The Smart Way to Teach Your Child the ABC's
21st Century Method for Teaching the Alphabet
Apr 23, 2009
Most children begin learning reading basics in the same predictable way: parents sing the alphabet song, they gradually introduce the capital letters, begin associating the capital letters with the letter names, eventually working the into teaching sounds that each letter makes, and finally children learn the lower case letters. While this practice has been accepted by generation after generation, it is not the most efficient or logical way to teach emerging reading skills to toddlers and preschoolers. Children who learn to read by reversing the usual order, learn to read more quickly, at an earlier age, and with fewer reading difficulties.
Teach the Lowercase Letters First
Ninety percent of what your child sees and reads is written in the lower case. Since these lowercase letters are what your child will predominantly see in books, in magazines, on menus and in most places where writing is prevalent, it makes sense to teach the lowercase letters to your child first.
Teach the Sounds for Each Letter
The important thing to remember when teaching your child the alphabet is what the letter represents: that is, what sound or sounds the letter makes or represents. By teaching your child the sound that the letter produces, you are correlating the letter to the sounds that he or she hears in conversation everyday. When you teach your child the sounds that letters make, it gives the letters meaning, removing the abstract nature of letters from the learning process.
You will find that teaching your child the sounds each letter makes early in his or her development lends itself to blending two or more sounds together to form words, which is the reason behind learning the letters in the first place. As soon as your child has mastered a vowel – usually “a” – and a common letter such as “s” or “t”, start building the words immediately. Your child does not need to master every sound or letter in the alphabet before word-building skills can be encouraged.
Teach the Letter Names
Now that your child has mastered the sounds that individual letters produce and he or she is building words from his skill set, introduce the letter names of each letter. If your child has truly mastered the sounds that all twenty-six letters produce, you will be pleasantly surprised that your child will master letter names in only a few days.
Put the Letters in Order
The alphabet song organizes the body of knowledge that your child has mastered and will enable you to teach advanced concepts such as alphabetical ordering. Most schools and teachers expect your child to be able to recite or organize the alphabet when entering Kindergarten, so it is essential that you follow through on this final step.
Reversing the order that you teach your child the alphabet will help you teach your child to be a stronger reader in less time. Taking time to teach lowercase letters and sounds first gives concrete meaning to an abstract concept, making the final steps of naming the letters and organizing the alphabet in order as simple as ABC.
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