Reading and Writing
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Importance of this Page
“We have succeeded in keeping our children carefully isolated from learning in a period of life when the desire to learn is at its peak” Glenn Doman
I nearly titled this link, “DON’T skip this link” because I thought many would see “Reading/Writing” and think, “Oh geez, it’s enough if they can speak the language.” Or perhaps your children are very young, younger than 3 or 4. It might appear too early to worry about the written word just yet. Your child, however, may be excited to learn—why stand in their way?
Should I Get Some Pointers?
Most parents have ideas on how to improve their children’s reading. They may feel they have no idea what they’re doing, but they go on instinct and oftentimes that works just fine. The following, fairly recent, email between my mother and me illustrates the instinct point:
Dear Momma,
I have a question for you. I remember (from being told later) that when I was little, you once put cards on objects around the room. Why did you do that? Can you give me any details about what motivated you to do that and what results it had? I love you and all your schemes!
Christine
Reply:
Dad just read that email and got tickled. The reason I put labels on things was to help you get a jump start on reading or recognizing words. The idea was that you knew what the objects were (chair, table, etc) and so you'd learn the word. Maybe it's like backwards reading. I don't remember where I got the idea or even if you learned to read any faster because of it. Dad thought it was funny cause when he came home and saw the labels, he wondered why I would label things you already recognized. He said to me, “But she already knows that’s a chair. Duh!!!!"
There are, however, tricks of the trade that make parents feel more confident and have been shown to be more efficient.
The Naysayers
Opponents to early teaching of reading (in the children’s first and second language) are namely worried that parents are making their child do something they really aren’t ready for or don’t want to do. John Rosemond argues that the motivation for teaching early reading comes from parents’ insecurities over not keeping up with other parents: “Unfortunately, many of today’s moms are caught up in the race for having the first reader on the block because the new standard of good mothering has it that the best mom is the one with the highest-achieving child.” Rosemond offers no support for his conviction—no research, not even anecdotal evidence. However, we can imagine this scenario in today’s society. Parents with no guidance but their own motivation for having brightest child, might negatively affect children’s desire to learn to read. If children are thrust into a strict environment of pencils and lined paper before they show an interest in wanting to read, it is possible they would develop a rather negative attitude towards reading and learning to read.
The United States has a huge market for books for babies and encourages parents to read books to babies. So it appears that we’ve agreed that early reading to a child is beneficial. So, helping children learn to read is the logical next step.
I was discussing my research with a college student who said that when she was five, she played with a four-year-old boy on her street who could already read. She learned a lot from him and she too started reading certain words as opposed to just being saying what she’d memorized from others reading to her. She said she never read around her mom—“Why should I? She read to me!” But then one day her mother saw her reading and was just shocked.
This young woman’s story set me thinking- what if we never let kids talk for themselves…it would surely slow down their learning to speak. If we give interested children the opportunities to read earlier, they will.
Signs Children Are Ready
1. If even very young children (2-3 years, for example), try to “read” books for herself. They may insist on reading when you’re trying to read to them or they may find a quiet spot and “practice reading.” Their practice generally consists of looking at the pictures, saying what they remember from memory, and making noises of the characters in the book.
2. If your child is thrilled by seeing a word on a road sign that they recognize from a book title or from the text of a book often read to him.
3. If your child is interested in an older sibling's/friends' ability to read.
4. If you child shows an interest in pointing out his own name or writing his name, run with it! Teach her the sounds each letter makes and practice writing it with her Or, let's say he wants to write the word "bird" below the bird he painted. Using tiny dots for writing the lettters is great because children can trace over it and little by little became more capable of writing the letters themselves.
How to Encourage a Love of Reading and Writing
Model for your child by writing. Involve your child in making birthday or other holiday cards for friends who speak the second language. Write the words such as "Happy Birthday" in block letters for the child to color in. Or, make the letters with tiny dots your child can trace.
Let children see you reading in the second language. Oftentimes there are magazines or free newspapers you can find in the second language. Point out pictures and the large words that accompany them. Create art by cutting out words they liked and glueing them on a page. You can write what the child wants you to write below each image.
Keep books in inviting spaces. Some in their room, some in the playroom, in the car. In the car, ask them to look at the book and tell you the story (in the second language, of course).
Make your grocery list in the second language. It's good practice for you and you will learn the names of foods, ingredients and paper goods you use everyday. (It's nice to have a pocket dictionary in your pocket or in your purse, just in case. You might also look up the word when you first start to write it down.) Let the child help with finding the items in the grocery store. Of course, the food names on the packages will be in English (or Spanish), but with the repetition of a grocery list, they will catch on to how many vegetables or meats are written.
Write in your calendar or phone message pad in the language. When the child is wondering what's coming up next, you can show him, "Let's see, oh you get to go to the dentist and then later you have a playdate with ..."
Encourage Learning to Read/Write Cognates. If you are teaching your child a cognate language, help them learn to read the 2nd language alongside the first. When they can write, "car", teach them to write "carro" for example. It's all the same principal.
