27/06/2023
The Importance of Guided Reading
If your child has attended lessons at Bradley Tuition, you will already know the importance of developing your child’s reading skills 😃.
English and verbal reasoning account for 50% of the marks in the 11+ tests. Comprehension, vocabulary, spelling and grammar sections frequently appear in the exams. There are certain important techniques that help when working on these question styles. However, the real determining factor in how well a child performs in these sections is how well-read they are.
At this stage of their educational journey, a child reading alone is helpful and should be encouraged. However, when reading alone, a child cannot learn from the mistakes they are making. They will frequently brush over mistakes and will skip words they do not know the meaning of.
We recommend that an adult listens to each child read aloud for three 30-minute sessions per week. We recommend that you start a new book for these guided reading sessions and only read this book when reading together. During this time, the aim is to make your child understand the subtleties of the text. If they miss a pause where a comma exists, stop them, explain, and ask them to read that sentence again. If there is a character speaking that is angry, encourage them to read with an angry tone. You can also stop every now and again to discuss the emotions and motivations of each character.
The frustrating thing with guided reading is that there are no instant results. However, 30 minutes three times per week, over the course of a year, will yield incredible results. This should be the number one priority for all students preparing for the 11+.
