Have just realised that if dd is going to read in English, I'm probably going to have to teach her [shock] - has anyone been in this situation? Any tips?

[Mmmango]

This perhaps should have occurred to me earlier

Dd is 3 and doing fine verbally in 3 languages (we've used OPOL, plus nursery in a 3rd language). By 'fine' I mean she's within the normal range for all 3, although probably below average English as compared to monolingual kids the same age.

I've really only just started thinking about this... I suppose I want to know if anyone has taken responsibility for their childs' literacy, how did you go about it, what resources did you use? What kind of age do kids learn to read anyway? Would appreciate any kind of input, really.

Are you the English-speaking parent then? Or are you saying you have to teach your child to read in a language that would mean breaking your OPOL?

Have you looked at the Glenn Doman book, how to teach your baby to read?

My dd is 5.5 and goes to a french speaking school. I haven't "pushed" the reading in English as she won't start at school til next year. We started with magnetic letters and picture cards - A is for apple etc.

We had an evil contraption made by leapfrog that stuck on the fridge and when you stuck the letter in it, "said" the letter. Dd loved it, and it certainly helped her remember the letters. Then I think I got some ORT flash cards and we started playing matching/spelling games. We played Eye-spy on the bus - helps to link the letter sound to the word.

When reading to her, I started pointing out simple words, mum, dad, cat etc and we started spelling these, writing them, and looking at words when out and about. She really enjoyed the Jolly Phonics programme on TV so we bought that on DVD. We have quite a good Mister Man alphabet one too.

All of the above was done in quite a relaxed way I hasten to add, just as part of normal play / day to day life. Recently DSIS has donated the first 3 levels of the Oxford Reading Tree, so we have made some great progress with these too.

I have a minor panic occasionally, when UK friends tell of their 4 yos practically reading Shakespeare at school , but then I think hey - mine might be a bit behind now but in a year she will be reading and writing in TWO languages.

Yes, I'm the English-speaking parent and the nursery/future school language is Thai, so totally different script as well. I haven't read a thing, will look at the book you suggested on Amazon, thanks - but is it really aimed at babies?

Porto, loads of ideas, thank you. She has a few reader-type books, so I try to show her the words as I'm reading them. She's memorised a couple of the easiest ones, which is good for showing off to dp's family but not really constructive

It is indeed aimed at babies - but can be used for all children who are learning to read before school kicks in. Have a look anyway - if it's not for you then it's not for you, but lots of people swear by it.

Are there any fellow English speakers you could share this with btw? Is there a Saturday school, for example?

I was raised bilingual in Malay and English. I went to an English language school, but the Chinese accent was so strong that it came close to being a third language. I was very, very slow learning to read, and then only when my Mum finally cracked and taught me herself. I finally cracked it at about 6.5, was reading real books by 7.5, and was speed reading before I was 10.

So you probably will need to help her, it may take a while longer, but your dd is more likely to benefit that suffer long term.

There is a fascinating book called Proust and the Squid which I read recently which talks about the development of writing and reading skills in both historical and child development. I found it explained quite a bit about how different languages and especially different types of alphabet affect brain development.

No English speakers with families, miflaw. I'm just not into the whole 'play-Mozart-to-the-foetus' thing, but as dd is 3 already it doesn't really apply, does it? And I do think I need a How-to guide. Amazon will probably have a sale on after Xmas - maybe i'll get both the book suggestions.

never, how is your written Malay now? did you study that at school, too? I don't know anything about written malay but I think it uses roman script, right? I'm always interested to hear about kids with one western parent who grew up in Asia - trying to avoid at least some of the pitfalls, I suppose

I did a lot of what Portofino did - basically making reading part of normal day to day play and activity time. I also read English books every bedtime to him (sometimes during the day as well, of course!), following the words on the page as I was reading them so they might sink in that way too. Our ds ended up being quite a keen reader (in both languages/scripts), and still reads whenever he has a free moment - he's more likely to take a book or magazine when we go out or travel somewhere rather than his Nintendo, for example.

Just keep at it in a fun way and maybe ask questions or talk about the books you read together afterwards to make it more enjoyable and interesting for her. I think children also learn from those around them so, if you read a lot yourself anyway, she'll probably be more inclined to want to read as well. Also choose books she's most likely to be interested in: this might be an obvious point to make but I know our ds was sometimes put off by the books he had to read at school, which we balanced out by buying him books he'd actually enjoy reading as a bit of encouragement! Magazines are also good as an addition to books. Some have activity pages that help them learn words etc. in a fun way.

