Does your child feel reluctant to read aloud? As a parent of children just learning to read or of teens lacking confidence, you may want to try this simple tip.

Instead of taking turns reading a new story or article together, ask your children to read a few pages first to themselves. As they read, they should keep a list of words that are unfamiliar and try to figure out their meanings. Writing something down always helps remembering it later.

Then together with you take turns reading aloud the passage, talking about the story or subject as you go. Talk about how to figure out the “hard” words using context clues. Use the lists your children create to increase their sight word vocabulary (words recognized on sight) by rereading through the list.