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Monthly Archives: June 2018

5 Ways You Can Encourage Your Child to Read

Encouraging Your Child to Read

1. English Reading Skills

Reading is a vital skill for children to learn as they’re going to need it in their everyday life. Even if they’re not reading books, your child will have to read instructions on the board at school and on test papers. Not being able to read can often make children feel isolated from peers and create low self-esteem. However, if you keep encouraging your children to read, it can expand their imagination as well as their vocabulary and grammar – as well as improve their spelling. Books are a great way to do this as they provide engaging stories and expose children to different sentence types and vocabulary that they can use in their own writing.

2. How to encourage reluctant students

Some students are reluctant to read as they find it boring and difficult. To help combat this issue it is often helpful to start reading books with interesting covers, with pictures that are about stories they recognise or that friends are already reading.

For example, a book many children want to read is the Harry Potter series. This is because it is a well-known story that many other children they know have read, as well as having movies that children have often already seen. These types of books are then more accessible to children.

3. What if that doesn’t work?

If books like this still don’t gain your child’s interest, it can often help to choose a book to read together. You can then take turns reading a paragraph each or each reading a different character’s part. This is something I do when my students are reluctant to read as it makes them feel like they are reading less and makes the activity more engaging.

Here’s a more recent blog post about how to improve a child’s concentration. Click Here.

4. Understanding what they’ve read

Understanding what they have read is an important skill that children will need, especially when they begin taking exams. To make sure your child has understood what they’ve read it can be a good idea to ask them questions after they have read each chapter – this can be done straight after they’ve read it or a little while afterwards. The more they remember over a period of time the more you know that they have understood what they’re reading.

Another relevant blog about the importance of reading skills! Click Here.

5. Progress over time

At StudyBox students are often encouraged to complete comprehensions during the lesson – something they will have to do in their SATs in year 2 and 6. The students who read at home often find the comprehensions easier to complete. This increases the child’s confidence in their own abilities as they know that this is a task that they can complete well.

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Annabel Yates,
English Tutor at StudyBox

Understanding the new GCSEs:

Understanding the new GCSEs: What you need to know

What exactly are the new GCSEs?

We’ve all heard about or are experiencing first hand the recent reforms to the education system, starting with the way in which 16-year-olds are tested at the end of year 11.

Teens are being challenged like never before, so it is important to know how the new GCSEs work, to understand what students are experiencing this summer.

Why did the government change them?

The government wanted to make these changes so that the new GCSEs would be more ‘demanding and challenging’ for students. The new, two-year course aligns more with the essay based, analytical and evaluative skills needed at A-level. This is better preparing students for their future.

It also makes tests ‘fairer’, the government argues, through the limited coursework, there is across the curriculum. Previously, coursework has been varied and dependent on the school’s teaching methods. This way, everyone has the same chance at the end of two years to show their skills off in an exam.

Why did the grading system change?

The government changed the grading system to give more opportunity for students of all abilities to achieve higher. Students may now achieve a standard or a strong pass, allowing those who achieved a grade C under the old system to be rewarded a higher grade. Similarly, higher achieving students can now strive further for something higher than an A*, so a level 9 was created.

What’s changed?

Firstly, grades are different. Instead of A*-U grades, they have been replaced with 9-1, where nine is the highest grade achievable. A grade 9 will be harder to achieve than an A* and, now, both a grade 4 and 5 is viewed as a pass. A 4 will be a standard pass and a 5 will be a strong pass. Pupils will need to re-take English Language and Maths exams in the next years if they don’t achieve a 4 or above.

Coursework is also different too. Only in subjects where it is crucial to show skill, such as drama and dance. This makes the final exam at the end of the two-year course more important than ever.

Other changes will include compulsory double or triple science (foundation or higher), a single science will no longer be available.

What to expect?

One thing to remember in the face of the new GCSEs is that we are all in this together. This is new to every parent; student and teacher so don’t panic!

Prepare for an exam in whichever way is best for you; be it flashcards, posters, past papers or any other way that makes you comfortable. Little and often is always good when revising, and be sure to take necessary breaks.

Remember, you have a great long summer ahead of you, which will make the work you put in now all the more worthwhile!

You can read more about this topic on the AQA website. Click Here.

Harriet Nokes,
GCSE Tutor at StudyBox

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