Why?
When my son was a toddler, we didn’t start learning the alphabet yet. I knew that a lot of parents started teaching their children as early as possible, but I didn’t have any interest in doing that. I was of the mindset ‘to let kids be kids and not rush academics.’ I knew there would be plenty of time in the future for that, so I decided for the time being I would just let my son learn through play. And actually, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. But…
Reading Does Not Come Naturally
It wasn’t until I read somewhere (unfortunately I can’t remember where) about how reading is not a skill that our children naturally learn. For example, children naturally learn to crawl, walk, talk, and even do math! But reading—no, it does not come naturally. I guess that’s why there are a great number of illiterate adults. In the United States, 21% of adults are illiterate (in 2022) and 54% have a literacy below sixth-grade level. In 2013, 66% of children in fourth grade could not read at their level (NCES).
One of the Greatest Skills
It wasn’t until I started thinking about it this way, how it doesn’t come naturally, that I got motivated to teach my son. A child could very well start kindergarten without any prior phonics knowledge and learn to read just fine. But, it’s also possible that they may have a difficult time. Once a child is behind in reading, it’s not easy to catch up. Even if you’re sending your child to school, I truly believe one of the greatest skills you can teach your child is the skill of reading. Imagine how amazing they would feel entering kindergarten with the ability to read? And if you can teach your child to read, trust me, you can teach them anything! Your child’s confidence will sky rocket, and so will yours!
How?
Now that I’ve explained why I decided to teach my son before he was of school age, let’s get into the how.
Step 1: Phonics
Phonics is a fancy term for the letter sound. Teaching your child the letter names is great, but it doesn’t actually help them read. If you think about it, many of the letter names are completely different from their sound (in English, at least). If you’ve already taught your child the letter names, no problem! Just teach them the sounds that match with the letters. If you haven’t taught the names yet, that’s even better! Focus on the sounds with your child. Pick 2-3 letters at a time to focus on and keep practicing those until your child masters them (until he can say the sound immediately upon seeing the letter). As he masters the sounds, add in more and practice all of them every day. Start with sounds that are easiest for your child to pronounce and save the challenging ones for later on.
Flashcards
Flashcards will be your best friend during this stage of learning. The flashcards you choose are extremely important and can make or break this stage of learning. I was not able to find any flashcards that met the criteria I needed, so I made my own! Most of the flashcards you’ll find will have the picture on the same side as the letter, which is not what you want. Your child will memorize the letter sound by the picture and not by the actual letter symbol.
Also, many letters of the English alphabet have multiple sounds, but they each have a default sound. You want to teach your child the default sound first, so ideally you need flashcards with a picture that starts with the default sound.
Lastly, when your child is learning what the letters look like, it’s best if the letter features are very obvious so it’s easy for them to recognize. For example, uppercase ‘Ii’ should have the horizontal lines on the top and bottom so it’s not confused with lowercase ‘Ll.’
Eventually, of course, your child will learn to recognize each letter in every form. But when learning as a beginner, you want it to be very apparent what letter it is. Besides these, there are a few more criteria you want your flashcards to have, but the ones we offer check all of the boxes if you are in need of a set!
Try your best to make learning the letter sounds with the flashcards fun! Put them on the floor and say a letter sound and tell your child to jump on the letter. Have your child scream the letter sound as loud as they can when you show them the flashcard. Do a ‘scavenger hunt’ where they need to find the flashcard for the sound you called out. If your child has little animal toys (or any toys), have them place the toy on the letter that it begins with. You get the idea—fun, excitement, energetic!
Step 2: Oral Blending
Blending is a skill that will take your child a little while to learn, and that’s expected and 100% normal! Blending is the ability to put letter sounds together to form a new sound. Before trying to get your child to read a two letter word that is written, practice blending two letters orally. For example, if your child has already mastered the sounds ‘Aa’ and ‘Tt,’ you could say: “Hey, if we have an ‘Aa (sound)’ first and then a ‘Tt (sound)’ what would that sound like?” And then help your child to blend it: “It would sound like “aaaaaaaaaatttttt, right?!” Really emphasize and stretch the sounds. Start doing this daily with your child using sounds they have learned and soon enough, they’ll be doing it on their own!
Step 3: Written Blending
All you need for this is a whiteboard and marker! Actually, you don’t even need that. A pen and paper is just fine as well. Once your child is able to orally blend, you can start practicing written blending (blending sounds they see written down). If we’re using ‘Aa’ and ‘Tt’ as an example again, you would just write down the letters on the whiteboard and help your child blend them the exact same way you did orally. Similarly, you can do this with any letters that they know. They don’t even have to be real words! For example, “op.” “Op” is not a real word, but it will still help your child learn the skill of blending.
Learning the letter sounds is purely memorization, but blending is not. Blending is a skill that will get your child reading, and not just English! If you plan on teaching your child to read Arabic, this skill will transfer right over and make it that much easier for your child to learn, insha’Allah!
Step 4: Master All of the Letter Sounds and Blending!
Slowly chip away at the 26 letters of the alphabet and practice blending along the way. Once your child has mastered blending two letters, start doing three, and so on. When practicing blending three letters, stick with CVC (consonant vowel consonant) words. For example, words like ‘cat.’ These are the easiest words for your child to start learning to read with. You can also find so many options for flashcards to practice with!
Patience and Du’a
As I mentioned earlier, reading does not come naturally and it will take a lot of work from you and your child. But, subhanAllah, it’s so rewarding to teach and watch your child’s face light up when they’re able to start reading. It’s a marathon, not a race. You just need ten minutes a day and you will see so much progress. Don’t forget to make du’a for Allah to bless this journey with your child and to make it easy for both of you. And if you’re feeling scared or overwhelmed, remember that you, whether you’re a mother or a father, are your child’s best teacher.
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Jazakum Allahu khayr.
