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“The latest Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (Pirls), the first since the creation of national standards in 2010, shows that New Zealand has slipped 10 places from 22nd out of 41 countries in 2011 to 32nd out of 50 last year.

Australia, Austria, Lithuania, Slovenia and Spain have all overtaken New Zealand, and five new countries with children reading above NZ levels ave come into the survey for the first time.

Children in the highest socio-economic group also dropped much more sharply (down 13 points) than children in the middle group (down 3 points) or the poorest group (down 5 points).

A teacher at Three Kings School in Auckland, Jane Martin, said there was a noticeable decline in oral language in children starting school at 5.

“Parents are not talking to kids like they used to,” she said. ”You have parents sitting in silence on their cellphones, and the children all have phones at a younger age, so they are not so engaged in conversation. You have time-poor parents perhaps not reading to their children at night.”

Simon Collins, Education Reporter, NZ Herald.

Yes, so we know there’s a problem but how do we fix it? It’s actually very easy but if you need some advice on what to say, how to say it and when to say it, just get in touch. Or click here for a free PDF of my top ten tips to get your child on their way to great oral language. 

 You could also go to Amazon to buy an e-book. Easy! Say It Clearly Kindle E Book

Speaking correctly is a very important link when learning to read and write. Issues with speech can be very easy to fix so get the top ten tips then have a look at the videos. The children can learn online, at home, in your own time and it doesn’t take very long so the children don’t have time to get bored! Click here for FREE top ten tips PLUS the online video program that you can start NOW. “Chat With Me”

We all know that eating a meal together as a family with the telly turned off is incredibly important in terms of healthy eating and connection – but did you know that the simple act of sharing a meal can improve your children’s vocabulary?

Family therapist Anne Fishel says researchers have found that for young kids, conversations at the dinner table boost vocabulary even more than being read to. Researchers counted the number of “rare words” – those not found on a list of 3000 most common words – that the family used during dinnertime chats.

It may seem odd, especially if you feel like the only things you say during dinnertime are, “Sit down!” and “Here comes the plane”, but young children learned a gob-smacking 1000 rare words at the dinner table, compared with only 143 from parents reading aloud from a book.

And why is vocabulary so important? Children who have a large vocabulary read earlier and more easily.

You still need to read The Gruffalo for the millionth time, though. Sorry.