Make fun things with your child...or get them started and let them take over. Let them make a "Happy Box" and decorate the outside with magazine cut-outs, stickers, words from a magazine or paper in the language-- all that make him/her happy.
Give children a cute little notebook and fun pen for them to use as they wish. When you're with them, you might write a word they're interested in using the little dots for her to trace.
For some languages, the words you're teaching in the second language may look somewhat like the child's first language.
So Encourage Learning to Read/Write Cognates
Pitfalls to Avoid
There is a huge debate in education over phonics vs. whole language. I strongly advocate using both. I would, however, teach your child the SOUNDS letters make (for example, in English, the sound for the letter j is {juh).
Later in the process you'll want your child to know to say the alfabet. It's mainly useful when they have to spell something outloud or understand something spelled aloud. That's not going to be a part of a 4 year-old's life. One exception you might make is a song about the alphabet. Kids are crazy about these songs. Find out how to sing the one in the language you're encouraging or just make up your own. (I just made up one to the same tune as the "next time won't you sing with me" one).
Please note: There is much more to come in this area. If you're in need now, let me know about your specific case through CGJ 09:37, 17 May 2006 (MST). I'll be happy to focus where you are most interested.
Methods of Teaching Reading and Writing
Remember that you are not your boring English teacher and that your child isn't sitting in a little wooden desk. Keep it fun. Here are some examples of activities that would work well. Some are suggestions for older kids (though I have a link to ideas for younger children):
1 Set up a Facebook or MySpace page in the Second Language
Often times certain languages will have their own type of MySpace, for example, Spanish site and Portuguese has a site that used to be for all users but has turned into a Brazilian social network. It's called okurt.
Kids can really take the lead in this and it is so naturally involving reading and writing. Very motivating.
2 Write Down Your Stories
Kids love to hear stories. In the car, I invent stories or while Sydney is eating (she was three at the time). I started writing down the best of the stories in the book of letters to her. I think that someday I will want to remember them or tell them to her. Plus it is a really great way for me to practice the language. I sort of have to make myself do it b/c writing doesn’t just flow for me in Portuguese, but I feel very accomplished when I finish a page or two of writing down the little stories.
3 Cards with Whole (and Very Relevant) Words
Author and children's educator, Doman suggests buying fat red pen on white posterboard to make the 4 X 24 inch cards with 3” words. I would suggest also getting a red posterboard as the background and writing in black or getting a white background and writing in red.
The most important thing to remember is that you are trying to teach your children to learn language in meaningful language chunks so teach them words they can immediately use to convey something they might really want to say. I chose as my first words:
James, Sydney, Mamae, Daddy, leite, biscoitos, adora, musica, suco
From here I can let her name other people and things she loves and we can make additional cards. It is important not to premake too many cards so the child has ownership over which words she learns to read. If she says the word in English, I’ll just ask her to say it in Portuguese and help her if she’s forgotten. Make a big deal out of the words arriving. Sydney loves playing with clips so I’d say, “the clip is here with new words, they just got here!” (as if they dropped in from some magical place). Othertimes I hid the words around the room.
Perhaps as your next set of words you can teach imperatives since just as single words they are meaningful chunks that call someone to action: Pare, coma, dance, fale, cante, beba (stop, eat, dance, talk, sing, drink) and I can do whatever she’s just read or she can do it instead of saying it. Then these can be put with the words previously learned: James, beba leite! Daddy, coma biscoitos!” Sydney, cante musica.
One the third round, do the names of people they care about…friends and family or places they like to go so they can couple those with the words they have learned or with another verb like “to like.” Granny, Paw Paw, Jernigan, Grandma, Pop, Queeny, Grandpa, gosto de, avoid grammar problems for now and differences in first and second person by using only the third person (i.e. “mommy” and the child’s name)
4 Decorating with Words
I really tried to keep variety in the lessons. Use clip art or cut from coloring books a small picture, then paste it to 2 taped together pieces of 8 by 11 paper. Write the word you’re trying to teach (say the picture is of a girl reading a book), then write the word “book” very large across the tope of the page in block letters. Then encourage the child to guess what the word is by looking at the picture and let her color the word. Color with the child, making over the letters they are working on and coloring some yourself. You can encourage the child to draw a big book and then you can write the word “book” inside the book they drew. Then let the child choose the next word you do and search for pictures in a magazine or in the newspaper. Be constantly on the lookout for new ways to integrate the words into your home. Several lessons were quite fun because I chose words in certain rooms, such as her playroom (words like “playhouse” and “couch”) and after I’d read them to her, I took them into that room and said, “okay now on the couch, let’s stick the word “couch” and she’d have to pick up that word and bring it to me (I tried not to make it a testing situation by really needing her to bring it to me b/c I was not standing next to the word and I was busy with getting the tape ready. IF she brought me the wrong word, I wouldn’t mention the error, instead I’d say, “oh, you want to hand ‘window’ first, and would try to give her a memory hook for that word that somehow related to window (connecting form to content).
