As every parent knows, reading is integral to any child’s development. Aside from a school requirement, it is essential for communication at all stages of life, it builds self-confidence and encourages a desire for success. Plus if approached in the right way can become a lifelong passion.

But whilst most families will encourage their child to read, what if you don’t enjoy reading aloud to them, or struggle yourself? And what if you find it hard to explain words in a language they will understand?

Not everyone is a natural born story-teller and it can be hard to ignite a love of reading in your children if you yourself are not that enthused.

If you feel yourself nodding along then it may be time to try a different tactic. Innovation is key and brand new products like the Storio from Vtech can introduce an interactive element to telling stories as well as helping children (and parents!) with tricky words.

There are no rules when it comes to story-telling in your family so feel free to use your imagination. Try getting your child to read to you – they will learn far quicker this way- and just help break down the difficult words together. Perhaps you could try acting out some of the scenes or chapters which would help develop your child’s confidence even further – and could help tire them out if they are feeling wide-awake at bedtime! Whichever way you decide to approach learning at home, the longer you can keep their attention the better.

So if you feel in need of inspiration or some advice log onto this live WebTV show child literacy expert Dr Jeni Riley will be answering your questions and offering some foolproof hints and tips.

Dr Jeni Riley joins us live on 20th July at 3.00pm to reveal brand new research into reading habits & discuss enjoyable learning

For more information visit www.vtechuk.com

V-Tech Webchat

H: Lis Speight, host

A: Dr Jeni Riley, early literacy specialist

H: With the world’s first animated e-book reader aimed at children about to hit the shelves, I’m joined by an early literacy expert to find out how you can ensure your children have fun while they’re learning

Titles

H: Hello and welcome to Parent Talk, I’m Lis Speight. Now we all know how important reading is for children. It can lead to a lifetime of learning and will help them discover the enjoyment of books, but how do you encourage your kids to switch off the TV, put down their computer games and pick up a story book? Well perhaps new technology can help. Joining me today to discuss this and more is early literacy specialist Dr Jenny Riley. Jeni really great to see you today

A: Thank you Lis

H: Thanks very much for coming in. Coming up on today’s show we look at research undertaken by V-Tech Storio which looks at issues surrounding parents and their child’s learning. We review how learning has changed over the years with a special look at how new technologies are being embraced to enhance our children’s learning, and we tackle all your questions. Now we are live today so if you’d like to get involved with our discussion then please do, all you have to do is to type your question and your name in the box that’s on the screen, press “send” or “submit”, it’ll come through to us here and we’ll try to tackle as many of your questions as we can during the course of the show. But let’s start off by asking Jeni a little bit about her role. What exactly is an early literacy specialist?

A: Well it’s someone whose been involved with teaching, researching, thinking about, writing about early literacy, and that’s how children learn to read and write, right from the very beginning, and that’s what I’ve been doing for most of my professional life

H: Goodness me so it’s quite a big topic to cover really isn’t it?

A: It’s a huge topic and it’s a fascinating one, and it’s a very complicated one

H: But so important we know these days

A: Oh crucial. Crucial

H: So tell us a little bit about this new research that’s been done?

A: Well the research that’s been done for V Tech is about how parents view reading, how parents view technology-assisted books, and whether parents feel confident themselves about reading, about explaining words to children etc

H: Ok and tell us a little bit of the detail about that research then, what did it show?

A: Well I think it’s actually very, very encouraging. I mean we know that parents care hugely about their children and they want them to be successful, they want them to learn to read early and they are very interested indeed. About 78% of them think that technology can help

H: Ok well that’s interesting

A: Yes

H: Which is good at this day and age because at the end of the day technology’s around us and it’s in our children’s lives much more than it ever was in our lives

A: Absolutely, it’s all pervasive isn’t it?

H: And what about parents’ concerns about sort of worrying about not understanding words, not understanding their children’s reading?

