What is paired reading? Why is it important?

Paired reading isn’t a fad or a fashion, it’s a proven way of accelerating your child’s reading.

Simply what happens is that you take a book (not the book your child is reading by themselves – perhaps a more advanced book but still one that appeals to children) and you share the reading.

You should both be looking at the page but one of you should read a section then the other. Looking at the page together is very important because your child has to move their eyes over the words at a different speed than they might otherwise do, they see the punctuation and hear you emphasise it vocally, they see you give emphasis to the words and so get a better idea of what the author wants to convey.

When they read you will gradually see their fluency, expression and understanding develop.

You should take the opportunity to ask the odd question (not in a way that disrupts the story) about a new word or to check understanding.

Parents who do this have always said what a valuable time it gives them with their children, it is a shared time that stays with them and is often used to talk about other things that are going on as well. It appears to really deepen relationships between parents and their children in an almost magical way.

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