What literacy means for children

Jan Bennett, Jakarta

Our students come to us with a varied range of experiences and values. From day one we encourage our students to read and write, to speak and be active listeners, to continue to be effective communicators. Reading, writing, speaking and listening are so integrated it is sometimes difficult to refer to them in isolation.

It is important you are a positive role model to your child. Does your child observe you reading a novel or the newspaper and writing notes or messages? Parents need to find time to show that they value reading and writing. Reading teaches many things about writing and experimenting with writing helps children develop their understanding of reading.

Simple picture books are fun to share and are a special bonding time for you and your child. Try to choose books with repetition and rhymes and encourage the young reader to join in, adding actions, and predicting which words come next. Books make wonderful gifts and fill the bedroom with books, posters, pictures and mobiles of book characters. Spend time browsing in the book stores to select materials that reflect your child's interests -- fiction and non fiction.

In this highly technological age in which are living parents can model writing through msn messaging and using the email. However encourage your child to make greeting cards and invitations and to send letters and postcards to friends and family. Making lists together can be a fun, shared experience -- lists of invitees to a birthday party or clothes to take on holidays. Use a whiteboard somewhere in your home for messages and encourage all members of the household to use it. The provision of magnetic letters for the whiteboard adds another dimension to constructing language.

Use environmental print to your advantage, be it writing in shop windows, road and street signs and billboards. Talk to your child about the print that surrounds them in their daily lives but more importantly allow your child to do the talking. Oral language will develop when children are given opportunities that involve dialog using toys, books, songs, games, photographs and every day situations. Listening is a skill that requires effective modeling and teaching. We are "born to hear but we learn to listen".

Technology has added another tool for literacy and communication. Our children need to be critical thinkers at all times and especially when "bombarded" by the media and internet access. How many hours of television viewing are acceptable? Do we know what our children are viewing through the internet?

As parents we need to value and celebrate each step in the communication process -- appreciate the approximations in all components of reading, writing, speaking and listening.

Remember the importance of "mother tongue". Children need to understand the concept in their native tongue before transferring the knowledge to the second or third language.

Recently a colleague showed me his new lap top. Pak Chris put on his head phones and spoke to the laptop which responded immediately to the oral instructions. He then wrote directly on to the screen of the monitor. Pak Chris told me he rarely uses pen and paper any more and that the more he uses the program the more familiar each party is becoming with the other...like a little baby, teaching it how to listen to you and to recognize you, a form of bonding.

After reflecting for a time Pak Chris concluded he still needed all his communication skills -- reading, writing, speaking, listening and critical viewing.

The writer is Curriculum Coordinator, Kindergarten and Reception Teacher Sekolah Global Jaya.