I need to teach my children to read in English, they will be using another language and alphabet at school. Any suggestions of materials to use?

[alexpolismum]

Hello,

I live in Greece, and my children will be going to school here and learning to read and write in Greek. I intend to teach them to read in English myself, only I don't really know where to start.

My parents have sent me some old books that they used to teach me to read when I was small (Peter and Jane ladybird books), but firstly there aren't many of them (1a, b, c and 2a, b, c) and secondly I'm not sure if they're the best thing available. Has anyone got any suggestions?

My eldest son will be starting to learn to read in September in Greek, and I thought that between now and then I'd get him started in English (currently his stronger language).

[gabid]

Generally, the advice/research suggest not to teach reading in two languages at the same time. Let the school teach them first and then teach them to read in English.

We are in the UK and I speak German to DC. At first I tried to do both at once but found I just confused DS. He is in Y1 now (just turned 6) and an average reader. At the moment I just practice reading in English with him, it does not seem to be an easy language to lean to read. However, it seems to me that reading and writing in German is becoming a by-product. I don't think I will have to teach him to read in German, he will just be able to do it (it's a phonetic language and therefore easier).

Not sure how it will work for Greek and English, but I wouldn't teach both at once.

[Elibean]

No expert, but I tend to agree - dd is in the UK and has learnt to read in English, but is bilingual French/English.

I have not taught her to read in French, though I have always read to her in French - but she is now deciphering French for herself, and asks when stuck. I was the same as a child.

That said, if you want to have some English books handy for your kids to look at, there are lots to choose from!

[TeddyBare]

Do you read to your dc in English? Does your ds recognise the English letters? I agree with the others about not teaching both languages at the same time, but it might be useful to get some letter fridge magnets or bath sponge letters so that he starts to recognise them. Once he has grasped the concept of reading and is doing ok with Greek you can start to bring in reading in English.

[TeddyBare]

Also, try posting in the language and bilingualism area. There are loads of parents with experience of bringing up bilingual dc there. I'm sure someone will be able to help you.

[Francagoestohollywood]

It's a tricky one.
My dc (who spent their first years in the UK, but didn't learn to read English) read English quite well now that they've both learnt to read in Italian.

It can be a bit trickier as you are dealing with a different alphabet.

[Francagoestohollywood]

Sorry, posted to quickly. They both (especially ds - who spent a yr at school in the UK and was hopeless with key words etc) found it very easy to read in English after having learnt to read phonetically in Italian, if that makes sense.

[Canella]

We're also abroad and i wanted to teach ds1 to read in English but had no idea where to start. After a recommendation on MN i bought a book called "teach your child to read in 100 lessons" (or a title like that). The texts are bit weird (to say the least) but even ds1 who is a very reluctant reader can read basic texts now he's got to the end of it. He doesnt start school here till this september when he'll be nearly 7 so it hasnt confused him - yet! DS2 who's only 4 has also started doing it after watching his big brother - seems even ok at his age.
Also the oxford owl website (dont know the web address) is a good source for e book versions of the books they use in primaries in the UK

[Malaleuca]

www.piperbooks.co.uk
They are currently being used successfully in Spain where all schoolchildren once they are 5 are taught English.

[BugsnBites]

We're abroad and I'm teaching mine English at home while they study in host country language at school. I assume you are a native English speaker? So here's my experience:

I taught the DC phonics/literacy at the same time they were learning to read in the host language. It worked great, and they had no troubles with this. They now read and write both.

Pick a synthetic phonics programme, and pick one you can get hold of easily (can you get deliveries via Amazon, etc?). We've used Jolly Phonics and Read/Write Inc (Ruth Miskin) - both easy to get hold of and relatively inexpensive. These are great, quite structured and easy to follow for the novice parent-turned-teacher! You can even pick up JP in ELC stores.

Once they really start reading, they will get through a shocking number of books! If you don't have access to an English-language library, then seek out other expats with English-language reading materials for kids and swap if possible.

Check out websites for downloadable worksheets/suggestions/activities: starfall.com is excellent (the accent is very American, so just model your own accent for them, too), BBC schools site has tons of good games and ideas, and phonicsinternational is good, too.

Good luck!

[alexpolismum]

Thanks to everyone for your replies.

I do read a lot to my children in English. (I speak to them only in English). My elder son has also started recognising some of the letters, which is one reason why I thought it might be a good idea to get him started. He's also interested. We have a set of magnetic letters, and he is forever asking me what they are called or telling me "this one is N" or whatever.

I can get amazon deliveries, I order from them all the time. I've just been looking at the Jolly Phonics, and it does seem quite reasonably priced. Thank goodness, as there are no English lang books in the local library (well, there are, but they are classics and books adults might study in Eng literature courses if they are studying English!)

I was a bit worried that it might be confusing for the children to learn with two alphabets, especially as some of the letters look roughly the same but are pronounced differently, but I shall post in Bilingualism about it.

and thanks for the links!

[BugsnBites]

I honestly wouldn't worry about them getting confused. They're very clever about languages, these little children! I think the fact that Greek has a different writing system will help rather than hinder in learning the two side-by-side.

It's worth investing a bit of time in reading around this site for advice on teaching your children to read and write. Just so you have a grasp of what synthetic phonics is and how to teach it (it's not rocket science or anything, but it will help you model sounds correctly and get them going on sounding-out words, etc).

Should mention: Read/Write Inc does black-and-white, booklet-type reading programme books in packets of 8 or 10 (?) that are v cheap and available on Amazon. I loooove finding cheap books on Amazon.

[Bucharest]

Posting quickly as am dashing to work.
I dropped all trying-to-teach-dd-to-read-in-English until she was reading fluently in Italian, but last year (when she was 6) started again. I used ORT (yawn, then yawn some more, both for myself and for dd) and the Headsprout interactive scheme (MNer Moondog is an expert on this, you could put a callout for her, she was v helpful when I was asking) dd was reading fluently within months and I now just leave her to it, so the graded reader style books were hardly touched in our house tbh.

book depository co uk has most of what Amazon has but is free delivery everywhere, btw.

[alexpolismum]

Bucharest - thanks ever so much for book depository! I have spent a fortune on Amazon delivery charges in the past! (now I'll probably just spend a fortune on books!!)

What's ORT?

[BugsnBites]

ORT = Oxford Reading Tree

[Bonsoir]

The advice on not learning to read two languages at once is normally confined to two languages with the same code. English and Greek have different codes (alphabets) and so that advice is not relevant.

If a child is a balanced bilingual and its language is developing well, there isn't much of a case for not teaching it to read in two languages simultaneously. Get started in the stronger language first and see how it goes. You can always lay off for a few months in one of the languages if it all seems too much.