Although my baby is only 4 months old, I already teach her to read books!

Isn’t it too early? No, it’s not.

Infact, this is the best time to teach your baby of everything, especially the language.

According to Dr. Robert Titzer, babies and toddlers have a natural window of opportunity for learning language from age 3 months old to 4 years old. After 4 years old, it become quite difficult to learn a language or to read.

You see, babies and toddlers learn to understand language and speak naturally simply by listening to language. When babies hear a second language, they learn to understand and speak the language naturally without an effort if they hear the language frequently enough.

That’s explain how we learn our mother-tounge language - through early exposure!

If babies are allowed to see the language, they can also learn written language just as naturally. Fascinating, isn’t it?

So, if you want your baby to learn (and read) a second language(s)(English, Arabic, Mandarin, French etc) - get some books or flash cards in that language. And, show it to your baby at least 5 minutes a day. Not so much efforts required for your baby’s future, right?

Let’s see what I have bought for baby Izzah.

• Baby Signs Books: Circle Time (teach baby sign language)
• Your Baby Can Read! flash card (compact, good for travel)
• Your Baby Can Learn! book series (love it so much!)

And, I’m also thinking of buying her Qiraati books as well as teach her Mandarin and Korean (I’m learning both languages so why not teach her too… he..he..he).

By the way, I really love Dr. Titzer’s book series. Your Baby Can Learn! for example, are great for teaching:

• Shapes (Babies will learn geometrically-related shapes instead of the typical shapes found in most baby books.)
• Numbers (Dr. Titzer uses research from infant perception studies to help your baby learn the concept of number as well as learn to read numerals.)
• Patterns (This book teaches logic patterns using colourful photographs and words. For example, “big dog, little dog, big dog, little dog, big dog, little dog, big dog, What comes next?”)
• Colours (This book teaches lighter and darker shades of colours.)
• Prepositions (Some of the most frequently used words in English are prepositions. Most babies are not specifically taught these words. Imagine how much more language your baby will understand if she or he comprehends prepositions.)

Baby Izzah really showed a big interest in learning and reading the books. Her eyes actually look at the words as if she is reading it (from left to right). Very impressive!

Pre-school today, Harvard tomorrow!

Update: 

Fyi, I bought the books online at http://www.mybbstore.com/. It’s a Malaysian online store which also has a shop at Jalan Kuchai Lama (map available at the website).

I’m not sure whether it’s available or not in the major bookstores. Perhaps you can ask if they carry Dr Titzer books (Your Baby Can Learn, Your Baby Can Read) by The Infant Learning Company..

For more information on Dr Titzer’s books, visit the Infant Learning Company at http://infantlearning.com/ (you can watch videos of little babies reading!)