How to Read Aloud: Tips, Tricks, and Techniques

This is the “how to do it” part of Maureen Wittmann’s three-part series on reading aloud. The other two parts can be read here: The Joy of Reading Aloud and The Why of Reading Aloud. Also see The Ultimate Read List of Read Aloud Books. Note: Some hyperlinks in this article contain affiliate links.

THE ART OF READING ALOUD

by Maureen Wittmann

It sounds so easy: Spend ten to fifteen minutes a day reading to your children and change their lives drastically for the better. But, how do we go about it exactly? What if I’m a terrible reader? Or I’m busy with my nursing baby and toddlers underfoot? How do I pick the right books? Do audiobooks count? The answers to these questions and more …

The Basics
The first step in reading aloud to your children is to make sure you have good lighting. There’s nothing like strained eyes to ruin reading time. Good lighting may make the difference in whether or not reading is a success in your home. The experts say that you should at least have a 100-watt light (or equivalent) bulb in your reading lamp.

What Age Do I Start … Or Quit?
Start as early as you can and don’t stop when they get to be teens.

Babies are easy. Toddlers may want to grab the book. In that case, read while they eat in the high chair. Two of the greatest pleasures in life are eating and reading, right? So, why not combine the two? Give them chunky and plastic books that they can hold on to, that they can manhandle and taste with no worries about the books being destroyed.

You’ll be asked to read picture books over and over again, so make sure you choose books you like. Reading the same Barney book 5 times a day may make you little crazy.

Start with rhymes, comic books, and simple series (Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Boxcar Children). Move up from there.

Gather the Kids
Recognize that all children learn differently. I have a son who, when he was a little guy, would play LEGOs while I read. At first, I tried to put a stop to it and make him focus on me. However, I soon realized he retained the story better when his hands were busy. This is called kinesthetic learning. I have a friend with a daughter who knits during read-aloud time. If works, don't hesitate to encourage it.

Make sure you and the children are comfortable. This may mean the baby is in the high chair and the toddler is playing LEGOs. But it may also mean that children are cuddled up next to you in a big comfy chair or on the sofa.

It may also mean reading at the kitchen table during lunch. I have a girlfriend who shared the sweetest picture. It was her kitchen table after she asked her children to set the table for lunch. They all had plates and utensils at their places and at her place there was a book. It was clear what they expected from her!

If it’s naptime or bedtime, it may mean the bedroom. And, once littles are asleep you can tend to the older children’s reading needs. Or, perhaps your own reading. Find what works for your family.

Most importantly, remember that reading time is not goof-off time. It is quality, education time.

Setting the Stage
Turn off the phone, TV, and other distractions. Put away the tablet, the computer, and all electronics. And anything else that might provide a distraction.

Take good care of your voice. Have a glass of water close by. I have acid reflux, which so damaged my voice at one point that I couldn’t read aloud to my children for several months. Take good care of yourself.

When you sit down to read, make sure to start with the author’s name and the illustrator’s name if applicable. This little exercise will help you and your children discern good and bad authors over time.

Stop as you read and ask open-ended questions.

Was that character’s action good or evil?
What do you think will happen next?
Why did he do that?
Has anything like that happened to you before?

In the same vein, allow questions from your children. Stop and answer.

How to Read Aloud
Now, what about the HOW? Let's talk about technique and how to go from mundane to animated. Again, your child will likely enjoy Read Aloud Time, no matter your skill level. However, why not step up your game. Homeschool Bonus Points if you teach these skills to your children and get them reading aloud to you!

Start by using expressive language. When my older children were little children, we used to visit our local bookstore for “story hour” each week. The young man who read to the children was full of life. He didn’t just read, he brought the stories to life. He used voices, he waved his hands, he danced, he sang, he made faces. It was so FUN!

The bookstore storyteller inspired me to step outside of my comfort zone. I know it feels silly to act out stories like that, but your children will love it! They’ll love silly.

