I have a 2 years boy and just started teaching him to read. I'm a bit confuse, I speak to my boy with mandarin only but later in the school he will learn English eventually. Which language should I teach him to read at the moment? Is it good if I teach him English and Mandarin together in the same time using Little Reader ? I concern he will get confuse with the Eng. Any advise how to teach my boy for two languages ? thanks
I am in almost the same situation with my daughter. I have spoken only Mandarin to her since she was born (except when I am teaching her to read in English and teaching her math/science). Her dad speaks only Filipino to her and she learns English and Spanish in daycare. I don't think it will confuse them to learn to read both Mandarin and English at the same time since the two languages are entirely different - English is alphabet-based and requires knowledge of phonics to read while Chinese is character-based and depends almost entirely on rote memorization of characters to read. We also use very different parts of our brain when learning English vs. Chinese. I wouldn't worry too much about your son getting confused. If you are looking for an easy hassle-free way of teaching both languages at the same time, then I think Little Reader is your best bet. The curriculum for both English and Chinese are already built in and you only have to press play. If your son stays at home with you and you can show him the lessons throughout the day, then it would be better if you can break up the English and Chinese lessons into different sessions during the day. In our case, I work full time outside the home and only have a few minutes in the morning and a few hours at night to teach my daughter. So I usually end up showing her English, Chinese, and Spanish lessons in the morning in one sitting, and then English, Chinese, and French in the evening also all in one sitting. As far as I can tell, it is working out for her.
Digg
