Literacy development is vital for children’s overall development. So, it is not surprising that September 8th every year has been set aside as the day the world celebrates International Literacy Day (ILD). On ILD, we are reminded of the importance of literacy as a matter of dignity and human rights while raising awareness and concerns for global literacy problems and advancing the literacy agenda towards a more literate and sustainable society.

How it all started

The idea for an ILD was birthed at the “World Conference of Ministers of Education on the Eradication of Illiteracy” held in Tehran, Iran in 1965. In 1966, UNESCO declared September 8 as International Literacy Day ‘to remind the international community of the importance of literacy for individuals, communities and societies, and the need for intensified efforts towards more literate societies’. Since 1967, ILD has been celebrated on annually on September 8th. 

Literacy teaching and learning in the COVID-19 crisis and beyond

The theme for the 2020 International Literacy Day is ‘Literacy teaching and learning in the COVID-19 crisis and beyond’. The theme highlights the role of  educators and changing pedagogies and draws attention to literacy learning as a lifelong learning activity. This year, ILD focuses on youth and adults. UNESCO statistics indicates that at least 773 million adults worldwide today lack basic literacy skills and 617 million children and adolescents are not achieving minimum proficiency levels in reading and mathematics.

The COVID-19 pandemic that led to school closures affected about 35% of learners learning to read, causing a situation that has been described to as the COVID-slide. Situating the theme of this year’s ILD within the context of the COVID-19 crisis and beyond is a call for stakeholders to reflect on the impact of the crisis on youth and adult literacy educators and teaching and learning, on lessons learnt and on ways to effectively position youth and adult literacy learning in global and national responses.

Importance of early childhood literacy 

Although the focus on this year’s ILD is on youth and adults, it is important to draw attention to the importance of early childhood literacy learning. Effective early childhood literacy learning sets a strong foundation and is crucial for better literacy outcomes and long-term success as adults. In fact, when we invest in helping children to learn to read, we offer them a priceless gift of enabling them to read to learn as they grow older, which helps them flourish emotionally, academically, socially and in many other spheres of life.​

GraphoGame: an effective early childhood learning resource
One of the ways of supporting early childhood literacy learning that has the potential to yield significant returns is to invest in evidence-based learning games such as GraphoGame. 

GraphoGame is an academically researched literacy learning app, game and methodology for teaching kindergarten and primary school children early grade literacy in multiple languages including English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Chinese. GraphoGame has been developed by linguists, neuropsychologists and speech pathologists to help children to improve their reading and spelling, while simultaneously supporting struggling and dyslexic readers to boost their reading confidence.

Grapho Group Oy is an educational game company that develops scientifically validated literacy tools for home and school and is the developer of GraphoGame, the early literacy app made and validated by scientists. GraphoGame was developed as a part of a research initiative in 2011 and Grapho Group Oy was founded in Helsinki in 2017 and employs five persons and manages a partner network of neuropsychology, linguistics and pedagogy researchers in universities around the world. Our customers are NGOs, governments, school suppliers, schools, speech therapy clinics and parents.

Grapho Group Oy has partnered with a number of institutions to make different language versions of GraphoGame a free app for end-users in a number of countries. For example, we have partnership with Haskins Global Literacy Hub to make the American English version of GraphoGame free of charge for all US residents. Through partnership with Aix-Marseille University, the French version of the game is now free in France. We have equally partnered with the Inter-American Development Bank to make the Spanish language version of the game a free app for residents of Argentina, Columbia, Panama. We are currently finalising negotiations with the  government of Brazil to make the game a free app in Brazil. A number of negotiations are still ongoing with different institutions in Asia and Africa to enable residents have free access to the game.

Check out GraphoGame today to find out ways to support early childhood literacy for your kid, school, community, or even an entire country. 
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Have a memorable International Literacy Day celebration!

Elizabeth Agbor Eta (PhD)
Project Director at GraphoGame.

In the European Union, 56% of people, more than half, speak at least two languages. There are many households where one or both parents speak a different native language.

