Not much progress with Little Reader. Anyone like me?

[kim tham]

Hi everyone,

I have been using Little Reader with my son since he was 19 months and he is now 25 months. We finished the last lesson - day 130 yesterday. However, he did not progress much with reading words although he loves the Little Reader very much.  He pays more attention to the pictures rather than the words themselves. He remembers all images and uses them correctly in daily life but not reading the words.  I also teach him to read Vietnamese using Power Point slide show together with reading out loud for him and he is doing very well. He could learn to read 4-5 new Vietnamese words every 2-3 days, sometimes even faster if it comes to his favourite topics like toys and animals.

In fact, we speak 3 languages at home, Vietnamese, Polish and English.  He can communicate very well in Vietnamese. He understands almost everything that my husband says in Polish but he can’t speak much. English, thanks to Little reader, he can speak heaps now, but, just words by words, not whole sentence yet.

I just wonder if any of you here have the similar problem like mine?  I would love to hear from you for any advice that could help me to teach my son to read better.

Thanks all

[Anna_Eliza]

Wow! No wonder you're a SUPERB! Hope my baby will love it too.

[TeachingMyToddlers]

Hi Kim-

There are usually some verbal delays when acquiring language in a multi-language household, so I am guessing that may very well hold true for reading multiple languages as well.

If he enjoys LR, perhaps you might start the curriculum over again? I don't think it would hurt anything. Also, if he is just looking at the pictures, what if you did two sessions. First show words only, then show a couple files with pictures too as a reward.

In the vietnemse slides, are there pictures as well?

Also, you could consider printing out some of the categories in flashcard form and see if he responds differently to presenting them that way, maybe even sticking with the same sets for a longer period of time or until mastery. (But please don't drill him, & stop before he gets bored!)  Maybe he just needs more time to feel comfortable with his non-primary language.

And I wanted to add, it is HUGE that he is speaking lots of words in English! That is wonderful. The reading will come along, above all, enjoy the time spent together teaching him!

[kim tham]

Hi TMT,

Thank you very much for your response. I will surely restart the curriculum over again, but worry that he will get bored with old pictures. One problem here is that if I show him only words, he will scream till I give him pictures I have made quite many flash cards but he's not interested even a little bit. So, I have to quit totally this method. He just loves sitting in front of the computer

The Vietnamese slides include words followed by pictures similiar to LR. However, I pause longer on words to encourage him to speak out and I play quickly on pictures.

I have the same thought that maybe multi-language speaking causes him delays in learning English especially while he communicates mainly with me and his grandmother in Vietnamese. Hopefully, he will catch up some more English when he goes to child care. In deed, I am happy that he could speak that many of English words though he hasn't read properly yet.

 

.

[kim tham]

Thank you, Anna, for your reply. I am sure that your baby will love LR. Good sucess!

[lelask]

We speak two languages at home but we are ng LR for english only for now. We are on lesson 81  and I don't see her being reading any time soon. I think she also like the pictures more than the words. When we get to pattern phonics she pulls my hand telling me to switch it off .I guess she nows there is no picture following the word.    I stopped playing her the multisensory sections to see if there will be any change.
She speaks english with me,she recognises words when she hears them in songs- which I think is huge success  ,but I am not sure she understands the written form. I am not testing her so I will just wait.

I think you are doing great teaching your son three languages. It's about time we start it too.Could you write here your schedule with all of three languages, please?

[TracyR4]

I can't comment on speaking multiple languages since American English is all we speak in our home. But I have started with Chinese and Japanese (what interested my daughter) and its taking her longer to learn the words from the different language than it does in her primary language.
So I'm thinking that because Vietnamese is your primary language he is going to learn to read what he speaks, hears and understands first. The learning to read in English for him will come later on if you continue with it. It just isn't going to come as fast as him learning to speak in the language that he is more familiar with.

[Tanikit]

Why don't you try the second semester of Little Reader with him? My daughter also wasn't interested in the phonics but I have started reinforcing it now that she is reading at a grade 1 level and she knows more than I realised. A lot of the curriculum is useful for general knowledge too so I have not stopped the multisensory aspects - they are picking it up even if they wont show you. My daughter often takes months before I realise that she has got something I told her not just in reading.

