Research has shown that adding opportunities for interaction and conversation during book reading can foster critical emergent literacy skills in infants and preschoolers. But how do parents and professionals do this effectively? What are some specific practical techniques for turning book reading into a conversation?

This e-Seminar introduces Hanen’s concrete strategies for promoting developmentally appropriate emergent literacy skills during shared book reading. These strategies are drawn from Hanen programs for parents and educators and are designed to foster:

• joint attention
• narrative comprehension
• literal and/or inferential language comprehension
• expressive and receptive vocabulary

Participants can implement these strategies in their day-to-day work or share them with parents and early childhood educators as an important component in the promotion of early literacy. 

After completing this e-Seminar, you will be able to:

• Describe the link between book reading and the development of emergent literacy skills, and explain why interaction in this context is critical to the development of these skills.
• Select books that are conducive to interactive book reading.
• Apply specific interactive strategies to book reading to facilitate interaction and literacy learning in both group and one-to-one contexts.
• Share interactive strategies with parents and early childhood educators.