Is it a good idea to raise your kids to be bilingual? Should you put them in bilingual education? How can you support your kids as they forge ahead learning two languages at the same time? These are some of the questions parents struggle with which are addressed in this blog post. 

Benefits of Bilingualism
Early linguists originally thought that learning two languages at the same time led to slight developmental delays. Unfortunately, this belief has stuck around though now researchers know that bilingualism helps to develop skills that can give children an advantage in the classroom. 

Knowing which language to speak requires inhibition and task switching, which contributes to developing better attention. Figuring out with whom to use which language also develops empathy.

There is some evidence that active bilingualism makes structural changes in the brain that can help stave off Alzheimer’s and dementia in the elderly. Moreover, bilinguals who have Alzheimer’s continue to function at a higher rate than monolinguals, even when they have more brain damage.

What Is Bilingual Literacy?
So, learning a second language is a great idea — how about learning to read both? Another common misunderstanding is that speaking two languages makes learning to read difficult.

Again, research has found that this is not true. From being exposed to multiple languages from a young age, children actually have an easier time understanding word structure. This, in turn, heightens phonological awareness — an important pre-literacy skill. 

Reading advantages of being bilingual vary depending on the two languages that the child speaks. For example, if a child speaks related languages like Spanish and Italian, they will have an easier time learning to read in both than in unrelated languages like English and Japanese.

How Parents Can Help
Putting kids in a bilingual classroom is perhaps one of the best ways parents can help their kids develop bilingual literacy. However, this option won’t be available to all parents. 

If one or both parents speak a different language than that of your child’s school, focus on speaking this language in the home. They’re getting plenty of instruction in the school’s language so they need exposure to your language at home. 

Some parents get discouraged when children mix up languages and stop teaching them, fearing they will stunt their education. Don’t do this! As children practice they will separate the two languages and surge forward in learning to speak, read, and write both.  

Spend time reading to your kids in your target language. This is not only an excellent activity for helping them to develop language and reading skills, but also a great way for you to spend quality time with them. Kids will remember reading together fondly, a positive association that will help them want to learn to read.

Whatever your situation, reading games can help support kids’ development and help them learn to read faster. For example, GraphoGame is an app backed by research that can help children learn to read in a variety of languages including English, French, Chinese, Dutch and many others. It combines Finnish educational expertise (one of the best educational rubrics in the world) with top-level research in neuroscience. 

Want to learn more? Don’t hesitate to check it out! Your kids will love learning to read with GraphoGame’s unique learning software.

Photo credit: Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Author:
Elizabeth Eta
Project Director at GraphoGame

Some children learn how to read, write, communicate, and socialise quickly while others struggle, and that’s okay. Early literacy development varies from child to child, so all children will progress at different rates.

Different skills are needed for children’s literacy competence. Take a look at some of the essential literacy skills that children need to develop to succeed in their learning journey. 

Phonemic Awareness
The English alphabetic writing system is made up of 26 letters. However, there are almost two times more sound units (phonemes) for these letters. The letters in words represent different sounds that dictate how each word should be pronounced. Without this awareness, children can’t read and pronounce new words correctly. 

Phonemes aren’t inherently obvious, so they must be taught. There are many different approaches to impart phonemic awareness skills in children. These include the following:

• Phoneme segmentation – involves asking children to break out a word into separate sounds. For example, “What are all the sounds you hear in bat? /b/ /a/ /t/
• Phoneme isolation – involves asking learners to isolate phonemes. For example, “What is the last sound in book?” /k/
• Phoneme blending – involves asking students to use different sounds to form a word. For example, [b-e-e-f] for beef.
• Phoneme identity – involves asking readers to identify common sounds in a set of words. For example, “Reveal the common sound in bug, bat, and ball.”

Even though phonemic awareness is an auditory skill, it helps kids read and articulate print with precision.
 
Our GraphoGame literacy learning app for children was designed specifically to facilitate children phonemic awareness at home or school. In other words, GraphoGame helps children to connect written language segments with the corresponding speech sounds.

Awareness of Print
Print is ubiquitous. It can be seen in alphabet books and storybooks, on signs and billboards, and in magazines, and newspapers. With that said, many children are likely to come across it before starting school. 

