Teaching to read a second language instead of your native language?

[nuria2012]

Well, I am taking advantage that my little daughter is sleeping to write in the forum. I am always going to and fro... The thing is that I had not in mind that my little daugher could be a possible bilingual child before finding LR, ten months ago.

The point is that I bought LR, and began to use with her. It is very good programme, , the truth. I am teaching her to read in English, and nothing in Spanish. I wish LR presents Spanish version soon, and I can buy the programme except the books, so that I will write the words to take advantage of the English books that I bought last May. Sometimes I have had a look at the Spanish files, very good as well.

Is there anybody who has taught to read the second language instead of the first language??? She is reading some words such as hi, Pocoyo, ...I am not interested to create a perfect speaker,  I make many mistakes,  what I want is that she can have the opportunity  to know a second language to have better expectations in the future. I began with this wonderful programme and sometimes I stop and think and think.

[MamaOfWill]

Hi,

English is my child's second language too, but I'm mainly teaching him reading (and many other things) in English.  His father is English, so is many of our family and friends, so I'm not sure if we have the same situation.  His days are filled with about 75% Afrikaans 25% English, but because of all my reading to him in English and teaching him in English, he seems to be speaking English better than Afrikaans.  (When he's playing by himself, he talks to himself and his toys in English, but he will talk Afrikaans when spoken to in Afrikaans.  He's still mixing a bit on both sides.)

Little Reader plays a huge role in me teaching my son English and everything else and has contributed greatly to his English language acquisition.  On average, bilingual children are behind monolinguals in the early years, but Wilhelm is well ahead, probably using over 1000 words per language and using full sentences like "I am going home now, see you tomorrow." (And that's not just repeating phrases.)  He's 26 months old.  Sorry that I'm bragging, but I'm very proud - this is the one area of his development that is going very well.  (I suppose many on this forum have similar stories too, nothing new here.)

As far as teaching READING goes, Wilhelm is not reading yet.  I sometimes wonder if he would have read by now if I only focused on one language.  (We do a little bit of Chinese and Zulu too.)  If I could have it all over again, I would have only read and taught reading in English, and only started on teaching him to read in other languages after he "got it."

All the best!  Those nap times are golden - make'm count!

[nuria2012]

Hi MammaOfWill,

your situation is different from mine, that it is true. You are lucky because your husband is English and it is perfect. Two languages with tho native speakers   You can see his progress and it must be wonderful with his age. Enjoy it!!!  My daughter is learning words and I am also proud of her.

Today I have gone with my brother to take her some photos in a very beautiful garden. We have spent a very beautiful morning. I want she learns traditional songs in Spanish as well. I have some material in English but nothing in Spanish. I live in Spain and generally I teach English, that it is the reason why I have English material. Now I am loloking in youtube songs in Spanish, for children. They are lovely.

As far as Reading is concerned, that is my doubt, teaching her English before Spanish. In Spain if you want your child learn a second language with a good level, you must pay a private but very expensive, for me, school.I have LR ... and it is an sexcellent tool.

She is learning the numbers, colours.....in Spanish and English, 60 percent I speak to her in Spanish and I use the English language when my husband is not at home. I am improving my accent, and it is a good point for me too so that I cannot afford to live abroad. I have read many articles about non native speakers teaching babies. There is something in common, generally. It is good, especially if it is used good language learners programmes. But she is not reading anything in Spanish. Now she is learning the sounds in English with the balloons aaa apple bbb banana c cat, she repeats the sound even she tries to imitate the words. WIll do it that in Spanish too??  aaa  araña bbb burro  ccc .... or only speak to her in Spanish? I want to take adventage  of LR now that  she is the right age

I thank  and everybody  any type of advice or opinion

[mario]

nuria2010

I'm also a non-native English speaker, and this is the language I use with my child.

Before I have seen LR, I had in my mind that I would teach my son to read in English, because this is the language of our relationship. It may seem odd, but I think that for him it would be more strange If I suddenly changed the language.