Have fun with voices. Imagine how a character sounds and give it a try. For example, I imagine Cinderella with a high-pitched, sweet, loving voice and the evil witch would have a scratchy, low, evil voice. Don't be afraid to try different voices. If you blow it, you and the kids will have a great laugh. Either way, it's all about the fun of trying.

Don’t worry about mistakes. Your children don’t care if you’re the most mundane reader in the world. They love being with you and cuddling with you. But why not make it fun?! Plus you’ll get better as time goes on. In due time, you’ll get into a natural rhythm.

Find poetry to read. Poetry is best read aloud, not read silently. It is like verbal music to children's ears. Start with nursery rhymes when they’re little and move to Robert Lewis Stevenson when they’re bigger. And when they’re really big, read Southwell and Chesterton.

Look for onomatopoeia words. These are words that sound like their meaning. A few obvious ones are: Roar, Meow, Chirp, Hiccup, Burp, Beep, Bang, Moo, Cuckoo. You see them a lot in comic books (think Batman): Wham! Pow! Bam!

Read words to accentuate their meaning:

That was a Loooong road.
The firecrackers were LOUD.
She was quiet as a mouse

As you read, accentuate the verbs (action words). For example:

He RAN up the stairs.
She JUMPED the fence.
He HOPPED into the rail car.

Make sure to check your pace as you read. This sets the tone for your story. It can create calm or excitement. Laura and Mary roaming in the wildflowers requires a slow pace. The Hardy Boys chasing criminals requires a fast pace.

Use pauses to bring home a point. Stop and take a breath when something significant has happened in the story, as to ponder the event. And, repeat important sentences. If it’s the heart of the story, if the line needs to be sold, say it again. Say it again.

Use a soft voice to grab their attention. If you start to lose their attention or just want to change things up, soften your voice. As the saying goes, “If you want someone’s attention, whisper.”

Articulate all the way to the period. Too often, we swallow our sentences. Don't mumble and don't hurry through a sentence. Take your time. Oftentimes, the meat of the sentence is at the end.

If time is running short, instead of hurrying through the story, stop and put the book aside. You can pick it up again the next day. Better to create some excitement and have something to look forward to the next day, than to rush through it.

Some books are made to be read aloud ... some are not. As I read Narnia the first time, I imagined C. S. Lewis reading aloud as he typed. It flowed easily off my tongue and was a joy to read. A Connecticut Yankee in King’s Arthur’s Court was the opposite experience. The Olde English was difficult for me to read. It was difficult for the children to understand. We could only get through two or three pages at each sitting. It was so painful, I finally put A Connecticut Yankee down and told the children that this was one they could read on their own when they got older.

Audio Books
Think Car Schooling. If you are the typical homeschooler, it is likely you are continually driving and to and from events. Listen to audiobooks as you drive. Once, on vacation, my family ran out of gas in the middle of nowhere in Canada. We were so engrossed in Little House On the Prairie that we forgot to stop and get gas! So, make sure your tank is full before you set off on an adventure.

Audiobooks can also help out Mom. When I struggled with the pronunciation of the characters in the d’Aulaire’s Greek Myths, I found a great audio of it at the library. Maybe your voice just needs a break or you're under the weather. It's okay to take advantage of technology now and then.

I've had parents ask if audiobooks are "cheating." No, there is nothing wrong with giving audiobooks to your children. In fact, I have a couple of sons who are more listeners than readers. They will listen to books on tape all day long but are not nearly as thrilled to read the written page. One of those sons is now a grown man. He listens to books each day during his long drive to work. So, don't discount audiobooks.

I am a huge Audible fan. I save books to my phone and then plug my phone into the car radio. You can also find free audiobooks at your public library.

*Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com Inc. or its affiliates.

Teen Readers
As I've said all through this three-part series, do not stop reading aloud once your children learn to read themselves. And, especially don't stop once they get to be teenagers. However, that doesn't mean you can't pass the baton to them.

You can have older children read to littles while you make lunch. They can take turns with you reading aloud when a story is particularly exciting and no one wants to stop.

You can flip things upside down now and then by letting your little children read picture books to you just for fun.

Finally, think about volunteer opportunities. Whether you visit a retirement home or a children's hospital, everyone loves a good story. Read aloud outside your family too.

