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English, as one of the major international languages in the globe, is having increasing importance in our lives. Educating your children to know the language will surely give them an edge for their future development. Because of this, it is very crucial to know how you can help your children with it. You need not to be highly proficient in English yourself to be of any assistance to your children. The essence here is to know what the best possible ways are. Rather than being the teacher yourself, you are to lead your children to a path where they can grow on their own. Below are some easy-to-follow steps to get your children started with English:

1. Maximize their faculty of memory in vocabulary
As a beginning step, the first thing in your to-do list may be to let your children memorize the spelling of English vocabulary, which can be difficult if they are not familiar with English spelling. A traditional way is to ram words into their brain by rote, and hope their diligence will some day help them root the words in their mind. Now, try another flexible and interesting way. It may be less painful to both you and your children. First, write down the vocabulary that you want your children to learn on a piece of paper. Remember the word should be as large as possible for easy viewing. You can also use different colors for different vocabulary to make them eye-catching. Secondly, stick the paper onto a tangible object that has direct or indirect association with the vocabulary. Take the word "Table" for an example. Write it down and attach it to your dining table. Whenever your children have dinner, they can see the word. Over time, they will associate the visual image, the dining table, with the vocabulary, "Table." Try this out on other words.

2. Get them interested in reading
Habituating your children to reading is a further step that you can take. The reason for it is reading helps establish a solid footing for writing. Bringing your children to bookstores and libraries, and reading with them are effective ways to grow their interest in reading. Reading is a long-term investment. Your children can build up their vocabulary from it. The more they read, the better their writing skills can be. You can do little about their writing, but you can surely get them interested in reading in a early stage.

3. Speak confidently
Enrol your children for some oral English courses in your community, if the school your children are in does not provide courses of that sort. This is straightforward. But exposing them to an English-speaking environment will give them confidence to speak in public. If you would like to further hone their public speaking skills, Toastmasters International can provide you with more information. Located around the globe, it is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping people with improving their English speaking and presentation skills. With a little fee, your child can become a member and join their weekly meeting.

Helping your child with English is not difficult. You can act small and move up step by step.

Learn more about this author, Kit Ng.
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