It sounds like your dd is doing OK, though, so it probably won't take too much effort on your part now to encourage her reading in English. Good luck and have fun!

mmmango - i am trying to teach ds1(5.2) to read in english - we're in germany but he'll not start school until next year at the earliest. I felt that if we had stayed in the UK he'd have started school and be starting to read.

someone on MN recommended a book called "teach your child to read in 100 lessons" (or a title like that!).

My son is a very reluctant reader but is doing really well with it. It was an ideal book for a teaching novice like me - it teaches phonics then moves on to building words then there are little stories. The stories are ridiculous but each story only uses words they've already sounded out.

I combine this with encouraging him to look for words he knows in other books - he's just not overly enthused at the moment!

hope that helps

My dcs are at Gaelic language school where they don't start learning literacy in English until age 7-8. So I wouldn't worry too much yet!

Hi, I was just going to recocommend this book - I think I also recommended it to Canella - we are English and the kids are now in school in Germany. I've taught 3 of my kids to read using this book. (well, 2.5, ds3 is a work in progress).

ds1 & 2 are both avid readers

meant to add, unless your dc expressing a direct interest in learning to read, I'd leave it till she was 5 or even 6, she'll pick it up very quickly and easily, no rush imo, certainly not at age 3, just no need, imo

weegiemum, I did say I have no idea about literacy! looking at the replies, people have mostly started literacy work when kids were 4 or 5. I also need to find out when she'll start Thai literacy. I know they'll be doing lots of chanting and rote learning, so i feel like i'd like to get started with English before the boredom puts her off reading in general

btw, 1hand typing as bf dd2 - apols for grammar etc

meant to say thanks for book suggestions too

I was born in Sabah in the late 1950's, and all the British children learned Malay - we were unusual because Mum insisted that we learned English first. (This was in response to various horror stories of families going back to the UK on leave and the children being unable to communicate with their grandparents.)

It was an absolutely wonderful childhood and I am sure that your dc will benefit.

Malay was written in Arabic script (Jawi), but changed to Roman just after the war, I think. My Dad had a good story of trying to send a message in Jawi to a jungle village during the Emergency (1950's) wanting them to clear a landing strip, but no-one in the village could read Jawi. I suspect literacy was pretty limited then, which was why the alphabet change was feasible.

I never really learned to write Malay formally, but could read it fine once I had learned in English. I lost most of it when we came back to the UK when I was 7, which still saddens me. I was also taught to read and write a little Chinese, some of which I still remember - despite speaking no Chinese at all!

However, DS did a project about Sabah at school last term, and was very puzzled because I was reading Malay words in a Malay accent. I hadn't even realised I did it until that point. He actually knew most of the words (we use a lot of Malay vocab) but he had never seen them written down before.

sorry ernest - had totally forgotten who it was who recommended that book to me! i am very grateful though - would have had no idea how to teach the dc to read otherwise!

Have to say that, however people subsequently use it, Doman is SO not "Mozart to the foetus". His work was based on teaching severely brain-damaged children. He found that they could be taught to read, by their parents, to beyond the level their "normal" peers were learning at school. He reasoned that, if children with brain damage could accomplish this, so could other children.

His second principle is that small children WANT to read and that they do, whether you teach them or not - advertising slogans, text printed on packaging and appliances, much-loved books - they want to read. So why not foster that desire rather than make them wait to do so at a snail's pace with 20 or 30 other kids?

Anyway, sales pitch over - have a look and see what you think.

Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons is superb, as is the online programme Headsprout which i have just finished a major research project on (don't work for them) as well as using it with my own child who is second language speaker.
I am a SALT working in a bilingual setting (and am trilingual myself).
It's terrific and as online it is dynamic so responds to child's pace. The more practice needed at a particular level, the more practice it downloads.
It is without a doubt one of the most important developments in teaching of reading of 20 century (althoguh the child only thinks they are playing a fun game).

I also used the Teach your Child to Read in 100 Easy lessons for our kids (bilingual English/German) and it was great. I think I started when they were about 5 and expressed an interest.