Conclusion
Story is important. Sharing stories with your children is important. I hope that I’ve not only inspired you to read to your children, young and old, but also shared a tip or two to help enhance the experience.

Finally, I encourage you to turn off the TV, turn on life, and open a book!

Addendum:
A few reading lists to get you started on choosing books:
48 Picture Books for the Well-Rounded Catholic Child
Read Alouds for 6- to 12-Year-Old Boys
Read Alouds for 8- to 10-Year-Old Girls
100+ Books for the Well-Rounded Teen
And, for the ultimate list ... Read Alouds for the Whole Family.

The Educational Benefits of Reading Aloud

How Fifteen Minutes a Day Can Change Your Child's Life ... For the Better

The Why of Reading Aloud
By Maureen Wittmann

This is the second of a three-part series. Part One: The Joy of Reading Aloud. Part Three: The Art of Reading Aloud. 

I’ve taught literature for local homeschool co-ops for more than a decade now. During this time I’ve witnessed, up close, an extraordinary number of families who value read-aloud time in their homes. Recently, when my students read the Sherlock Holmes books, one 17-year-old boy asked if it was okay that his mom was reading the books aloud to the family instead of him reading silently to himself.

“Yes!” I told him, “Not only is it okay, it is encouraged.” I then asked him if he, as the oldest child in his family, helped with the reading. I was thrilled to hear he regularly helps his parents by reading aloud to the younger children.

Research shows that homeschoolers score far above their public school peers on standardized tests. Analysts believe there are many reasons for this phenomenon. I believe one reason is that homeschool parents and children are reading together more than the average American family. It’s a lesson for all parents that is easily imitated, no matter where our children get their academics.

Raising a Reader

Research has also shown that reading aloud is the single most important factor in raising a reader. Not whether you have a Ph.D. or a high school diploma. It’s whether or not you’re reading aloud to your children. It’s caught, not taught.

I’m not talking about just about how to read, but raising a child who wants to read. Filling your child with a love for the written word and the desire to open a book.

Children need to find joy in their lessons. Phonics is hard for some children. When children see the purpose of their phonics lessons is to be able to read their own books, they become more engaged in learning.

Some children learn to read simply by sitting in the lap of their parent and looking at the words as they are read. I have a couple of children like that. I sat down to teach them how to read and they already knew.

However, it was a different story for my dyslexic child. He did not begin to take off in reading until he was 10 years old. Today, as a 26-year-old man, he loves to read even though it takes him significantly longer to read than the average person.

I believe his love for the written word goes back to the days when he couldn’t read himself because of his dyslexia. I read everything aloud to him. Everything. We cuddled on the couch and worked on school lessons together. When you’re a little child, it is comforting to be able to cuddle with your mom and have her full attention.

If reading is pleasurable, children will read without a fight. After all, it is human nature to be drawn to what is pleasurable.

Writing and Grammar

Writing and grammar lessons will be easier with a solid foundation of read aloud time. If you’re reading good literature, then you will more likely write good literature.

My dyslexic son is an excellent writer. I remember asking him once, when he was 14, “Christian, how did you get to be such a good writer?” He answered, “Because you give me books like Lord of the Rings and Narnia.” He knew.

Speech and writing are basically copycat activities. We imitate what we see and hear. It goes in through our ears and eyes and comes out our mouths as well as our keyboards.

My second child had severe speech impediments. It was a hereditary problem and at 5 years old she was difficult to understand. When Mary first saw a speech therapist, I was told many children with speech problems have them for no other reason than they don’t have a significant amount of verbal communication with adults in the home.

The therapist also shared that speech problems were on the rise and studies showed children with two working parents were twice as likely to develop speech problems than those with a stay-at-home mother. More recent studies show speech problems continuing to rise todaydue to the increased number of children spending time in front of screens instead of interacting with others.

Vocabulary and Comprehension

When my young daughter tested off the charts for vocabulary, the specialist told me, “You may struggle to understand Mary’s speech, but boy can she understand you!” She asked if I read aloud to Mary on a daily basis, knowing full well my answer would be yes. The specialist told me that she never saw children with good vocabulary who weren’t read to by their parents.

