With the school year coming to an end, a lot of parents may well be wondering what their children have learned this year.

For those concerned about their child’s progress in reading and spelling, Wilkins Farago author and literacy specialist Fay Tran has written a short piece for parenting and education website YourKidsEd.com.au.

She lists the things parents can do to help with their child’s literacy. It doesn’t have to be hard work, either, as she reassures us:

Learning phonics skills is not very different from the way children learn football, tennis or piano skills and parents can help their children learn and practice reading skills just as they do with sport or music.

You can read the full article here. There’s also a competition to win a copy of her new book, Teaching Kids to Read. But hurry, the closing date is 26 November.