Biliteracy

[Rebkah]

We live in England. DH speaks only French to the DC, I speak mainly English to them but family discussions tend to be in French.

DD1 is 7, in Year 2. She's doing well in English at school and sometimes reads and writes for pleasure at home, but it's not her favourite activity. She has audiobooks in both languages and we read her stories in both languages. She did a French holiday workbook (MS/GS) last summer and has some French sticker books, so she can recognise some sight words in French but she can't read sentences. I've tried pointing out phonics in French words as I read, but she's not interested.

DD2 has only just turned 2, so not reading or writing in either language.

DH and I both became bilingual/biliterate by growing up in more than one country, but a move to a French-speaking country isn't realistically on the cards for us right now. We don't want to make French into a chore, but we do want the DC to be biliterate. How have you all taught the minority language to your DC?

It is hard to achieve equal literacy in both languages in my experience (part of a large community of bilingual children with plenty of weekend schools, tutors, etc available). We almost managed to achieve your goal:) with our eldest, now a teenager - she speaks a second language well, has extensive vocabulary, no accent, can read, but writing is a problem- with many spelling mistakes. She had weekly 2 hour lessons starting from year 1 till (and including) year 6, spent at least a month in summer in the country of the second language, has a social group (children and adults) with whom only second language is used, and regular skype conversations with native speakers of that language. In my opinion, time spent immersed in language is the most important for progress in speaking language and vocabulary, while lessons are important for reading/writing. It is hard work and dedication though. Most bilinguals with really good second language that I know also attended weekend school for language lessons and some other subjects (literature, history, etc) for 2-4 hours every weekend.

My daughter is just starting to read in French. She is in year 2. She is able to use her knowledge of phobics etc to read in French. She started reading a bit in year 1 for French. She is a strong English reader so French came easily for her. However, we do have the advantage she is in a French bilingual school. But, she managed to read in French before they introduce reading (they wait until year 2 to introduce reading in French, but she could do it in year 1). I think if you encourage French reading every day, start with the basic level 1 French reading books. Even if its just 5 pages a day (which is basically a couple sentences each page). Eventually, she will get used to it and if you find a book she loves, she will enjoy it. My children love their French audio books. We rely on the audio books when the au pair has free days (she is French), as we do not speak French ourselves.

DD is in Y7 and her German literacy is far behind her English (two German parents).

We started reading with her when she was in Y1 and her phonics in English were fairly secure. She doens't really enjoy it but can do enough to read a simple book (like she reads Harry Potter and similar difficulties in English but is on the equivalent of Famous Five or lower in German).

Her writing though is virtually non existing, she can do simple sentences to write an email or postcard - that's it.

We plan to increase her reading significantly but unfortunately she doesn't need to write in German and therefore practice is difficult to do.

It is very individual. Dd reads Swedish fluently as far as I know without having had much training, but then she reads a lot and has had a lot of time for reading due to poor health. She could certainly compose a letter, though she might have to look up some words.

Ds prides himself on not reading much in any language, but he is capable of reading Swedish, certainly reads the newspapers when he is over there.

I always found literacy the easiest part of any language learning: I would far rather read Dumas or Thomas Mann than have to make conversation. My mother taught me basic English but I basically acquired the literacy skills myself, just by reading.