new to brillkids - trilingual baby learning to read

aangeles

Posts: 660
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« on: September 05, 2009, 02:35:59 PM »

Hello everyone!

My husband and I have a bright adorable 14 month old baby girl, Ella. I just recently came across BrillKids while surfing through some early childhood learning sites. I wish I had known about this site/forum 14 months ago! I am very interested in learning more about the Little Reader/Little Math programs and how I can adapt them to our specific situation and very unique little girl.

We started teaching Ella to read when she was 3 months old using the YBCR program and she responded positively and enthusiastically. At 6 months, we started using baby sign language with her while continuing YBCR. We found out she could read when she was 9-10 months old when she started doing the actions of words like clap, wave, arms up, etc. As her baby signing skills continued to develop, we discovered that she could read even more words than we gave her credit for. Now at 14 months old, she can read most of the words in her YBCR flap books by signing them (she hasn't really started talking yet.) We also introduced her to the Baby Learns Chinese videos (kind of like YBCR but in Chinese) when she was 10 months old. I should mention that we are a trilingual family. My husband speaks English and Filipino to her, I speak Mandarin Chinese to her, and she also gets English from her daycare. At this point, she understands Chinese and English almost equally well and Filipino a little less so. She understands that things are called different names in different languages and shows this to us by making the same sign whether we say it in English, Chinese, or Filipino. I haven't tested her reading in Chinese yet because I didn't want to push her.

I have several questions for the experts and members who have a similar situation to ours:
1. Recently we noticed that she is not as engrossed/interested anymore when we show her the YBCR videos and I think this is because she already knows most of the words and not because she is becoming tired of learning. What do you recommend as the next step? Do we stop YBCR altogether? Should we start teaching phonics? Is the Little Reader program more advanced than YBCR and should we progress to that? How is LR different from YBCR?

2. She is starting to show more interest in her Baby Learns Chinese videos as her interest in YBCR wanes. However, I don't think they are as effective as YBCR in teaching to read. Can I use LR to teach her Chinese? Does the LR program use traditional Chinese characters rather than simplified Chinese? I would like to teach her the traditional characters.

3. What is the best age to start using Little Math? Is this too much for us to take on at this point? I do not doubt little Ella's amazing capacity to learn. But will we have the time to do this? My husband and I both work fulltime as surgeons in a very busy hospital. I would like to have an idea of the time commitments required before making the decision to purchase LR/LM.

Sorry for the very long post and thank you for this great forum!


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nhockaday

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Re: new to brillkids - trilingual baby learning to read

« Reply #1 on: September 13, 2009, 03:46:48 PM »

Hi, and welcome to the forums! I will try to remember everything that I wrote in my original post, which happened to be a lot.
I will try to answer your questions to the best of my ability. It sounds like you are doing a great job with your daughter, btw.

1. It is very likely that your daughter knows most of the words on YBCR since she has been watching it for so long. My son gets bored with it too. I just show him the videos occasionally to refresh his memory, and we still do the flash cards and books from time to time. You can start showing her words that are not included in YBCR, or you can start making couplets ans short sentences with the words she has already learned. Little Reader is great for that. It is easy to make your own files, or you can download some that other people have made. Plus, we have a curriculum that covers many non-YBCR words, and also shows phonics, couplets, and eventually short sentences. These are already pre-made, so you just press play. You can see the advantages of LR over YBCR here http://www.brillkids.com/teach-reading/advantages-of-using-little-reader.php

2. Lr can be used to teach Chinese. We don't have a Chinese curriculum yet, but you can download files or make your own.

3. I would start with LM ASAP. It is good for any age, but it has been suggested that babies and young toddlers can perceive quantity, and the ability starts to diminish as they get older. LM starts off with quantity, then adds math problems, then goes to numerals. 14 months is a great time to start showing her LM.

A LM lesson is only a couple of minutes long, and a LR lesson is a few minutes long. So if you do both lessons, we're talking about less than 10 minutes. It is suggested that you do these both twice a day, but you should tailor the lessons to your child. There are some parents who break up the lessons, and others, like me, who show more than the recommended amount. It all depends on your child.
Why not try the free 14 day trial of both LR and LM? You will be able to see exactly what a lesson is like and if your daughter enjoys them. You can read more about both systems and take the trail here http://www.brillkids.com/


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"While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about."

aangeles

Posts: 660
Karma: 214
Baby: 2

Re: new to brillkids - trilingual baby learning to read

« Reply #2 on: September 14, 2009, 02:28:21 AM »

Thank you very much for your very informative response! I checked out your suggestions and have decided to purchase the LR+LM bundle. Thanks again for re-posting your detailed reply!