Early child development is often a barrier to learning the alphabet and, consequently, reading. For this process to go smoothly, parents need to consider the psychological and physiological age of children. These are important points to consider when choosing a technique that’s right for your child.
Alphabet Teaching Techniques
We will offer several effective techniques for teaching your child the alphabet, each of which has its own merits.
Classic
Here are some simple guidelines to make the process easierTeaching your child the alphabet by classical methods:
Make cards with letters of the alphabet on a light background. The letters themselves must be bright, colorful. There should be nothing else on the cards. Place the prepared cards in the child’s room, at his height. You can attach them over objects that begin with these letters. Thus is the training of visual memory, which is considered leading at preschool age.
It is better to start learning the alphabet with the simplest vowels: “O”, “A”, “U”, “I. Pronounce them with your child as if singing. This will make it easier to form the letters into syllables later on.
Start learning consonants with the following letters: “B”, “P”, “M”, “N”, “G”, “T”, “K”. It’s best to teach hissing sounds as a last resort. They usually cause difficulties for children.
Do not teach your child the letters, but the sounds. That is, not “B” but “B”, not “Mae” but “M”. So that then there are no difficulties in the process of folding the letters into syllables.
If a child cannot pronounce any syllables, then do not start studying them, so that he does not keep the wrong pronunciation.
Study the alphabet not only at home, but also on the walk, paying attention to store signs. Suggest that you find familiar letters there. You can draw them with a stick on the snow, sand. This will only solidify the signs in memory.
Take your time! Do not start learning new letters until the previous ones are fully rooted in his memory. As you teach new material, be sure to repeat what you learned earlier.
Classes should take place only in a friendly atmosphere. Don’t overload a child. If he is naughty and doesn’t want to study, postpone the lesson to the next day. He needs to be curious.
Doman’s
The prominent pedagogue Glen Doman based his method on a repetitive display of symbols and their synchronized memorization with a gradual replacement of the old material with the new one. We recommend first learning the vowel letters in the following order: “A TO Z.”. “O”-“YO.”. “U”-“U.”. “Y” – “I”. “E” – “E.”. You can see that the letters rhyme. This will help your child remember them better.
Before you start teaching consonants, we suggest making sure that your child’s vowels have reached automatism. Now we begin to include the paired consonants, “B”-“P”, “D”-“T”, “Z”-“S”, remembering that the hissing ones are given last. If children are given consonants in tandem with vowels by singing them, they will quickly begin to put the sounds together. When your baby is familiar with all the letters, give him hard and soft signs.
Associations
You can learn the alphabet by association. We suggest that parents help their child fixate on the letter a certain association, which will pop up in the baby’s mind when making eye contact. Take pictures, experiment to turn them into the letters they begin with. For example:
“D” looks like a house;
“B” is for a hippo with a big belly;
“E” – an upside-down hedgehog, it has closed eyes;
“Yo” has his eyes open;
“T” is the “knock-knock” sound that the hammer makes;
“Ch” – cup;
“C” – a chicken with a tail;
“U” – a snail carrying a house on its back.
This method not only allows you to learn the alphabet, but also to develop associative thinking. It is usually used at an older age. You can paste such pictures to your child’s room so that they are constantly in sight. If you make an association of the letters with a living object, the alphabet is usually easy for children to memorize.
Bi-hemispheric approach
The bi-hemispheric approach is based on the simultaneous development of both hemispheres of the brain. An adult writes a large-print letter on the board and suggests that the child trace it with his/her finger. First, he guides the child with his finger along the line. Then the child understands what is expected of him and begins to use the finger pointing. This way children learn to write the alphabet while memorizing it at the same time.
When the child has learned to trace a letter on the board, you can offer it to write it in a sketchbook or notebook. To facilitate understanding, it is good to draw reference symbols: an animal figure, a number, an object. Of course, this method takes a lot of time. But children usually like it. They get a sort of homemade alphabet with their own drawings. And most importantly, the pleasure of the work done.
The game
Play is a natural and favorite activity of the children. It is in the game is fast memorization, which is reinforced by positive emotions. Here are some effective games to help a child learn the alphabet:
The subject alphabet. Prepare cards with drawn objects and letters separately. During lessons, the child needs to relate the object to the letter it begins with.
Magic bag. Blindfold your baby. Put plastic letters in a bag. Let him take them out and try to find out by touch. After the task is done, talk again and look at the letters. This game allows you to run both visual, auditory, and tactile memory channels at once.
Crow. Put the letters in alphabetical order. The leader moves his palms and whispers: “The crow flew, flew and ate the letter.”. At this time, quickly cover the sign with the palms of their hands. The child’s task is to guess which letter is closed. If he fails, you can make clues like, “Next to ‘O’ lives…”. It won’t take long before children memorize the alphabet in the correct order.
Edible and Inedible.An adult tosses a ball to the child and names the item. If the name has a letter to be learned, the baby “eats” it by catching the ball. This game teaches a child to perceive letters by ear.
In today’s world there are a lot of games on your computer, tablet, smartphone that help you learn the alphabet and work off the skill. Children are very happy to show interest in the technique, you can direct it in the right direction.
Creativity
Creativity will help not only to memorize the alphabet, but also to develop fine motor skills. In addition, it is an interesting activity which strengthens the emotional connection between parents and children. There are many options for creative activities, each family can choose the most appropriate for them.
Draw letterswith finger paints while reciting them, reciting rhymes.
Make letters out of pebbles, buttons, beads, counting sticks, peas, beans, constructor parts. Just remember that when dealing with small parts, you need to make sure that the baby does not push them into his nose, mouth, ears.
Model the alphabet with plasticine. Correlate it with the molded objects.
Cut out the blanksof paper together with a child. Hang the alphabet in his room as a garland.
Make up a quatrain about each letter, a riddle, sing a chant, read a story.
Sew the letters from fabric, Fill them with foam rubber. Help your toddler learn a name.
Introduce new material no more than twice a week. Be sure to begin the lesson by repeating the letters you have learned.
Tale
Storytelling has always been a childhood companion. There are many alphabet books available today with stories about each letter. Let the child look at the book first, so he is not distracted by the new material in the class. Consider a picture of a letter, read the story as if it were an ordinary story, without paying attention to the learning moment. After reading, refer to the picture in which the letter is hidden.
The Soboleva alphabet is an excellent example of such a methodology. For example, there is a picture of the letter “U” on the page and a picture about it. The letter teases the tree, but it stands still. Nearby is offered a tale about a letter that teased everyone “Ooh-ooh-ooh” who came across it on the way: a snail, a snail, a duck. But she could not tease the tree. The tree acts as an associative clue, because it does not contain the letter “U”, although outwardly they are similar. This technique triggers an anti-stress mechanism, the child listens to the story, and the letters learn themselves.
Tips for Parents
For successful learning, psychologists urge you to follow simple tips:
Do not force the child to practice.
Use playful activities.
Find games that interest your child.
Classes should be conducted systematically.
Reinforce the old material.
Introduce new material in doses.
Ask to find the learned signs on the signs as you walk.
Allow no more than 10 minutes for the lesson.
At the same time teach your baby to write the letter.
Use visual materials.
If a letter is difficult for your child. Leave her alone to do the next. Come back to it after a while.
Don’t instruct your children to learn letters. Play with them, they will draw, listen, sing, watch, play together with adults. And the alphabet will be learned without your baby noticing.
