Join us for a 90 minute workshop to demonstrate how family-friendly board games can develop children’s reading comprehension. This interactive session is suitable for all ages, from primary school upwards, with the games suitable for ages 8 and up. Dr Paula Clarke and Dr Peter Hart from the School of Education at the University of Leeds will explain a little behind the theory of comprehension, why we have chosen particular games to develop reading skills, and some tips for how you can get the best out of them, before jumping straight in to see them work in practice.
While many children are able to use phonics to read complex words, we find that their understanding of the text can lag behind their ability to decode the words on the page. That’s partly because not all children have access to the same vocabulary, which is usually related to their knowledge of the world. It can also be because inferring hidden or obscure meaning from text can be a difficult skill to master that takes practise. However, we believe playing games can be a way for children to share their collective knowledge of vocabulary, and they can provide an intense way of engaging with hidden meanings without requiring much reading.
Dr Paula Clarke and Dr Peter Hart
This interactive workshop is ideal for children, parents, teachers, and teaching assistants who are interested in how we can use games at home or in the classroom to promote vocabulary and inferencing skills.