A year later, Mary tested in the 99th percentile for reading comprehension. Again, the specialist was excited about the results. She told me it was because of our daily lessons where I read to Mary and had her retell the story. This exercise took fifteen minutes a day. In kindergarten, we read from the children’s Bible. In first grade, it was saints’ stories. Fifteen minutes a day made all the difference in the world.

An important thing for us to consider is that listening comprehension comes before reading comprehension. Children understand the verbal before they understand the written. In Jim Trelease’s book, The Read Aloud Handbook, he uses this example – the word “enormous.” If a child has never heard the word enormous, he’ll never say the word. If he’s never heard it or said it, imagine his displeasure when he attempts to read it. Imagine the frustration of encountering it for the first time on the written page.

During read aloud time, if a child hasn’t heard a word before, he’ll often figure out its meaning through the context of the story. If the story reads, “The giant was so enormous that he towered over the houses in the village,” it is easy to figure out the meaning of “enormous.”

If he can’t figure out the meaning of a word as you read, make sure he is comfortable in stopping you and asking for a definition. Keep a dictionary close to you for such instances.

Expanding Attention Spans

Reading aloud also helps children and their ability to concentrate for long periods of time. Our current society conditions children to have short attention spans: 1-minute YouTube videos; TV commercials; Facebook memes; Twitter’s 140-character limit; and Snap Chat. Sitting down with Mom or Dad to read from the time when children are little will help grow their attention span. It will help them read for long periods of time on their own when they need to. It is, wonderfully, unforced learning.

When to Begin and End

You can never start reading aloud too early with children. I suggest beginning at the same time you begin talking to your child. All you need is a library card and the willingness to do it.

Conversely, children are never too old to be read to. Most parents stop reading aloud once children learn to read on their own. Please, don’t be one of those parents. The research shows that children who are read to through the adolescence years do significantly better in vocabulary and comprehension.

Again, listening comprehension comes before reading comprehension. For example, a child who soaks up The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe read aloud, may only be able to read simple sentences such as “the cat in the hat” to herself. If you stop reading aloud as soon as a child begins to read herself, you’ll both miss out on many great stories.

The Importance of Fathers

It makes a big difference if Dad is reading and not just Mom. Studies show that boys with fathers who read to them score significantly higher on standardized tests. Second are boys whose fathers read recreationally. Boys need to know that reading is not an activity only for girls, and that can happen if Mom is the only one reading.

Dads, make sure your children see you reading books, magazines, and newspapers. Make sure they hear you talking about what you’re reading. Emotions are contagious – if they see you’re excited about reading then they’ll be more likely to get excited about reading themselves. Make sure you’re making time to read aloud to your children. Make it a habit.

Dads are busy, but all I’m suggesting is fifteen minutes a day. You can make an incredible difference in your child’s life with only few extra minutes.

Conclusion

In my opinion, reading aloud is more important than worksheets, homework, flash cards, book reports, and the rest. Those things may have their place, but for them to work at their best potential you need to first build a solid foundation with good books.

The Joy of Reading Aloud

This article originally appeared at Catholic Mom on October 12, 2015.

This is the first of a three-part series by Maureen Wittmann. You can find the other two articles here: The Art of Reading Aloud (how to do it) and The Why of Reading Aloud (the educational benefits).

“My papa is dead!” she kept whispering to herself. “My papa is dead!”

As I read these lines from A Little Princess, my six-year-old daughter Mary and I cried. Our hearts poured out for the Little Princess. In sharing the deep emotions of the story’s heroine, Sara Crewe, my daughter and I grew closer.

That 6-year old child is now a 23-year-old wife and mother. I believe our read-aloud time throughout her childhood helped to shape Mary into the woman she is today. A woman any mother would be proud to call daughter.

Reading books aloud to children for enjoyment creates bonds that will never be broken. By sharing common adventures through stories we come together as a family. I believe children will share their thoughts, their feelings, more naturally if they are accustomed to reading aloud with their parents.