[c4andy20]

I had the same problem with my 1.5 year old. She didn't want to look at the words only the pictures. This went on for a couple of months (from14months to 17 months). Then I decided to print out flashcards with the word on one side and picture on the other. I show her the flash card, say the word to her. Then hand her the flashcard so she can "discover" the picture for herself. We have been doing this for about a month now and she loves it. Now she is willing to look at the word because she knows she gets to hold it and look at the picture. She is still not really reading to me yet, but I don't want to test her or push her. I know that eventually she will read. She will just have to do it in her own time. I know that I just have to be patient and consistent, which is really hard for me because my older two were reading to me at her age. I did have to laminate all the flash cards though, because my 2 toddlers are very rough with them.


It's great that you are teaching so many languages at once. If he is reading Vietnamese well, then it could be that it might take him longer to learn English because it's not his primary language. He sounds like a smart kid so I'm sure if you just stay consistent and have fun, he will eventually start reading to you in English.

I should mention that we speak English and Spanish at home, but I don't think it makes a big difference in my case because like I said the other two were reading at her age.

[TeachingMyToddlers]

Great ideas about printing it out and letting DD "discover" it for herself! We also  recently starting using more props s to let my son hold as I show him the flashcards, he seems like enjoy that. So, when doing animals we'll use animal figurines and things like that.

I just LOVE these forums, so many great parents contributing to help each other. Let us know how it goes!

[fma001]

It is best to use multiple approaches. YBCR, Powerpoint slides and starfall.com worked for my first child but not my second. She was never interested in YBCR, although she loved starfall. Adding Little Reader, Dolch words (http://www.mrsperkins.com/dolch.htm) and Larry Sanger's flashcards (http://larrysanger.org/2010/12/baby-reading/) were very effective. She started reading a couple of months before turning 3. My first was reading phonetically a few months before turning 2. The more you try, the more likely it is that you will find something that they are interested in.

I also taught both of my children to use a mouse at 2.5 years, so they could play starfall.com by themselves. This is very easy to do if you buy a Leapfrog Clickstart computer. You don't need to get any games because they can learn enough using the built in games. You can also get magnetic words and put sentence together. These can be really fun to play with and they don't cost too much.

Fridge Words Magnetic Word Builder and LeapFrog WordLaunch Learn-to-Read-It System are great toys for teaching.

[kim tham]

Dear all,

I am so surprise to have recieved such many good advices from you. We have a great forum here where there are great parents who are always around to support others. I have learned so much from you. Thanks all.

@fma001: Thank you very much for the great source of alternative approaches. They are really helpful. I have also tried the magnetic letters and my boy loves it, but he just plays with it like toys and doesnt like  when I put them into words. I guess he just needs more time 

@c4andy20, I just love your idea of flash cards. Maybe I should give it a try.

@Leslak: Our schedule is very simple. It is a everyday schedule include morning (before his nap time, around 11.30 or 12.30) and evening (before his bed time, around 7.30 - 8.30). I play LR in English first then followed right away with Vietnamese lessons. It's easier with LR since everything has already programmed. But, with Vietnamese, I have to make new slides every 3-4 days and this really takes time. I know the other parents choose differrent days for differrent languages. But, in my case, my boy, he loves to learn words in both languages so I just go ahead to teach him 2 language at once. So far, he has not made any mix-up in using languages yet.




 

[fma001]

Kim,

You can actually get sets of magnetic words for making poems and stories. My daughter had no interest in the letters either. But she enjoys the words. Making silly sentences can be a lot of fun for kids.

[lelask]

Hi Kim, I am glad to read this " I play LR in English first then followed right away with Vietnamese lessons."    as this is the system what I think I will use. I speak to my daughter in english when we are together alone and slovak when daddy back home from work or when with other people .That means we don't do native reading very often, which is not good( as he leaves early and comes back late).I didn't want to play both languages at once thinking she will get confused by me using two languages at the same time. But I will have to give it a try and hope it will work for us as well.
The best thing would probably be to use LR with one language and physical flashcards with other to make it different but I am not sure I would have time for making them.
I can't find magnetic letters in our language anywhere  . There is such a big gap in early education here in Slovakia.

If there are other parents in same situation please share how you use LR and LM with both languages.

[Anna_Eliza]

That's really challenging. Children have a very short attention span. So, I guess you have a great patience for it. I suggest you play English songs at home, watch English movies and read English books with them. It's more exciting to have more time while teaching them. You can also install E-books or Encyclopedia on your computer.

You're their GREAT TEACHER!!!

GOODLUCK...

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