Children’s level of print awareness is a very strong predictor of their future reading achievement. Children with an awareness of print understand that written communication is related to oral communication. They see that, like verbal communication, printed language carries meaning. Children who lack print awareness may not become effective readers. 

Vocabulary
Imagine relying on a few words to communicate an idea. Whether spoken or written, your communication won’t be engaging or persuasive. 

Children need to build a strong vocabulary for school, work readiness, and general life skills. They need to constantly learn new words so they can have a rich vocabulary that will help them communicate better and make a positive impression on others.
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Kids learn the first words from their parents and other older household members. Hence, families play an important role in children’s performance of vocabulary.

Spelling
Many children start to speak before they go to school but very few can spell the words that they use. Spelling skills help children differentiate words that are pronounced the same way but are written differently.

Children can be taught how to spell correctly in a variety of ways, including:

• Encouraging reading – for example, reading storybooks word by word to teach children how to read and spell words.
• Calling out a word and spelling it out loud – for example, teaching your child how to spell words with ‘Lily Pad Letters’.
• Playing games to practice spelling – for example, playing ‘scrambled spelling’ using alphabet blocks.

Spelling skills are essential for mastering the art of written communication.

Comprehension
The primary use of words is to convey meaning. Words mean nothing if children can’t understand how and why they’ve been used. Comprehension skills are essential to ensure children understand what they read.
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A variety of strategies can be deployed to help children improve their reading or text comprehension skills. These include the following:

• Summarising text – asking children to recap the main points.
• Generating questions – learners are asked to raise any questions they may have about what they’ve just read.
• Answering questions – learners are asked to answer questions regarding the text they’ve just read.
• Monitoring comprehension – identifying what learners understand and what they don’t understand. For example, using a finger to follow along and point out words that the reader doesn’t seem to understand.

Children that have good comprehension skills tend to excel in school and beyond.

Families and educators should team up to improve children’s literacy development
When it comes to early literacy development, the main takeaway is that all children are different. Parents should work together with educators to help every child acquire the skills they need to achieve literacy success.

Image credit: Jerry Wang on Unsplash

Author:
Jesper Ryynänen,
Co-founder & Head of Partnerships at GraphoGame

Albert Einstein, king of the pithy statement, once said, “If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.”

And, it will come as no surprise, that the eminent scientist has been proven right time and again. In fact, studies into the effects of reading on childhood development highlight that reading for pleasure doesn’t just help a child’s educational performance.

Children who read daily not only do better in school, but have a more extensive vocabulary, better general knowledge, and an improved understanding and interest in other cultures.

Why does reading matter?

Research by BookTrust, the largest children’s reading charity in the UK, has found that reading allows children to develop a wide range of literacy skills, as well as setting the foundations for social interactions. 

Based on research from 2014, BookTrust advises that book experiences for children should start from as early as 3-4 months of age, and their enhanced language and communication skills become evident from around 8 months old.

Books also provide a ‘stable source of information’ for a child, which allows them to make sense of what they encounter in the world. This vital background knowledge of “the world out there” helps improve their cognitive development.

​Reading as childhood #lifehacks

It’s no stretch to say that childhood reading helps children to develop critical life skills, as well as thinking skills. That’s not all that some time with a good book can do for your little one.

• Empathic development: The act of reading a book encourages a child to put themselves in somebody else’s state of mind, and identify with the feelings of the characters. This encourages children to consider alternative points of view, as well as providing them with a way to understand their own feelings and emotions.
• Learning the world: Books allow your child to visit places they may not ever have considered before. From exploring different worlds, or simply taking a trip to a foreign country, reading allows a child to develop an appreciation for the world around them. This encourages cultural sensitivity in children, as well as motivating them to learn about historical events.
• Relationship building: The act of reading with a parent encourages a child to develop a strong, lasting relationship with that parent. Regular shared events that prioritise enjoying reading provides nurturing for the child’s emotional wellbeing, as well as their cognitive development.

