Dogs teach children to read and write

Canaddog-readian educator and researcher Laura Friesen claims that her dogs Sparky and Tango are helping to teach children aged 6-7 years to read and write.

This four-legged helpers of a teacher feel calm among noisy kids, they love to hear them reading out loud and with pleasure they reward a child for a well done job: they "shake paw" or lick on the nose. During the research, second-graders attended weekly classes where the teacher was present with one of her dogs.

Pupils were engaged in reading books, that they selected themselves or doing some tasks for writing. Laura Friesen argues that the presence of a dog allows children to feel more confident and they remember the new words easier, because explaining that words to the dog they pronounce them over and over again.

The fact that animals have a therapeutic effect on children is known long time ago. But Friesen also seeks to create a friendly, safe and entertaining learning environment, and the presence of dogs in the classroom gives a huge moral support to a primary school children. At this age they are developing a long-term reading habits: they either begin to love books, or just lose interest in them.