Think about little 6-year-old Mary and me crying together, cuddled on the couch, sharing emotions. As a child grows into adolescence and later into adulthood, it’s important for that child to share her emotions with her parents. It’s important that children are comfortable going to their mom or dad when they are in trouble or when they are feeling strong emotions – fear, sadness, and, yes, joy as well.

When my daughter went through the bumps and hurdles of growing up, I wanted her to be comfortable coming to me to talk about them. This would give me the opportunity to help her and guide her. Just as we cried together when little Sarah Crewe’s papa died, we cried together when real life tragedies entered into our real life. We also laughed together and shared many special, happy moments together.

For more than a decade now, I’ve led middle school and high school book clubs. I’ve also taught high school literature for our local homeschool co-op. Last spring the son of a dear friend sat in on my literature class to see if it’s something he wanted to join the following year.

When I asked what kind of fiction he enjoyed, he let me and the class know that he doesn’t like fiction because “fiction isn’t real.” Aghast, I asked my students if they agreed fiction is not real. The room lit up and everyone was talking at once.

One boy explained, “Fiction is real because it shares real emotion. Sure, when I read Ender’s Game I was aware it’s unlikely the Earth will be attacked by giant alien bugs anytime soon. But there were real problems, and real emotions, and real heroes.”

Another student pointed out that “Maybe bad fiction is fake, but good fiction is real. It’s real because it possesses natural law. It’s real because it reflects the One, True story.”

Yet another student stated, “Good fiction reflects society. Look at Fahrenheit 451 and other dystopias. The first thing fascist governments do is ban fiction and only allow nonfiction. Why is that? I think it’s because fiction is more real than nonfiction. Nonfiction doesn’t stir real emotions.”

That prompted another student to bring up Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which stirred a nation to rise up against slavery. It was a fictional book that brought the horrors of slavery to the forefront of a nation’s brain.

Those students were making real bonds through reading literature. One of the things I love about leading homeschooled students in literature clubs and classes is that most of them come with a deep love for the written word. I believe this is because most of them have been raised on a healthy diet of read-aloud time.

The bonds created through read aloud time are not only for children. My mom, who passed away last year, loved to be read to. In her later years, suffering from failing health, she would ask me to read to her. It was a very special time together. And you know what she wanted me to read to her? Nancy Drew!

I know more than one married couple, including my oldest son and his wife, and another couple with 4 children, who read aloud to one another. I can’t imagine many things that are more romantic. You’re never to old to read to one another.

One of the wonderful things about reading aloud to your child is that you are also, in essence, reading aloud to your future grandchildren, great grandchildren, and so on. Remember my daughter Mary? She is a mother of a beautiful 2-year-old son. She has read to him from Day One. When Richie comes to visit, he goes to the picture books, on his own, and picks out a selection. He’ll then climb onto the easy chair waiting to be read to. Since his sister was born 5 months ago he can be found with a book in hand, reading to her.

Not only does reading aloud improve your children’s lives but also future generations. They know intuitively that they should read to their children. You’re passing the torch.

You can also help your child grow spiritually through reading aloud. It gives you the opportunity to discuss moral dilemmas presented in the story and to ask your children open-ended questions about the characters and their actions. This opens up the lines of communication between parent and child.

Jesus taught us through story, through parables, 46 parables in fact. Jesus used images and characters taken from everyday life to illustrate his message to us. His stories appeal to young and old, poor and rich, educated and uneducated alike. They move our hearts.

Just as my literature students shared, good stories stir our hearts. They create emotions that move us to action. They reflect the Good, the True, and the Beautiful. Jesus didn’t just tell us, “Be kind to others”, he told us the parable of the Good Samaritan. He didn’t just tell us, “Share the Good News”, he told us the parable of the Lamp Under the Basket. He didn’t just tell us, “If you lose faith, I’ll still watch over you and I’ll rejoice when you find it again”, he told us the parable of the Lost Sheep.

I encourage you, if you don’t already, make read-aloud time a regular event in your home.