Reading · Kindergarten to Grade 7–8
Name it
Your child names the things from their storybooks in your family's language, with someone who speaks it.
A helper says a word in the family language and your child finds its picture; older children read the word that names the picture. The device never speaks the family language: the helper does.
- Kindergarten to Grade 7–8
- 5 min
- Nothing to prepare
- On the screen
Free to sign up.
Is it a good fit?
- Ready if Your child has finished a story in the language, read with you.
- Too much today? The K level: listen, and find one of three pictures.
- Too easy? The Grade 7–8 level: four words, all things of the same kind.
What your child practises
- Listening to a home language
- Matching a word to its picture
- Reading in a second script
“Chaton is kitten!”
If your child says something like this, in their own words, the idea has landed. Finishing the rounds means they took part; this is the learning.
Your part
- Sit with your child and say the words
- Say them again when asked
- At the end, say each word once more together
Take it off the screen (optional)
Name three things in the kitchen in the family language at dinner.
More like this
The full design
What it is
The things from your child's storybooks, named in a language your family reads stories in: the kitten is chaton, the bed is سَرِير. A helper who speaks the language sits with your child. The helper says the words; your child finds the picture they name, or, when older, reads the word that names the picture. The language is one your child has already finished a story in, so the words are the ones from that story.
How it goes
Four words a play, drawn by the day from the cards that have a word in the language, never the same card twice in a day, one card per word. A right answer stays up with both names under it, the family language's and English, and the next word comes. A wrong one wiggles and stays where it was. There is no clock: the helper sets the pace.
The Pet
Notices a right answer, in English: "Yes, that's the kitten!" Asks, after a wrong one: "Ask your helper to say it again", then glows the right picture (or word) and, at the third step, tries it with your child. Remembers the book: "the kitten from the sock book". Dares the next rung up, once.
By band
K: listen. A word in the family language is shown at the top for the helper to say aloud, and your child taps the one of three pictures it names. 1–2: listen, with four pictures. 3–4: read. One picture, and three words in the family language under it; your child picks the one that names it, and the helper reads them aloud when asked. 5–6: read, with four words. 7–8: read, four words, the others things of the same kind (animals with animals, objects with objects), so the first letter is not enough. Pre-K plays Memory pairs.
What it grows
Children learn a heritage language from the people who speak it with them, and they learn a new word faster when it names something they already know well. A thing from a favourite story is such a word.
Done, and what counts as evidence
Done = every word of the play answered. Wrong taps are not kept or shown. Each right answer shows both names under its picture, the family language's and English, for the helper and your child to say together; the end card names the language and asks for one word at dinner.
What's personal
The words are from your child's own stories, in the language your family chose to read them in, said by someone your child knows.