Semantics is One of the Strategies Used to Teach Reading.

Using semantics, involves a child understanding the meaning of words and how they fit the situation they are reading about.

In order to read effectively a child needs to be able to make meaning from what they are reading. Without this they have no comprehension of the material, just the basic process of reading.

Semantics involves a child in predicting what the book might be about, predicting what might happen next, allowing them to talk about the people in the story, what they were doing, how they were feeling and being able to reflect on what the book/story was about.

When reading a book, a child will bring to it their own experiences which they use to help make meaning or decode the story.

If you or your child choose a book about dogs to read, your child would draw upon their knowledge about dogs to help them make meaning from the words and story. They will look for words they know that are related to dogs. If unsure of a word they may substitute a word with one that fits due to their knowledge of dogs.

To help your child with the semantic cues of reading, there are a number of things you can do:

• Read many books to your child

   

• Talk about the books you read with your child

   

• Children develop visual cues from looking at the cover of the book and the inside pictures - therefore before reading the book, look at the cover with your child and ask "what do you think this book is about?" Talk about the picture on the cover and what your child predicts the story to be about. Open the book and say, "Lets find out if we were right?"

   

• You can also ask a child when you turn a page to predict what the words might be about by looking at the pictures, around the words - "what do you think is happening now?"

   

• Before you turn a page, ask "what do you think will happen next?" - this gets your child to predict, thinking about what might happen in the story based on their understanding on the meaning of the story.

   

• Once you've completed reading the story, talk about the story.

  - get your child to recount or retell the story to you to see whether they have understood

  - ask them questions about the characters, their feelings, their actions etc

  - ask any questions to help develop their meaning of the story and the subject matter.

NB: Try to ask open ended questions, that is questions that require more than a one word answer.

The best help you can give your child is to read and talk about books.