Reading With Expression
Teaching a Child to Read with Proper Inflection
Teaching a child to read aloud well can be difficult. They must read smoothly, while deciphering each word, comprehend what they are reading, and look ahead to know what emotion to put into their voice while reading. Many children simply focus on sounding out the words and comprehending what they are reading while leaving inflection or expression out.
Teach Punctuation Marks
When teaching a child to read with proper expression, you must first teach them the meanings behind the punctuation marks. A common way to teach this is to explain what your voice does at each punctuation mark.
A comma means to pause while reading. Use a short easy sentence to illustrate and have the child practice. For example: “Sam, come here.”
A period means to come to a full stop. When students have trouble with this, have them stop and take a breath at each period. Many students will read through the period until they run out of air, and then stop for a breath. Instead teach them to stop at the period and then continue on.
A question mark means the speaker is asking something, so read it in a questioning voice. Have them practice this by asking a question and listening to what their voice does. Usually you will have your voice go up at the end of the question, indicating that you are asking something: “Mom, can I have a cookie please?” Then have them practice reading simple questions. Remind students that they are asking a question and to use a questioning voice when they forget.
An exclamation mark means that you should use a surprised or excited voice. Have the child practice this voice by saying something exciting: “we are going to the beach!” Then have them read a simple sentence for practice, reminding them to sound excited or surprised.
Use Non-Words to Practice
One great way to teach children how to speak with inflection is to eliminate the words, and focus completely on the punctuation marks. Although circling the punctuation marks may help remind students while reading a story, try this conversation, or make your own up when you need to focus on expression.
Mm mm mm, mm mm.
Mmmmm!
Mm.
Mm, mm mm, mm mm!
Mm mm?
Mm mm.
Mm mm mm, mm mm? Mm!
Mm mm mm? Mm, mm mm.
Mm?
Mm!
Mm, mm mm!
Mm mm?
Mm mm!
Teaching children to read with expression is important. Make sure that the children who struggle with this spend a lot of time reading, as this will enable them to feel more comfortable with the words and be able to spend more energy paying attention to the punctuation marks. This will help to increase their fluency, which will in turn improve their comprehension.