A: Well this was a little bit of a surprise I think, about a third over the country thought that they were not able to explain the meaning of words to their children,

H: Right

A: In quite as clear a way as they would like

H: Ok

A: And of course that’s where technology can help

H: Right

A: V Tech have launched their new e-book, STORIO and there is a dictionary function, and if the child gets to a word that he or she doesn’t understand they can actually use the dictionary and get a clear definition of that word which of course gives them access to the meaning

H: Ok, which is really helpful for parents because parents probably do know the meaning of the word but they just sort of don’t know how to go about explaining it

A: Absolutely, if I asked you to tell me a clear definition of “contemplate” right now, you’d have to think a second

H: Yes I would, I’d have to contemplate it!

A: You would, you would Lis

H: Ok. And why is this an issue for children getting ahead with their reading?

A: What in terms of understanding the word?

H: Yes

A: Well I mean if you – reading is about accessing the meaning from a coded system

H: Right

A: Symbols. So if you’re not understanding the meaning there’s very little point in actually being able to sound out that word. So understanding the word is key

H: Ok. Alright well stay watching because next we look at how learning has changed over the years and how – and we look at how new technologies are being embraced to enhance our children’s learning

Break

H: Ok so we’re talking about children’s literacy today, and sort of early literacy particularly. What are children’s reading levels like in the UK today, are we doing ok?

A: Yes we are, we’re doing pretty ok. They plateaued slightly since the early 2000’s, but we’re about near the top of international surveys in terms of cross-cultural comparisons, so we’re doing well, but English is always more of a challenge for children because it’s such an irregular language

H: Yes I know, you come across that more and more don’t you –

A: I know

H: When you’re teaching your children, how do you explain “threw” and “through” and you know there’s so many words like that aren’t there?

A: I know it’s such bad luck for English kids

H: Yes

A: If you happen to be Finnish you’ve got an almost completely regular language,

H: Yes. Good luck to Finns! Not many people speak Finnish

A: Exactly

H: Maybe I should try and learn that

A: But the brilliant thing is that most of our kids do learn and they learn very quickly and they’re fluent

H: Yes. And when should you start reading to your children?

A: Oh that is key. That is key Lis, and I mean there isn’t really too early an age to start. We say from the age of about 6 months

H: Yes

A: Sharing board books with your child, talking about them, getting used to what a book is, the way the page is turned, so the earlier the better as far as sharing the books.

H: Yes. And there are a lot of books out there for children, but there are also these new technologies coming through aren’t there?

A: Absolutely

H: And do you think these new technologies are useful for children, in their reading?

A: I think they’re brilliant, I mean the thing is we don’t want children to only have one way in to written language

H: No

A: So children will be using ordinary books, paper books, they’ll be learning to read from all the signs around them, we live in a print-filled world. But e-books are absolutely amazing things. They’re animated, they’re interactive, the kids actually learn how to read the print because the print colours as the story is read

H: Right

A: So you know exactly, you’re directed to which word is being read so you get an idea if you’re 3 that those marks actually represent a spoken word, so they are extremely engaging, and then of course there are all the different functions

H: Yes

A: You know there’s the dictionary I’ve already mentioned but there are story games, loads of things you can do with your child that actually hooks them into reading

H: Yes and makes it fun for them

A: Makes it very fun

H: It’s probably a bit daunting picking up a book full of words, particularly if you’re on your own – it’s nice to sit down with your children and it’s lovely to sit down with your children and important to do that, but if you are on your own, this makes it easy for you

A: Absolutely and you don’t have to agonise, what are those black squiggles saying, you’ve actually got the story that can be read to you with an e-book

H: Yes and how important is it for boys to have these sort of new technologies, because there is a split isn’t there at that age?

A: There is, there is

H: Explain a little bit about that

A: Well all the research tells us that if there is a group of children with reading difficulties, the boys tend to be over-represented

H: Right

A: So quite why this is we’re not sure and we don’t have time on this program to go into the science of it, but some of it, as they get older is to do with the fact that they don’t think reading is cool

H: Right

A: Now that is really sad, and I think that that is perhaps where e-books will come into their own

H: Ok

A: Because children will see something like this as being the ultimate cool

H: And boys like their technologies don’t they –

A: They do

H: At a very young age

A: They do, and they don’t have trouble with that. No trouble at all

H: And is it nice to get the whole family involved in using this sort of thing or reading? I mean how important is it that family is seen as a reading family?

