Teaching reading in Russian and English

[Guest Olga T.]

Hello everyone.  

 

I would like your advice on how to begin homeschooling in a household where Russian is the only language we communicate in.  We live in US and speak English very well, but our children (4 and 2 yo) speak only Russian.  The older one started attending preschool last September so she can learn English; the school began teaching her English letters and sounds.  She already knows all the Russian letters and is starting to read in Russian, but because of the preschool education, she is getting some of the letters mixed up with English letters (many of them are very similar).  Do you think she should continue this simultaneous education of English and Russian in two different settings or should I take her out of the preschool and get her reading and writing in Russian first before I begin the introduction to the English.  The main reason we have her going to the preschool is that everyone that we are friends with speak English only and she cannot play with the kids because she doesn't know the language, so I figured this would be a good place for her to learn while still keeping our household Russian speaking.  

 

From this, my second question comes up.  How do you feel about sight words for early readers reading in different languages?

 

-Olga 

[JDoe]

Continue as you are doing with the two languages, good job. 

 

Sight words -  don't like.

[Tsuga]

Sight words are not necessary in English though they may be appealing for those who don't like the complicated English phonics. In Russian the idea is absurd in my opinion.

 

I think it works its way out. I taught in Russian in a school with partial immersion. The children did initially confuse letters but consistent instruction, patience, and tons of reading allowed helped them. They all excelled in writing in Russian and English (it was a Gymnasium with top scores) as well as a third language with the Latin alphabet.

 

Note that this was in a Russian school so reading was taught at age 6-7.

[ganzweitdraussen]

In my experience is it always better to teach the minority language first, both in speaking and then reading.

 

If you continue to live in an English speaking country, then English will become very dominant when your children get older. My son is 6 and started reading English when he was around 5 yo. Since that time he is losing his Russian. He likes to read a lot of books and I encouraged this at the beginning with the result that his mind started thinking in English only and it is hard for him to switch to Russian. Reading also had the effect, that his vocabulary expanded dramaticly, but only in English. I was happy that my son started reading and I certainly did not expect that Russian would become so minor.

 

If I could go back, I would certainly make sure that Russian is very strong both in speaking and reading(writing) before I would teach anything in English. If your children will be goping to public school I would do nothing in English, it will take care of itself. If you are going to be homeschooling, then introduce English 1-2 years after Russian reading is firmly established. My son knows the Russian alphabet and the confusion with the different sound of the same looking letter did vanish when he got older. And with more practise it will disappear.

 

Good luck!

 

[Guest Olga T.]

Thank you for your responses. We'll definitely be homeschooling but I do want her to know English well so she can talk to other kids, understand English books when we go to storytime at the library, listen to English audiobooks (we live in an all English speaking community)... To be honest, I don't think English will be her strong language until later since she is surrounded by more Russian than English for now. The preschool is only 3 days a week 3 hours per day. I was just wondering if this letter mix up is going to affect her long term and delay her reading ability in both languages.

 

About sight words. I was wondering about this method since the child doesn't actually learn the letters when learning English sight words, so she will not confuse them with her russian letters and will be able to learn both simultaneously . Later, of course I can teach her phonics but I kind of liked this idea for now.

 

Olga

[Tsuga]

Bilingualism creates delays and slower comprehension no matter what. It is a trade off. There is only so much even the brightest person can process at any one time. Bilingual children and adults have been shown to repeatedly be a bit weaker on timed comprehension tests of reading, but are also apparently more likely to do well on abstract reasoning tests. I think looking at this in terms of trade-offs would be more positive than worrying about confusion. Many people around the world are being raised bilingually and doing just fine. She will work it out.

 

 

 

I was wondering about this method since the child doesn't actually learn the letters when learning English sight words, so she will not confuse them with her russian letters and will be able to learn both simultaneously .