Reading is Fundamental

There are some great ways to promote reading to your child, including:

• Reading aloud with your kids in a way that encourages them to discuss how they feel about what they’re hearing and seeing.
• Develop your own reading practice as a way to show that reading is a fun pastime for everyone. 
• Create easy access to books by encouraging your child to visit the library or listen to audiobooks when you can’t be there to read out loud for them. 
• Encourage your child to make time for reading in the day, and to take ownership of their reading life - ask them what they would like to read next, or when they would like to read, so that they understand you support their reading time.
• Engage with online literacy programmes which help to challenge and educate your child in fun and interactive ways.

While there are impressive statistics around reading and your child’s development, it can also be deeply enjoyable. Exposing your child to a wide range of literary texts - from books to poetry - is a wonderful way to engage them in a lifelong love affair.
Image credit: Ben White on Unsplash

Author:
Elizabeth Eta
Project Director at GraphoGame

During the Coronavirus pandemic and consequent lockdown, a lot of questions have been brought up about education. As children can no longer attend traditional schools, parents are having to figure out how they will manage their children’s education. While it is certainly a challenge, especially insofar as it requires juggling school with work with household maintenance in a way like never before, it’s also a unique opportunity to make individualized choices for what will best suit your children, allowing you to move past the typical understanding of learning as something that takes place through books, spreadsheets, and lectures. 

Because, in reality, learning is so much more than that. In fact, one of the best ways to help your children learn is just to give them the space and freedom to engage in unstructured play on their own terms. This article explains why play is so important to learning and how you can leverage it to help your children. 

Why Play Is So Important 

If your kid would rather build structures out of Legos or play pretend instead of doing worksheets or sitting through Zoom lessons all day, don’t worry, they’re not being lazy or brainless. In fact, just the opposite. Because, especially for young children, education is about so much more than just learning facts and figures. 

Many experts consider play absolutely key to learning. In fact, the United Nations has even recognized it as a human right for all children. That’s because play gives children a way to make sense of the world, letting them use their innate curiosity for the better. It encourages creativity and problem solving and lets kids use their imaginations.

Beyond that, play is also critical for setting the stage for further learning and brain development. It develops children’s emerging skills, motivates them, and increases their chances of enjoying the process of learning throughout their lives. According to the Canadian Council on Learning, "Play nourishes every aspect of children’s development – it forms the foundation of intellectual, social, physical, and emotional skills necessary for success in school and in life.”

Here’s a short list of just some of the things that play helps children learn:

• Language acquisition
• Literacy
• Numeracy
• Social and emotional skills
• Hand-eye coordination
• Emotional regulation
• Working with others
• Sharing, taking turns, and cooperating
• Problem-solving 

Not bad for something that costs no money and requires no coercion to get your kids to do, huh? 

What is Play?

But just because play is natural and comes to children easily doesn’t mean that we’re encouraging you to go completely hands-off in their education. On the contrary, the more deliberate your children’s playtime, the more they will get out of it. As a parent, it’s up to you to make sure that your kids are being set up to optimally learn through play. 

However, it’s important to know that play should be spontaneous and voluntary. There shouldn’t be any extrinsic goal, and the child should be engaged and enjoying themselves, able to stop whenever they want.

So what's your role in all of this?

Don’t feel pressured to over-schedule your child’s time with books and workbooks and online learning. Instead, give them the unstructured free time to try new things, invent, create, and explore. Create an environment that encourages and facilitates play. Give your child access to blocks, art supplies, games, and costumes and props for their make-believe. ​

The beautiful thing is that children can and should figure it out for themselves. So you don’t need to feel guilty if you can’t be on top of your child every second, micromanaging their time in the name of education. It’s okay if you need to focus for a bit on your work or chores or self-care. Your kid won’t lose anything for having more free play time. In fact, they’ll probably get even more out of it.

Photo source: https://unsplash.com/photos/ecRuhwPIW7c

Author:
Mervi Palander
​Founder GraphoGame

Author:
Elizabeth Agbor Eta
Project Director at GraphoGame.

