Home English and Picture Books
From Listening in English to Reading in English

When people think of English picture books, they often imagine a parent reading aloud to a child in English. Of course, that is one common use. But in home English, picture books can play a much bigger role.

Picture books do more than provide audio. Because the language is paired with illustrations and scenes, it becomes easier for children to connect what they hear with what it means. And because the same English also appears in print on the page, children can experience sound, meaning, and written words together in a single context. That is why English picture books can serve as a bridge from listening in English to reading in English.

Imagine a child has already heard a sentence in English many times. When that same sentence appears in a picture book, the illustrations and the scene help the child realize, “This is what this page is about.” Once that understanding is in place, the child can begin to notice the audio itself. The sound is already familiar, and now the written words are layered on top of it.

That is why, even when the goal is reading, it helps for children to have had plenty of exposure to the picture book audio first.

→ Thinking about the quantity and quality of English audio: Home English and Background Audio

With English picture books, parents do not need to read aloud fluently in English. If the books come with audio, the English itself can be entrusted to the recording.

Not depending on a parent’s pronunciation or English ability is a major advantage when you want to keep home English going every day.

When children look at and listen to the same picture book over and over with the audio, they begin to remember the English along with the illustrations and scenes on each page. Before long, they may find themselves saying parts of it out loud without thinking, or the words may come naturally as they look at the pages. That is recitation.

There is no need to prompt recitation with “Memorize this” or “Say it.” With repeated exposure, children naturally begin to say the English aloud on their own. That stage can then be used as a scaffold for moving into reading.

→ Why reading picture books aloud and recitation are the most efficient investment

Even if a child can recite a picture book, that does not necessarily mean the child is truly reading the words. Recitation is when the child reproduces remembered English orally, using the illustrations, page position, and story sequence as cues, rather than suddenly beginning to read from print.

Even so, recitation has great value because it becomes a scaffold for reading. By repeatedly experiencing the sounds coming out of their own mouth at the same time as the written words in front of them, children are given opportunities to notice the relationship between “the sound I am saying” and “the print written here.”

English picture books contain the same words and expressions again and again. High-frequency words such as the, is, you, I, and and are good examples. When children repeatedly experience the same words in both audio and print, the connection between sound and spelling becomes more stable, and the number of words they can recognize quickly—without decoding one letter at a time—gradually increases.

Children also meet the same sentence patterns repeatedly, such as I like …, This is …, and Look at …. One of the great strengths of picture books is that children can experience how words are used inside meaningful sentences and chunks of language.

English picture books and phonics approach reading in different ways. Phonics teaches the rules that connect letters and sounds and helps children pull sounds out of letter strings. Picture books, by contrast, let children experience audio, meaning, scenes, and print together as complete language.

Children can connect English they already know by ear to written words in picture books, and then use phonics as needed to support reading letter strings they are seeing for the first time.

→ Read more about the role of phonics: Home English and Phonics

As children gain experience with many picture books, the way they engage with them gradually changes. At first, they can say the English because they remember it. At this stage, the English often comes out smoothly. Over time, more and more moments appear in which they can look at a word and pull out the sound from the print itself.

A picture book a child used to recite fluently may suddenly become less smooth. That is often the beginning of real reading. Once children start reading individual words, their attention shifts there. This transition varies from child to child. Even if recitation or reading does not show up quickly, there is no need to worry—learning about sounds and print is still moving forward.

→ See the definition of picture-book recitation and related articles

Once a child can read short picture books independently, the next need is volume. Increase the number of words per book and move into slightly longer stories and informational texts. As reading volume grows, children gradually move from decoding one word at a time to reading chunks of English and continuing to follow the content.

In extensive reading, English shifts from being “text for study” to “text you read to gain knowledge and meaning.”

The key to choosing English picture books is to look at your child’s current level of English understanding and awareness of print.

In home English, the role of English picture books is to bridge “English children understand by listening” and “English children understand by reading.”

At first, recitation is enough. Let children encounter English they already know by ear through pictures, meaning, and print. A picture book whose audio has become so familiar that the child can recite it becomes a scaffold for noticing written words. From there, with support from phonics as needed, children move toward independent reading and then extensive reading.