Many parents want to teach their child to read in a short period of time, but do not know how to implement it. Today, they are offered a rebus method to help. Thanks to him, the kid quickly learns what it used to take more than a year in schools. And most importantly, Leo Sternberg's rebus method is based on an interesting and exciting game, so children like to do it.
Why love of reading disappears
How children love fairy tales! Each new book is waiting impatiently. Then, with a sinking heart, they touch her ... And in the evenings they listen to how some of the adults read new stories to them. And they dream of quickly learning to understand what is written in books.
But not so simple. If learning the names of letters is usually not difficult, then teaching a child to combine letters into syllables can be quite difficult. It takes a lot of strength, nerves and time.
And the kid is disappointed, angry, he can’t immediately understand how this happens, so he begins ... quietly hate reading and even the books themselves. Failures do not always encourage them, especially children. Therefore, the patience of parents is extremely important.
When learning is fun
The rebus method is very similar to a game. Almost all kids from three years old quickly understand what is required of them. Therefore, the learning process does not strain them, but turns into entertainment, where the child receives only positive emotions.
The rebus method does not load the baby's brain with information that is still difficult for him to access. What seems simple and understandable to adults seems confusing to the child.
For example, it is difficult for a baby to distinguish the first sound in a word. He believes that the “cat” does not begin with “k” (it’s good if adults do not require the correct letter - “ka”), but with “ko”. But how could it be otherwise, because when pronouncing the sponge, it immediately folds into a ring even before the back of the tongue works, clicking on the sound [k].
The rebus method is based precisely on this feature of children. And do not fight with it. Leo Sternberg advises to put it in the basis of training. Without breaking the child’s perception of sounds in words, he “follows the path” of children's perception, subordinating him to his goal.
The rules of the Rebus Method game. Step one
The task is quite simple. Children need to emphasize the first sound fusion in words. Kids can easily cope with the task, because they always do just that.
So, the leader calls the word - the children respond to him, pronouncing a combination of the first sounds.
For instance:
- chicken - [ku];
- bump - [shy];
- vase - [va];
- the rose is [ro].
Children like this game very much. So that she does not get bored, you can switch roles: let the child name the word, and the adult will say the initial sound fusion in response.
Mistakes to Avoid When Using the Rebus Method
You should not call combinations of sounds syllables, as this will be wrong. Some syllables end in a consonant sound (cancer, juice). And Sternberg’s method suggests calling only the fusion of sounds ending in a vowel: cancer - [pa]; juice - [s].
You should not ask the child to name the first two sounds - sometimes they can be three or even four: a rag - [shaking]; meeting - [meeting]. There is an option when one sound stands out: a shark - [a]. And sometimes two merge in the merger, which are indicated by a single letter in the letter: apple - [ya].
Of course, you don’t need to download the baby with all this information. Simply avoid the definition of “two initial sounds”.
And the last condition that adults should consider. Words for the game are selected those in which the first vowel sound is percussion. It’s not clear to the kid why in the word “road” the first sound fusion is [before], and not [yes], because he hears that way.
Captions for rebus-pictures
Since the method involves learning to read, that is, playing aloud written on paper (or a monitor, which is one and the same today), you should use not only oral exercises, but also work options where vision is involved. Therefore, at this stage it is better to use pictures with puzzles.
For children of 6 years, of course, it will not be difficult to make two- and three-compound words, perceiving the task by ear. But learning with the participation of visual memory will be more productive.
Therefore, in pictures that show children, it is recommended to make signatures with letters indicating the merger of sounds. Gradually, an inextricable link forms in the baby's head.
For example, the caption in the picture “ma” will firmly connect with the merged aloud fusion of sounds [ma]. A combination of the letters "l" and "y" in the brain will be perceived as a syllable sound [l'u] (an apostrophe in transcription indicates the softness of a consonant sound, but this information is given here exclusively for adults).
Step two: we read two-syllable words by rebus-pictures
Having mastered the method of highlighting the first sound fusion in words, we can proceed to the next step. The methodology of teaching reading according to Sternberg involves “reading” whole texts from pictures. Of course, starting with short two-syllable words.
You can play using cards with pictures. For each correct answer, you can give the player a colored cardboard circle - a point. If there are a lot of participants, in the end it is worth counting the number of points scored and choosing a winner. But it is necessary to reward all participants in order to have a positive impression of the game.
The presenter shows two cards with masks painted on them. The player selects the initial mergers, connects them and receives the word “mother”. Then the leader shows two cards with palm trees. The participant gives the answer - "dad."
Then you can move on to the words consisting of different syllables:
- kaska - ball - porridge;
- chicken - mask - kuma;
- shoes - a teapot - a cloud.
