GEORGE NEWS - UILTJIE Sê: Next week we will learn more about different types of reading.
Our children grow up in a much more technological world than we did. In 2020, pilot schools will introduce Grade R to 3 pupils to coding and robotics, fourth industrial revolution-ready subjects.
Technology will be playing a bigger role in education in the future.
There are some excellent programmes and apps on YouTube that children can use on tablets and smartphones to enhance and support reading activities. This electronic equipment can be used to make reading fun to children, get them interested and teach them skills.
Children can:
•Listen to stories with colourful pictures;
•Learn about colours, shapes and objects that are the same or different - at the same time extending their vocabulary;
•Listen to rhymes and songs;
•Learn the alphabet. Letters are introduced by means of colourful cartoon sketches. It teaches the alphabet by sight (what the lower case and capital letters look like) and sound (how to pronounce /speak the letters). These apps are available in English, Afrikaans and IsiXhosa;
•Play educational games and puzzles that encourage them to listen and talk;
•Play with objects and characters on the screen that teach simple words, rhyming words and other skills important for learning to read.
It is better for parents to watch or play on the phone or tablet with the child. It is important that parents control the use of phones and tablets.
Make sure they are not used:
•As a tool to keep children quiet and busy. The tablet and phone should not replace reading from books to your child. Children need to touch and feel books. By reading to your child you are interacting with them and spending valuable time with them. Questions can be asked, and you can see the level of their understanding of the story.
•For long periods on end. SMALL CHILDREN SHOULD BE LIMITED TO ONE OR TWO HOURS SCREEN TIME PER DAY. Children need to be active and play physically, as they learn through play. Tablets and smartphones take time away from other activities such as playing outdoors, "reading" or using their imagination in free play.
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