English

Advocating Educational Foundations in English

The last five years have seen an upturn in the number of children who leave primary school able to read properly, but there is still room for improvement. One in five children still leave primary school unable to read well enough to thrive at secondary school – a figure that rises to 1 in 3 among the most disadvantaged children.

There seems to have been a failure to teach the fundamental principles in English at an early age. Those basic skills such as spelling, grammar and syntax are vital and should be established at a very early age. Leaving primary education without a strong understanding and grasp of the English language will see children struggling to cope in their secondary education.

Parents can help to develop these skills by encouraging children to read their books out loud at home, so that area where children need help can be spotted and dealt with. Leaving children to read quietly on their own could mean that they spend more time looking at the pictures than concentrating on the words, skip over words they don’t know or can’t pronounce or skim over the words without actually reading them.

I have written several blog posts about recommended reading books for children, which includes a list of essential childrens’ literature. A number of the traditional reading books can be downloaded for free (or at a low cost) from Amazon to an electronic reading device.