Narrative Skill is the ability to tell or retell a story. This skill helps children understand what they read. But building a foundation for Narrative Skills begin long before your child is ready to read. Even as an infant, your child responds to your prompts with her own attempts at language. Listening to conversation and the stories you read to and tell her helps your child learn language skills. 

Start by reading and telling your child stories. This helps with vocabulary acquisition. It also helps your child understand the flow of a story: what happens first, next and last. Use any excuse to talk to your child. Tell her the steps you take to make her breakfast or what you are going to do on your errands when you go out. Your child is never too young to benefit from hearing you talk. Tell her stories about when you were a child. 

Engaging your child in conversation (dialogue) is a great way to support the development of Narrative Skills. As your child acquires language skills of her own, encourage her to respond to your questions. Try to avoid questions that can be answered with a simple “yes” or “no.” In the beginning, it is okay to answer the question yourself. You are modeling the format. By age three, children should be able to answer simple questions on their own. Give them plenty of time. It takes a while for the young brain to process and deliver an answer. 

As your child grows in skill and confidence, challenge her by asking her to tell you a story. Perhaps just a simple story of what she did to get ready for bed or about what she ate for dinner. When you share a book that is familiar to her, ask her to “read” it to you. Encourage her to tell the story in her own words. Don’t worry if the story she tells is not accurate to the book. She is using her language and her imagination to create a new story. 

Talk with your child, not just at her. Repeat what she says and extend the conversation with additional information. “Yes, that is a truck. It is a blue pickup truck with a snowplow blade on it.” This stretches your child’s vocabulary and models more sophisticated language patterns. Encourage your child to tell you about the pictures she draws or the objects she builds with blocks. Offer to write the story down. Say the words out loud as you write them to make the connection between speaking and writing. You can even make the story into a simple book that your child can then “read” to other members of the family. If your child likes to make up her own stories, take time to listen to them. Ask questions about the story, rewarding her effort with your time, attention and hugs. 

These concepts work in any language. If English is not your first or most comfortable language, speak to your child in the language you are most fluent in. Don’t worry that your child is not learning English. If she has a strong foundation in language skills in any language, these skills will transfer to English when she goes to school.

Phonological Awareness is the ability to hear and play with the smaller sounds in words. When you think of the different sounds (or phonemes) in words, think beginning sounds, ending sounds, syllables and everything in between. Young children are much better at hearing these different sounds than adults are. Their brains are still building the synapses they will need for language development. By the time children reach age three, their brains are twice as active as those of adults. This is why they can handle learning multiple languages at an early age. This is why early literacy activities are so important.

Children with well-developed phonological awareness skills have an easier time learning to read. According to studies, the most common reason that children have difficulty with reading is because they have trouble with phonological awareness. Early experiences have a decisive impact on the architecture of the brain and on the nature and extent of adult capacities.

How can you help develop phonological awareness in your child?

• Starting at birth, say rhymes with your child. Remember all those Mother Goose Rhymes you learned as a child? They are wonderful language builders with their rhymes and rhythms. We invite you to bring your child to Baby Storytime at the library where we can teach you the rhymes and show you how much fun they can be.
• Read to your child. Even though your child may be too young to understand the content of what you are reading, he will hear the sounds and the rhythm of what you are saying. Reading aloud to your child (even the newspaper or your own novel) gives him the opportunity to hear what language sounds like. And you are being a good role model by showing him that reading is a worthwhile activity.
• Sing to your child as much as possible. It doesn’t matter if you can’t carry a tune. What matters is that when you sing, each syllable gets its own note so it makes it easier for him to hear the different sounds and parts of each word. Music is a wonderful teacher. Sing, dance and listen to music with your child as often as you can.
• As you are introducing letters and their sounds, help your child hear the beginning sounds of words. When he is comfortable with the letter sounds, play games with adding and subtracting the beginning sounds of words. Ask your child what word he would have if he put the “buh” sound at the beginning of the “at” sound. Help him sound it out. Keep the “at” sound and try different beginning sounds, like “kuh” (cat) and “mmm” (mat) and “huh” (hat). Later try the same thing in reverse, subtracting the beginning sound from the word. What sound would be left if you took the “duh” sound from the word dog?
• When you are selecting books to read with your child, make sure you include ones that rhyme. Rhyming is an important component of phonological awareness. Explain rhyming to your child and play games with rhyming words. For example, say two words to your child (ie: cat, dog) and ask if they rhyme. Then tell your child words that do rhyme with cat (hat, mat) and dog (log, frog). As your child gets better at this, give him a word and ask him to tell you a word that rhymes with it.
• Play with word chunks. Ask what you would have if you put the sounds “cup” and “cake” together. Or what word would you have if you took the “dog” away from the word “hotdog.”
• Work with your child in the language you are most comfortable with. The concepts here cross the language barrier. Exposure to multiple languages only strengthens your child’s phonological awareness.

You are your child’s first teacher. Children learn best by doing things and they love doing things with you. Take every chance you can to read with your child, talk about the stories, sing songs and play word games. But remember to keep learning fun for both of you. Children learn best when they are happy and not stressed.