easy the books are to the parent is not necessarily the best way of choosing, as it is normal for children’s books to include names of dinosaurs, kinds of animals, etc that would not be a priority for adults.
Who should read English books to your child
Bilingual kids tend to mix up their two languages less if one parent speaks each language, without mixing the two. It might therefore be worth one parent reading picture books in English and the other parent reading picture books in L1. The English books should usually be read by the parent who is better at pronouncing English.
When children get older, the choice then becomes whether the child reads the book or the parent does. The former is important if you want the child to start independently reading English books, but forcing the point is more likely to make them reject English books entirely. You should therefore be prepared to carry on reading to them until they are ready to read for themselves.
Getting your child to read English books
Perhaps the best gateway into your child reading the books is to get them to read key words, for example the word on the page that comes after some kind of cliffhanger or is the punchline to a joke.
Making reading English books easier
Reading books in English that kids already know in their own language can work sometimes, but there is also the danger that it makes reading in English appear pointless, especially if both versions are in the house. Instead of that, you could read stories that they are familiar with likes ones connected to animation which they have seen.
Books which have a repeated form on each page are easier to read, but there is a danger that they will just remember the line after the second time and not actually be reading anymore.
Preparing to read English books for your child
The best preparation is probably to watch other people reading the books out loud on YouTube, which should not only provide a guide to pronunciation but also show ways of making the story more interesting. You may also want to look up vocabulary that you don’t know, can’t pronounce, or are not sure that you can explain.
Using your own language when you read English books to your child
Although there is nothing wrong with some translation in language learning, if you use too much L1 when you read an English book to your child, they will lose the motivation to listen to the English. You should therefore try to explain by pointing at pictures, quoting other English stories that you’ve read, etc. You could also get the child to look up words for themselves if they need translation.
Parents and/ or children can be more reluctant to use English to do other things around the book like discuss what they think is coming next, as this seems less natural than using media together in another language. You can make this seem more natural with the use of an “English time” when English is only used for such things, or just accept that the book in English is something and be more flexible about how L1 and English are used around it.