A: I think the whole thing about reading and engaging kids with books, knowing that reading is the key to everything, key to success at school, key to success in life, is about getting those right attitudes, getting it modelled for you by your parents, older brothers and sisters , getting involved with exciting things. All of that models that it’s a worthwhile, useful and enjoyable activity

H: And reading’s not just about sitting down last thing at night before you go to bed, there’s a whole world of reading out there isn’t there?

A: Absolutely

H: Any sort of tips for parents to encourage your kids to be reading all the time really?

A: Well I think you read for different – for different reasons during the day. A bedtime story is a wonderful, soothing thing that you will do with your child, but also you’ll be reading for different things. You read for information, you look up to see what time a telly program’s on, you’re going to be modelling that as a parent all through the day as well as stories

H: Yes

A: Yes

H: So if you’re in Sainsbury’s you could be encouraging your child to look at cereal packets etc

A: Absolutely which one, which one do we like? Ok? Which one do we like Damien?

H: So there’s reading all throughout the day?

A: Yes, reading for a purpose, reading for enjoyment, reading for fun, reading for relaxation, all those are the multi-purposes of a good book

H: And once you’ve got reading, you’re up and running with it,

A: Indeed

H: This sort of thing can be really helpful to keep your interest going and –

A: Yes, yes. And I mean the books on the e-book are levelled, so there are some that are more for 3-4 year olds, there are some that are targeted at 6-7 year olds, from the content point of view, from the language point of view, so that it actually goes through form the years 3-7 V Tech have planned that

H: Yes so that’s good, you get your money’s worth then basically

A: I would say so, I would say so. You just need to buy more cartridges so you can get more books

H: Ok Jeni well coming up in part 3 we’re going to be answering all of your questions. Stay with us

Break

H: Now we’re talking about reading for young children particularly and we’ve had lots of questions in actually, we’ve had one in from Paul – “can this device allow independent learning?”

A: Well that’s a really good question, because there are some parents who might think that a child can get over-dependent on an e-book, because more of the work is done for them, and my answer to that would be is that it’s some and some. No child will be glued to an e-book and not actually ever pick up a paper book

H: Yes

A: But what an e-book does is that it hooks you in and you’re learning without really realising it

H: Right

A: So you’re getting practice with those words and of course if you go onto the game side of the e-book, the function, you actually are getting practice sounding out words, hearing the sounds in words, so there’s phonic training that goes on with that

H: So phonics is a big word, we hear a lot of that don’t we at schools and if you just get your head round that at a young age that’s the key really isn’t it?

A: It is, well that’s the key to de-coding, the actual – actually unlocking what the symbols are saying

H: Yes and this is based on the phonics system

A: Yes

H: Which is – it’s really useful, and – how much should you be following your child’s curriculum at school with the books that you have at home? I mean should you be trying to tie-up with school a little bit?

A: Well I think it’s about exposing your children to many, many different books, many, many different types. I mean if you knew that your six year old was doing a project in history to go and get a book out on that and to look at it with him or her, that’s all to the good, but I wouldn’t get too hung up on trying to mirror what’s going on in school

H: So let school do school and you do your own thing maybe?

A: Well support school of course but you know I think it’s about getting access to a wide range of books, lots of different stories, lots of different reference books

H: Do you know reference books, it’s something that I’m only just coming into, my little girl’s 4, and she loves her little Atlas and we’ve got an encyclopaedia of animals and she just really likes those, you know and I was quite surprised actually because she’s so young but yet they just want to learn don’t they?