 

I think that will create more confusion because first of all, you are introducing her to two different ideas about reading--one phonetic, and one symbolic ('sight word'). Worse, English is not a symbolic written language. Sight words have come under increasing fire and there is substantial scientific evidence (please search for this) that suggests that even fast, fluent adult readers read phonetically.

 

 

 

was just wondering if this letter mix up is going to affect her long term and delay her reading ability in both languages.

 

No. Millions of people, literally, around the world, learn English from grade one, including reading, and many of them use Latin scripts that are even closer to those in English but which produce different sounds. Take French. Though similar, most of their sounds are slightly different and all the vowel sounds are different, than in English. All the diphthongs are according to a different system. They all sort it out.

[Guest Olga T.]

Thank you for clarifying it for me.  I will continue with Russian for now.

 

Olga

[Guest elina]

I basically want to second ganzweitdraussen's advice: teach Russian reading first. She only goes to preschool part-time so you probably don't need to take her out of preschool, just don't reinforce whatever they are teaching her at home - she will have plenty of time to learn English phonics later. You say she is already starting to read in Russian - so that's great, you are on the right track. In my experience, learning to read in minority language at a young age makes all the difference. My daughter started reading in Russian around 4 and Russian is still her strongest language by far (she is 9 now). My son learned to read almost simultaneously in both Russian and English around 7 and he is not a big reader yet - he definitely prefers the majority language, trying to switch to English at home despite my best efforts.

[plmzk]

I also wanted to chime in and say that you should teach the Russian reading then English. We are a Russian speaking household in an English speaking community, with only one set of grandparents near by to speak to the kids besides us parents.

 

By emphasizing reading in Russian, even when teaching English, it will help the child retain the ability to read and speak in Russian later once English is well learned. My oldest is in 3rd and reads great in both English and Russian with a preference for Russian. Even though we have more English literature around the house.

 

My second is in 1st, and reading in general is not her strong point. I think I am going to delay teaching English reading until later this summer or next year, just to solidify her Russian reading. That said, we do math in English and she understands me when I speak to her in English, but answers back in Russian 95% of the time.

 

My 3rd is only turning 5 next week, but from listening in on me teaching the second one to read, she has taught herself to read. I actually have to tell her DAILY that we won't read for more than 20 minutes together. I don't want to push her into schooling too early. She has also learned to write the letters all by herself. This child understands many English words and phrases, but speaks Russian.

 

I understand what you are saying about the playing with others and understanding other kids ..... I had that fear too. I would suggest you enroll her into music classes or art classes where she can interact with others and learn words without being taught the letters and sight words. That is what I did. I also read to them in English. I started with picture books while pointing to things, then progressed to books like Little House On The Prairie, Charlotte's Web, and others. They would hear the words and try to grasp the main idea or concept of a paragraph. This helps TONS with understanding English without confusing them on the letters.

 

From personal experience, when my family immigrated from Russia, I was 7 years old. I had finished 1st grade, my older brother finished 2nd grade, my younger sister and brother never went to school in Russia. Both my brother and I can write, read and speak very well in Russian. My sister can speak it with difficulty, but my youngest brother has just about lost it altogether. I do believe that learning to read and write in a "minor" language, along with speaking it regularly, will help the kids retain it later in life. 

[Renai]

I agree with the others. Allow preschool to do what they're doing, you stick with Russian at home. You don't need to teach English reading until Russian is well-established. She will have opportunities to talk to others in preschool, and later at park days, library times, art lessons, etc.

 

We are a bilingual household, English/Spanish. I did the English, husband spoke Spanish. At a point in her preschool years, I switched to Spanish for my oldest dd as it is the minority language. I taught reading in Spanish first, introducing the English in 2nd grade, but not going through a full curriculum until 3rd. Spanish was her strongest language those early years, and she is completely bilingual/biliterate in 9th grade.

 

My youngest, English is her stronger language although she understands all spoken Spanish. I plan to do the same with her as I did with my oldest- teach Spanish reading first, then English. She is currently 4yo.