How Fast to Read to a Child

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Ann Kennedy on behalf of Expert Village and I'll be teaching you some steps to teach a child to read. Speed of a read. What a lot of times parents will do, they will read too slow and because they have a belief that if they go very very slow a child will understand. You don't want to read too slow and you don't want to read too fast. I'm going to show you a slow reading that does have negative affects and too fast of a reading that has some negative affects and to find that balance. This is another Dr. Seuss book and to read these lines very slow would be, [slowly] I do not like them. [end slowly] Just because your child is a child, doesn't mean that they need to hear language that slow. You're modeling in their eyes something that is going to be harder for them to learn to read. When they watch television, they don't speak on tv, [slowly] I do not like them. [end slowly] Too fast, that's another problem where you're in a rush, you've got to get the laundry done, you've got to go to work, you've got to do something. You're modeling to your child well, I better hurry up and get this done because it's a chore which would be, [fast] I do not like them Sam I am, I do not like them green eggs and ham. And I look at the green eggs, see the picture, and let's turn the page. [end fast] Take your time, not too much time, not too slow, because then as your child gets to school, they will do everything too slow. It's not that they're slow, they need to be modeled the right speed of a read. I do not like them, Sam I am. Oh look, there's a period, to pause. Remember what I said in the last session, now and then, pick it out. I do not like them, green eggs and ham. So just kind of be aware of the speed of your read. Listen to television and how it's conversational and make the speed of the read when you read it, conversational but a little bit slower than it normally would be as you're pointing out titles and you're showing them phonemic awareness, okay? Speed of a read."