A: I think they want to know more about the world they inhabit

H: Yes absolutely. Ok more of your questions now. One from Jenny, another Jenny – she says “I’m worried my little boy will take after his brother and will be more interested in getting creative with his hands” – which is no bad thing actually. “Can you offer me some advice on how I can encourage him to concentrate when it comes to reading and learning generally?” This is a big thing for boys, concentration, it can be can’t it?

A: Yes it is because they’re slightly less mature I think than girls and they don’t want to sit down and do stuff

H: They’d rather be off playing football and -

A: Absolutely or on those tricycles

H: Yes

A: So I mean I – like you, I mean I agree, I think an all-rounded development is what we want. We wouldn’t want to exclude creative development but I think again I think it’s about motivating the child. The child has to want to do things to learn really successfully, so encouraging them to look at books for just as long as they want, don’t force kids because that’s a mistake, because they get turned off. So choose books with care that are going to really interest him and try to do 10 minutes a day

H: Right

A: At least

H: Ok

A: 10 minutes of quality time, and that’s where V Tech comes in too with the 10 a day challenge

H: Oh ok tell us about that

A: Ok so V Tech are launching, and this is well, well recognised as good practice, the National Literacy Trust think this is a good idea and so do all primary schools across the country, that parents spend 10 minutes of quality time sharing books with children whether it’s paper books or whether it’s e-books. All to the good

H: Ok so 10 minutes a day, we can all find that can’t we?

A: I think we can. I think we can, even with the busy lives that we all have

H: And when should we be finding that time – I mean it’s sort of tempting to leave it till right at the last minute, and try and squash it all in when everyone’s tired, but that might not be the best idea

A: Might not be the best idea for learning. As I said looking at books just before you go to bed, having a story read, that’s a different sort of reading, that’s relaxing and that’s calming the child down to get a good night’s sleep. But I would say if what we want is active learning, you’re right, I would say do that earlier in the day

H: Yes

A: But again, when the child wants to, but it can become part of your habit. That’s something we do every day

H: Yes

A: We have ten minutes with our books, you don’t have to look at your watch and it’s going to be exactly ten minutes

H: Yes

A: But that’s about the time to aim for with young children

H: Talking about sort of encouraging boys particularly to get involved with reading, how about libraries as well, because there’s so much going on at libraries –

A: Brilliant

H: And to be able to go and choose your own books as well

A: Indeed

H: Is that a good idea?

A: Indeed, and to get that habit and of course in the summer holidays lots of – lots of libraries have story reading

H: Yes

A: For children, so you can join that for a few minutes of every day, and a book read by a really talented story reader is really riveting

H: Yes. Some parents do find it a little bit embarrassing reading out loud don’t they, I know my husband did to begin with, but then he’s really into it now

A: Yes

H: Making up voices

A: I was going to say, does he do all the different voices?

H: He tries, yes. He’s very good with her actually, but you know you have to encourage parents actually as well as children don’t you to read

A: You do, and it’s like all things, the more you do it, the better it gets

H: Yes

A: So you know, yes. Fantastic

H: And when your children can read, you know when they’re on the Enid Blyton stage or the Harry Potter stage, should you still be reading to your children then?

A: Well do you know I think it really is still a fabulous activity, and many children love an adult to read to them

H: Yes

A: You know, because it takes the – it takes the load off them

H: Yes

A: So although they’ll be reading for themselves, to be reading books that they can’t quite yet manage,

H: Right

A: Supports their vocabulary,

H: That’s a good point yes

A: And, and, again, introduces them to books that they can have access to even though it’s beyond their reading ability, so you can get them into fantasy and adventure and the magic of stories

H: Yes, ok. Well Jeni thanks very much for coming in for us

A: You’re so welcome

H: Just before we go, we’ve got one final little comment from Amy Willis, she says “I find it really helpful to offer treats at the end of a reading session” – so there we are, a book and a packet of chocolate buttons, you can’t go wrong with that can you? Well look thanks for all your questions, thanks so much for getting involved, and if you’d like any more information you can go to the website which is www.vtechuk.com, happy reading and just remember spend ten minutes with your children and it will make all the difference. Thanks very much and we’ll see you next time. Bye bye.

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