Reading
None of this is expert advice. It's what people worked out for themselves, usually the hard way — what actually helped, and what they'd tell someone standing where you are. Take what fits and leave the rest.
If you only read a few
Turn on closed captions for children's educational videos to help them connect spoken words with written text.
It helps them associate the words on screen with what they hear.
- Some children dislike seeing the text on screen.
- Auto-generated captions may contain gibberish.
2 people, independently
Read the same books multiple times to young children.
It is good for early development and helps reinforce skills.
one person who lived it
Read a non-fiction book related to your career or hobbies for 11 minutes every morning before work, rotating the books on a shelf.
It helps refresh your mind on salient topics that are easy to forget after a few months.
one person who lived it
Pair reading with kids and keeping TV subtitles on instead of picking just one method.
Using both strategies together is suggested unless they conflict; captions add value without replacing reading.
3 people, independently
If a child is reluctant to read, try using games that require reading, such as Scribblenauts, to make the activity fun.
One parent reported this turned their son on to reading and improved his grade standing.
one person who lived it
Read books with children to lay the foundation for their literacy.
This practice establishes a basis for future learning.
one person who lived it
Use closed captions to learn slang, pronunciation, and spelling quickly, particularly if you are an immigrant or non-native speaker.
One immigrant reported learning these elements pretty quickly using CC.
- One person's experience
one person who lived it
Read comics in the target language and type out translations manually rather than copy-pasting to reinforce learning through repetition and visual context.
Typing words out manually helps with learning a lot more than copy-pasting.
one person who lived it
Revisit beloved films with captions enabled to catch dialogue you may have misheard or overlooked before.
Captions frequently condense speech, meaning you might have missed or misunderstood lines during earlier watchings.
3 people, independently
1 more on this
Avoid relying on live television captions for reading practice.
The quality of captioning for live TV and cable television can be particularly poor.
one person who lived it