Now that I know LR, my plan is much more focused and I fell much more confident about what I'm doing.

Since English is his second language, I allow him to watch TV only in English.

Also, I teach everything in English for him: colors, shapes, etc.

[nuria2012]

Hi Mario,

Thank you for your answer.

 My daughter is only watching TV in the English language except when going to her grandparents. I think that it is a very good way so that she has a good accent and she is surrounded of a more English environment, with its big shortcomings. The best solution would be living abroad but it is not possible.

You say that you use the English language in order to speak to your little child. Then, you never speak to him in your own language and it does it his mother . I suppose. The thing is that my little sunshine, is always with me, and I think that I must speak to her in Spanish to reinforce what she is learning with her father. I am more self-confident now, because I know that it would be good for her in the future, especially here in a country where there are a large number of tourists.

Thanks for saying to be that you use the second language to speak to her, before the first language. Sometimes when speaking to her in English, I wonder is it good? In my case, I wonder The typical question, is she going to mix both languages? Yes, she will do it. I will have to help her. It is a goal.

[mario]

Hi nuria,

There is a great book about this called The Bilingual Edge. There is also a lot of blogs about parents doing the same. I got more confident when I read these resources.

At first, I was doing this OPOL but I heard from two people from Europe that I should not speak with my child in a language that is not my mother tongue. So I started looking for resources and I'm now pretty sure they were wrong. Here there is a lot of people also teaching languages that they don't even speak. That's why I love this forum. People here are open minded and always in look for what is best for their kids.

I also read a book from Madalena Cruz-Ferreira called Three is a Crowd. This is a very great book. From there I got more relaxed with OPOL. The majority of parents who say they follow OPOL actually don't do. So, to reply to what you understood, I don't talk to him 100% of the time in English. I'd say 95% of my time with him and I'm ok with this. And also I change to Portuguese when there is someone else.

By the way, I'm Spanish descendant My son is Brazilian, of course, but his heritage is 25% Spanish, 25% Japanese and 50% German.

[lelask]

I also teach my daughter everything in English. First I wasn ´t sure but then I got LR and other programmes and it helped a lot , she heard the proper pronunciation ( mine is quite good but I liked that support), there were new words, it expanded our vocabulary- there were words I knew but wasn ´t using them. The download section is great- I am learning all the time

I didn't do OPOL since I found it really hard to speak only in English. My voice - when speaking in english - is in different pitch so I suffered several sore throats    and still do - so I use my native language to relax my throat- not sure if that makes sense to you .
So we decided for English when alone and native language when not alone. Except preschool where I am also her teacher and I use only English with children.
And for me the main target was to teach her to use and understand the second language with confidence. The thing that she is learning to read with LR is a great great bonus and also when I started I didn ´t have all the knowledge about early reading as I have now.
She wasn't mixing languages very much or often , we experienced a bit of coding - but it sounded so cute and I didn't worry about that at all ,and it lasted only for a while. Now she has no problem, right now she is in a stage she loves and prefers English language. She uses English while playing and asks for English even when we are not alone- so I just follow her lead.
I am not teaching her to read in native language but I tested her a little two days ago and asked her to find some word and she did so I guess she lerns to read in our native language somehow by herself. But I am playing with the idea of teaching her to read in Slovak as well. Will see what happens

[nuria2012]

Hello lellak,

Sorry for my late answer. I also tend to use English when I am alone with my baby. I want to use the second language at least 40 percent of the time. When I am with my husband I have to change the language to speak to him, but in the future, perhaps he will have to be familiar with this matter. A thing, you say that your child does not mix languages, how old is she?

I am reading blogs about non native speakers teaching children. It is something very possitive to help us in our goal. I am looking for more and more vocabulary in English: bahtime, bedtime and so on. If someone knows a link, it would be wonderful. I am learning about vocabulary in general as well. If I want to speak to her in English as much as possible, I must learn a lot a lot. My accent is not so bad, but I want improve it and I listen   to different programmes and news to get rid of my Spanish accent.

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