“Ginger Cat”: Reading by Syllables

“Easy Books” by Nina Romanova is a series of books written based on the principle of gradual text complexity. These are simple and amusing stories that captivate both adults and children alike. These books are perfectly suited for reading one per week, as is the practice in primary English schools. They can also be an excellent solution for weekend school programs as part of reading assignments.

Let’s delve into how exactly the progression of learning tasks occurs within the “Easy Books” series.

In the first five books of the set, “Ginger Cat”:

• We guide the child to read syllables. In these initial five books, words are printed with syllable divisions.
• Words are composed of simple syllables in terms of structure and phonetic composition.
• Step by step, we introduce combinations of soft consonants with iotized vowels (я, ю, е, ё), which present the greatest challenge for bilingual children when learning to read in Russian. This occurs in the texts of books 2 to 5, and we continue to reinforce these combinations throughout the series.

Children experience sheer delight in the fact that with knowledge of just 22 letters, they can read the first book of the “Ginger Cat” series; 23 letters enable them to read the second book; 24 letters open up the third, and so on. This generates indescribable emotions and an incredible sense of accomplishment, exclaiming, “I can now read a real book all by myself!”

What’s next?

The “Easy Books” series continues beyond this set. Starting with the next level, “Green Crocodile” the methodology advances: we remove syllable divisions and begin teaching words with consonant clusters (e.g., “стройка”). We also focus on natural word stress without the use of accent marks and train children to read attentively, ensuring they truly decode the text rather than “guessing” it from context.

Wishing you a delightful journey into the world of ‘Easy Books’!

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