Step three: read puzzles from pictures and letters
If the child is familiar with the alphabet, you can make puzzles, which include not only pictures, but also letters.
At this stage, it is worthwhile to invite the child to read the words:
- mask - th - helmet - T-shirt;
- mask - p - helmet - brand;
- chicken - h - helmet - a bunch;
- stove - shoes - x - cock.
Fourth step: write the words themselves
It's time to embark on a more difficult stage. This is the compilation of words yourself from the proposed cards. The host calls the word, and the baby selects the desired pictures.
Here you can use the didactic material in the form of a lotto, where images are placed to those words that you want to “print” with pictures. First you need to determine what these words are. Then the child is given freedom: he himself selects the necessary letter merges from the proposed pictures.
If several participants play, you can set the condition: the one who first "prints" all the words on his card wins.
Step Five: Reading Three and Four Complex Words
After the facilitator makes sure that writing and reading two-syllable words is easy for children, you can take more difficult options. For instance:
- shirt - tire - pillowcase - car;
- beads - shirt - tie - paper;
- helmet - turnip - slippers - carriage;
- T-shirt - sheet - pillowcase - raspberries.
Do not neglect the composite puzzles of pictures and letters:
- hands - bank - w - helmet - shirt;
- roll - helmet - w - helmet - bug;
- rose - zebra - t - helmet - rosette.
Step six are four-compound words. Work on them is identical to that described above.
Stress in words
This is another difficulty of the Russian language. Unlike English, for example, where the stress always falls on the first syllable, or from French with the stressed end, in our case it is not tied to the position of the vowel in the word.
It’s hard for a kid to understand the phrase: “Scarecrow scarecrow raven.” It may seem to him that the noun “scarecrow” is simply mistakenly used twice. And this is not a sentence at all, but two words that are not related in meaning.
In fact, here the second word "scarecrow" has an emphasis on the vowel sound [a]. Therefore, this is not a repetition of a noun, but a verb. Then the sentence makes sense.
The same thing happens with the sentence "Machine car fell into a puddle." Here in the first word the stress falls on the first syllable. Then it becomes clear why the same word seems to be written twice.
Having set a goal to teach a child to read at home, an adult should not ignore this feature of the Russian language. Moreover, understanding the importance of the correct setting of stress will help the baby in the future.
This definition should not be pronounced yet. You can simply say that some sounds are pronounced in words stronger than others. And to make it more convenient to read, pictures, sound mergers of which are percussion, can be taken in a red circle.
Do I need to teach children to read before school
Some adults mistakenly believe that you should not try to do this ahead of time. They put forward the fact that in schools the teacher has a special technique. And when you try to teach your child to read at home, you can go the wrong way. As a result, the child will be vaccinated with the wrong skills, which will create further difficulties. Is it so? Let's figure it out.
The school curriculum is so structured that children immediately learn the names of the letters and the sounds they give. This information is already quite confusing. Not everyone quickly understands why the letter, which is called “er”, gives the sound [p], and “el” - [l].
It is difficult to overcome the barrier called “letter fusion”. It is now clear to an adult that "p" and "a" read like "pa". The kid pronounces “p” in two sounds, he gets [pe]. Consequently, the merger comes out wrong - [pea]. And why “ale” and “yu” should be read as [liu] and not [leiu] or [liu], it is difficult to understand at all.
And it’s really hard for a child to understand that some of the sounds are vowels, and some are consonants. But first-graders get this information almost in the first lesson. An untrained student, who cannot read, has nothing to do in the first grade today: he will just sit, uselessly trying to understand at least something, be angry with himself and the whole world. After such a difficult moral test, he will not want to go to classes at all. Yes, and learn to read, by the way, too ...
That is why Lev Sternberg and most teachers insist that it is possible and necessary to master reading skills long before the first lesson at school. Only this should be done correctly.
How good to be able to read!
Of course, adding words from pictures can be called a reading skill with a stretch. But gradually you can replace some cards with letter combinations. For example, often used pictures with T-shirts can no longer be used.
But first, you still need to make a card-tip. On top of it is a picture-pictogram with a signature, and then coded words in which the famous merger (in this case “ma”) is written in letters.
Then all cards with the image of a T-shirt are completely removed from the table. Instead, others get enough sleep. A combination of the letters "m" and "a" is recorded on them. The kid already knows that it reads like [ma]. You can go over the tasks already completed, but write or read words where the image of the T-shirt is replaced by a card with the inscription.
Other letter substitutions of cards are gradually being introduced. This complication should pass without acceleration, especially in cases where the child experiences noticeable difficulties in reading.
It is very important to observe the visibility of the game so that the baby is always interested in reading. This is the basic law of the rebus method. Feedback from parents after such classes is the most positive. Children start reading in record time!