Author: 
Terhi Esko (M.Soc.Sci) is a researcher focusing on science, technology and innovation studies. Terhi Esko studied the development of GraphoGame in her doctoral dissertation. Currently she works at Tampere University studying the emergence of health tech and life science firms in Finland. Her doctoral dissertation ‘Societal Problem Solving and University Research. Science-Society Interaction and Social Impact in the Educational and Social Sciences’ will be publicly examined on May 15 2020 at the University of Helsinki at 13 o’clock (live streaming at http://video.helsinki.fi/unitube/live-stream.html?room=l6)

There are approximately 650 million children throughout the world who are primary school-age, and 250 million of them are unable to read or write. 

Over the years, experts have debated on the best  way to teach literacy that will raise achievement levels and give children the tools and confidence needed to cope and be successful in school and beyond. 

Read on for more information about some of the different approaches to teaching literacy. You’ll learn about the advantages and disadvantages of these methods so you can choose one that works best for you and the kids you’re teaching.

Alphabetic Method

For years, one of the most popular teaching literacy strategies was the Alphabetic Method. In fact, it’s been around since ancient Greek and Roman times.

This approach to literacy education involves teaching children each letter of the alphabet in order (both its name and its pronunciation). Using this method, children also learn to write each letter at the same time.

At the same time that they’re learning each letter, children also learn simple vowel and consonant combinations. For example, m + a = ma. From two-letter syllables, they go on to learn longer syllables and then, eventually, full words and sentences.

Using the Alphabetic Method, reading starts off feeling very mechanical. It can take longer for children who learn in this way to become expressive readers. It can also take longer for them to start to truly comprehend what they’re reading.

Syllabic Method

Another traditional approach is the Syllabic Method. This involves teaching children the vowels (A, E, I, O, and U) first. From here, they learn the consonants, beginning with those that are easiest for them to pronounce. This is sometimes referred to as building the syllabic bridge.

After learning the consonants, children will blend vowels and consonants to create syllables (ma, me, mi, mo, mu, etc.). Once they’ve mastered this, they’ll move on to learning more complex syllables, then words, phrases, and, eventually, sentences.
As with the Alphabetic Method, when teaching children using the Syllabic Method, reading can start out sounding very methodical. It can take quite a while before children start to read more expressively and comprehend what they’re reading. 

Phonetic Method
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The Phonetic Method is one of the most popular and effective methods of teaching literacy. It’s encouraged more often than other approaches.

In this style of teaching, children first learn each vowel based on their sounds. Teachers will often use figures and images that start with each letter to help children remember them, and children also learn to write vowels at the same time. 

After teaching vowels, instructors will teach consonants with their sounds, using images and objects for better retention. After this, children go on to learn how to blend the sounds of consonants with the sounds of the five vowels to form simple syllables. 

Once children have learned simple syllables, they should be able to learn simple words and phrases. After this, more complex concepts are taught, including inverse syllables, mixed and complex syllables, diphthongs, and triphthongs. They can then combine all of these into more complicated words and phrases.

The Phonetic Approach, which is used in many interactive literacy games, does a great job of fostering confidence. GraphoGame uses an enhanced phonetic approach called Synthetic Phonics. GraphoGame’s English version is based on research on reading by “rhyme analogy”, carried out in the 1980s and 1990s by Professor Usha Goswami. The rhyme analogy research highlighted the importance of oral awareness of linguistic “onset-rime” units in reading development. To segment a word into onset-rime units, divide at the vowel (“s-ing”, “st-ing”, “spr-ing”). Developed at the Centre for Neuroscience in Education, University of Cambridge, the English GraphoGame focuses on rime patterns, teaching individual letter-sound correspondences within rhyming families of words. 

Get Help Teaching Literacy Today

As you can see, there are lots of different ways that you can go about teaching literacy to children. Do you need help figuring out an approach that works well for your child (or the children you teach)? If so, consider giving GraphoGame a try today. 

GraphoGame is a fun and evidence-based children’s literacy app. It uses Finnish methods of literacy teaching to help young children gain the skills they need to establish a solid foundation and become competent readers. It also tracks children’s progress and alerts parents or teachers so they can become aware of and work to correct potential issues right away.