5 'Making Your Own Books
One of the most fun stage is when you can make little books for children. Again, I used the advice of Glenn Doman who suggests that you write the words quite large on large pieces of paper, then put any illustrations on the page AFTER the words. At first I couldn’t imagine why this was necessary—why not encourage children to use context to guess the meaning of words, but after doing it myself, I think I understand his rationale. That way, children really focus in on the words. It makes this book different from the other books they “read” by improvising as they look at the pictures because they are truly looking at the words and deciphering the meaning.
I took large pieces of white poster board and cut them all the same length (8 by 20 inches or so) and then punched wholes in the sides and poked string through the holes that I tied in bows to serve as binding. Our first book was quite simple: Sydney’s book. Sydney was born in Australia. Sydney likes dogs and cats. Sydney loves Mommy and Daddy. I cut out pictures of dogs and cats and drew a map of Australia and cut out pictures of Australian things like kangaroos and koala bears for her to stick on the pages after related sentences. I was so excited after I made the book b/c I knew she’d just love it. I decided that while I don’t let her play with the card words on her own, that I would treat the book as a gift that she can play with and read whenever she likes.
6 Games Based on School Games
Preschools and schools do so many rich "games" ("work") with language. Copy some of their methods. Add your own twist. Many Journal entries from "Journal from the Trenches," for example July 1, 2008 are about teaching my children to read borrowing from their instructors.
Please note: There is much more to come in this area. If you're in need now, let me know about your specific case through CGJ 09:37, 2 July 2008 (MST). I'll be happy to focus where you are most interested.
Meanwhile you man find the following links helpful in giving examples of how others have taught reading and writing:
http://www.bilingualwiki.com/index.php?title=1-1_1/2
http://www.bilingualwiki.com/index.php?title=James_6-12_Months%2C_Sydney_2_1/2-_3_Years
http://www.bilingualwiki.com/index.php?title=James_1_-_1_1/2_Years%2C_Sydney_3-_3_1/2_Years
http://www.bilingualwiki.com/index.php?title=James_0-6_Months%2C_Sydney_2-_2_1/2_Years
http://www.bilingualwiki.com/index.php?title=James_0-6_Months%2C_Sydney_2-_2_1/2_Years
These links might also be helpful:
http://www.bilingualwiki.com/index.php?title=Should_My_Child_Learn_to_Read_in_English_First%3F
http://www.bilingualwiki.com/index.php?title=Books%2C_Music%2C_and_Television
You might also want to check the recent discussion on teaching reading and writing. http://www.bilingualwiki.com/index.php?title=Talk:Reading_and_Writing
Your input would be much appreciated.
What About Older Children?
So what do you do if your child speaks the foreign language well, but has not learned to read or write in the foreign language yet. Let's take an 8-year-old. By this age, children have the skills (in the language taught in their school) to reading silently. However, they still enjoy and need adult read-aloud time.
This is even more imperative if you'd like to encourage them to read in the foreign language. It will be slower and take more work for them, but with practice, it's quite achievable. First, find some options for buying/borrowing books in the foreign language. Try the Children's Library.
You might look for books that are...
1 Solely in the foreign language, not dual language books. Books with a glossary in the language the child is learning in school are fine.
Google, for example, the four words (with 2 in quotes), "children's books" in French which will most likely take you to Amazon.com. If you continue your search, however, you will likely find websites that sell a greater books in the language. If you are unsure of whether the book is at your child's reading level, call the website's number or send an email telling its manager your child's situation. Be sure to include what types of materials interest your child (mysteries, comedies...), their reading level in school, their level in the foreign language, and what your goals ar in general
Askjeeves is also helpful, with keywords such as children's books in German, Children's Literature German, or even German Children's literature, for a few extra alternatives.
2 Available to buy or borrow from where you live (if you're on a German website, you will need to know ahead of time that it's possible to have the book shipped to you, in the US, for example).
3 For the appropriate age-level. For an 8-year-old, go with books written for children 5-
4 Material you feel your child would be interested in. Don't shy away from comic books or other "not-academic" reading. I mean, do you as a parent want to read purely classics for your fun reading? For a list of book types your kids might love, see Paideia school's list of hints.
5 Appropriate for your child specific needs. Use the "Contact Us" page o websites you've found and get some pointers on finding what would specifically fit your child's interests/reading level. Don't be shy to email the contact email or call the phone number and explain your child's situation, what the objectives are, etc.) Let them know what he reads for fun and in school (the books he reads at school and for fun).
Discussing Reading and Writing with your Children
An important goal of the parent should be to include their son/daughter in on the process. Let your children know you think they would love being able to read in Portuguese. See if they have any reasons why that might be helpful. Share your feelings on why you feel it important that they learn to read/write in the language. You know your child well enough to think of how to get them interested in something new. Let them know that you're not going to force them to read anything, of course...that the readings will be of their choosing. Then look over with them the sites you feel are appropriate (or let them do so themselves if they're computer savvy). Encourage them to find other sites that sell books in the foreign language.
