Many educators fret over the proper mix of traditional books and digital reading during early literacy development for preschool and elementary students. Dr. Dan Yang, CEO of VINCI Education, thinks that digital reading resources are certainly important, and she knows that children are motivated to work with them. But she believes that nothing can replace physical books.
“VINCI believes young children’s curiosity needs to be cultivated from toddler age forward,” said Yang. “Through digital games and hands-on learning, whether it’s a game to teach children about animal diversity or a lesson that incorporates building a bridge in their backyard, we inspire young children to open their eyes to the world,” she continued.
Every day, preschool children using VINCI read a physical book. In contrast, VINCI’s digital games are played once a week for 30 minutes, and kindergarten and elementary students are given digital book collections to read at home.
“Virtual schools can’t exist by themselves for young children because they need so much sensorial experience,” said Yang. “So our virtual school for toddler and preschoolers is more to teach parents how to play and work with their children, while providing a tool to allow them to track their children’s progress, as well as identify gaps in their learning.”
Yang believes preschool teachers must achieve three goals:
Yang offers several strategies for preschool teachers who want to integrate both books and digital resources into their classrooms.
Use an interactive whiteboard during circle time to get everybody’s attention in a group setting. “Chances are, many 4- and 5- year-olds can’t sit down and read, as either they didn’t build that habit at home, or there are too many students in the classroom for them to be focused on books,” said Yang. “So teachers constantly struggle to get their attention.” Interactive whiteboards come in handy and make reading aloud playful, allowing preschoolers to maintain focus.
Use physical books (one book per student) during quiet reading time after lunch. “By the time teachers can get students to sit down and read a few pages, it is important for the kids to put their hands on books. Let them choose their favorite books — having choices is a critical piece of teaching, because kids will read because they chose it,” said Yang.
Use a combination of digital and physical books for home reading. Because teachers don’t have enough time to focus on each child’s needs every day, home reading is critical. “If the parent has not enough time to read, digital books, which can read aloud for the child, become handy,” Yang said. “If parents can cuddle with the child to read, a physical book makes more sense because they can flip the book pages together and stop or move ahead at each other’s wish in order to facilitate the discussion.”
Nothing replaces the real book time between a young child and a parent. When Yang became a foster mother to a 5-year-old boy, he did not speak a word of English and could not sit still for more than five seconds. All she and her husband did was lure him to read with a mixture of digital and physical books. In a short time, his English skills exceeded most of his native-speaking peers and he learned to write half-page paragraphs.