Check out GraphoGame today to see how it works for your children!

 Photo by Ben White on Unsplash
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​Author:
Jesper Ryynänen,
Co-founder & Head of Partnerships at GraphoGame

Picture source: ​https://unsplash.com/photos/cwGk-u9PHOo

Now that schools are closed and will probably remain so for some time due to the COVID-19 pandemic, parents are scrambling to figure out how to keep their kids learning. Homeschooling and online studies can be daunting, but educational technology—also known as edtech—can help alleviate the stress for both parents and kids.

Aren't schools already providing online solutions? Yes, but . . .

As "essential businesses," schools are continuing to provide their students access to educational materials. They've done this by cobbling together online resources and perhaps Zoom teaching calls. However, the quality and quantity of online resources vary greatly not only from school to school but from grade to grade. And many of those resources require significant parental guidance, which non-educator parents who just started working from home may be hard-pressed to provide.

Another issue with the online resources schools are offering is that they might not capture students' attention. Boredom can be a particular problem for primary school children who haven't built up much stamina to pay attention to lessons. 

Also, schools may be focused on delivering the last 20-30% of their curriculum when a more appropriate goal might be to keep kids engaged and learning. After all, the COVID-19 crisis is already stressful enough for families.

How long will schools be closed?

Since schools have to follow the government's social distancing mandates, the earliest schools will resume in-person classes is May. It's an open question, though, whether schools will reopen at all for the 2019-2020 school year. If schools do reopen, parents have to keep their kids learning in the meantime. And it would be a good idea to line up learning resources for planned school holidays, anyway.

How can edtech solutions help keep kids learning?

Unless their kids' schools are providing a dazzling array of engaging, user-friendly online options, parents will want to seek out other resources. Of course, they can, and should, use offline resources like books, art materials, and puzzles. But educational technology can be invaluable in helping students learn at home effectively. Here are some reasons why:

First of all, edtech can help personalise the learning experience and make it more interactive than traditional teaching, where the "sage on the stage" delivers content. Interactivity breeds engagement and fosters curiosity. Divya Gokulnath, the cofounder of edtech Byju's, believes it's crucial to bring back the "childlike curiosity" in children. "Curiosity is one of the most underrated attributes today, yet one of the most important," she asserts. She adds that adults should pledge ". . . to never curb curiosity and give children a new kind of freedom—the freedom to learn without fear."

Second, edtech helps level the playing field. Explains Shobhit Bhatnager, CEO and cofounder of the edtech Gradeup, access and affordability of quality education is limited by socioeconomic status and geographical boundaries. He adds, "Edtech has emerged as one of the most viable alternatives for democratised access to affordable and quality education."

Finally, quality edtech resources can address the issue of teaching to a set curriculum rather than to a student. According to Bhatnager, edtech "has the potential to shift from being curriculum-centric to becoming student-centric" primarily by enhancing engagement.

A quality edtech offering: GraphoGame

One quality edtech offering is GraphoGame. This academically researched learning app, game, and methodology for teaching kindergarten and primary school children early grade literacy is available in several languages, including English and Chinese. GraphoGame combines Finnish educational and special-needs expertise with cutting-edge neuroscience research.

Fortunately for parents forced into homeschooling by school closures, GraphoGame is, according to the testimonial of a UK primary school teacher, "not reliant on adult support." Other users emphasise how much kids enjoy the game. A kindergarten teacher in France enthuses, "GraphoGame is so helpful for my students; most of them start to read just by playing with this app." For more information, please read more here. 

Author:
Elizabeth Eta
Project Director at GraphoGame

​The first month of the new year is coming to a close, which means one of the first and foremost events in the annual education technology calendar is upon us: Bett Show is kicking off tomorrow at ExCeL exhibition centre in East London!

The 'GraphoBlog' (as we are now calling it) will be one of the major channels of communication with our users, stakeholders and peers in the field of early grade literacy and dyslexia. Our vision is that this space will become a vibrant space for thoughtful discussion and debate around the hot topics surrounding education technology, gameified learning and early literacy research.  

What will we be posting about, you might ask?