Photo by phil wood photo
During the past weeks we’ve been dedicating some time to the topic of reading to bilingual kids. Last week we launched our new monthly series ReadMe where we’ll showcase a bilingual/Spanish children’s book and author. We also posted an article sent to us by Deanna Lyles (www.BilingualReaders.com) titled “Raising Bilingual Readers: The Art of Reading to Children in a Bilingual Home.” We highly recommend reading to your children as a language motivator and we’ll continue to explore this topic with you.
Today’s Ask an Expert question was sent by Silvia from Mamá Latina Tips. She digs deeper in to the topic of reading by exploring when is the right time to teach a child to read in a second language.
Barbara Zurer Pearson, Ph. D.
To answer this question we’ve invited one of the excellent experts in our panel, Barbara Pearson, Ph. D., respected researcher and author of the informative and extremely useful book Raising a Bilingual Child.
This is the book that got Roxana and me started and we highly recommend to you, as we stated in this post: Top 10 Books For Parents Raising Bilingual Children.
When Should My Child Learn to Read in Spanish?
“My son is five years old. He is reading in English and making a lot of effort to read in Spanish (which I think is easier, I tell him this every day! I think he is getting it though). He is also writing in English and he will start kindergarten in the Fall. So my question for the expert is: At what age or school grade should I start working at home with him to improve his writing and reading skills in Spanish?”
Dear Silvia,
You have discovered on your own what our study of 1000 children in Miami revealed. It is easier to learn to read in Spanish than English.In our study, children who learned to read in Spanish and English at the same time read quicker and better than those taught in English only. I have heard people insisting that you should not start a child reading in two languages at the same time, but we found that it worked very well.
You are right that it is very important for your son to go beyond speaking in Spanish. Just because people can speak, doesn’t mean they can write in it.His knowledge of the language will be so much deeper, if he can read it and write it, too.
I would just caution you to make sure your Spanish sessions are enjoyable for the boy and that he doesn’t see them as a chore.You want him to have only positive feelings about your language. Make sure he feels he’s getting special attention from you—and he doesn’t feel he’s missing out on something else to do Spanish.
We invite you to click on the Ask an Expert tab in the navigation menu to meet the panel, to learn more about their area of expertise and to send us your question.
Have any tips to share on how and when to teach your child to read in a second language? We´d love to read them!
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to the SpanglishBaby RSS feed!Wait! There are more posts like this one:
[...] View post: SpanglishBaby-Ask an Expert: When Should My Child Learn to Read a … [...]
My youngest son has been learning to read in both English and Spanish (mostly by himself–I have, regretably, found very little time to sit down with him to work on it!) and it has been a fun process to observe, as he sorts out the sounds of both languages. I agree that Spanish is FAR easier to read–at this point his ability to read that language far surpasses his ability to understand it! I’m hoping that, in the long run, reading in Spanish will give his Spanish vocabulary a boost, since I’m not a native speaker.
My son likes the printable books and activities on this page from McGraw-Hill, a textbook company. This link will take you to the first grade readers, but if you click on “conexión con el hogar” on the right sidebar, you can view the books for all grade levels. http://tesoros.macmillanmh.com/national/families/creating-a-home-school-partnership/grade-1-letters-%C2%BB
Thanks for the tip! I´m sure many parents will find it useful.
Thank you so much for answering to my question. And thanks for reminding me that I have to make the Spanish learning experience fun.
Tricia, thanks for the tip.
Silvia´s last blog ..Concierto con Gustavo Dudamel gratis/Free Gustavo Dudamel concert
My son learned to read in English before he was 2 and although he is bilingual I was afraid to confuse him by exposing him to text in Spanish.(I don’t mean reading to him in Spanish, I mean having him read in Spanish) But a friend assured me that he wouldn’t be confused and so of course now he can read in both. Hes 2 years old and I would say that he can read about a first or second grade level in Eng, and just below that in Spanish.
[...] series, ReadMe, which focuses on one bilingual/Spanish book and author per month; yesterday’s Ask an Expert dealt with when is the best time to teach your child to read in the minority language. Today, [...]
It’s been so great hearing these affirmations of reading in BOTH languages early in life. It’s what we have done with our 9-year-old daughter who hears mainly English and reads mainly English but has always had sprinklings of Spanish from day one!
She now reads at a 9th grade level leaving 3rd grade – a true testimonial that having to decode the two languages side-by-side encourages early reading skills and advanced reading skills.
[...] couple of weeks ago author and celebrated researcher Barbara Zurer Pearson answered the question: “When should my child learn to read in a second language?” Today’s question, sent by Claudia Hadad, digs in deeper into the issue of teaching young [...]
[...] When Should my Child Learn to Read in a Second Language? [...]
My grandson has been spoke to in hungarian by his mother since his birth and daddy spoke english. My grandson goes to daycare a few days aweek and hears english. He is almost 3 yrs old and doesn’t listen well… Do you think there might be a language barrier or maybe parenting skills?