Anyone teaching other language as teh first language?

[brasilmom]

Greetings,

I teach my dd Portuguese, but she is bilingual. Since Phonics does not come natural for me (I never learned it), I am considering teaching her first to read Portuguese and later English. Anyone done that? If not and if English is not your first language, how did you go about to teach phonics to your child?

Thanks. Be well

Miriam

[Renai]

Greetings,

I teach my dd Portuguese, but she is bilingual. Since Phonics does not come natural for me (I never learned it), I am considering teaching her first to read Portuguese and later English. Anyone done that? If not and if English is not your first language, how did you go about to teach phonics to your child?

Thanks. Be well

Miriam

Hello Miriam,

That's what we did. We live in a bilingual household (dh native Spanish-speaker, I'm fluent, dd is bilingual). I taught dd to read in Spanish first, starting when she was about 4.5.

In first grade, I started to teach her English reading, but she wasn't ready. We didn't start English phonics until the middle of 2nd grade, and it went much smoother after that! (That was just this past January.)

If she's completely bilingual, it really doesn't matter what you start with. I started with Spanish because 1) it's the "minority" language, 2) I was more comfortable teaching it, as I had just finished working in bilingual first grade classrooms doing the same thing, 3) and because we weren't planning on homeschooling and wanted to make sure she had a foundation in Spanish before going to school, LOL!

If you are in the US, I'd say go for Portuguese first, simply because it is the minority language, and it seems you are more comfortable with that. When she is reading Portuguese fluently, with ease, then start English phonics. If you start with the majority language first (English), you may have a hard time later convincing her the need to read her other language. I hear that happening a lot.

I know you asked native speakers how they taught phonics, but I do want to share how I taught my daughter. I wrote about it in my blog here: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/creativeplay/285282/

Also, I uploaded a couple of pages of what I used to introduce phonics:
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/creativeplay/555728/
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/creativeplay/566394/

Of course, this is about teaching Spanish phonics, but I hope it's helpful. With the first page, and some index cards, that's basically what I used to teach her to read.

[brasilmom]

Thank you much for the information. It is really helpful. For me too it is much easier to teach Portuguese first, so we will start there. Also, can you provide me with places where you are getting materials in Spanish? I do not think I can find any int he USA in Portuguese, but I am looking for it. If nothing else, I can get it in Brasil.

Thanks again. Be well

Miriam

[CleoQc]

We are French speakers. The kids learnt to read in French first. We never did any phonics, and both are now reading English with fluency. I never had any phonics instructions either and it has never hurt my English spelling. To get them to read English only took a few read-alouds. And that was it, they were on their own after that.

I don't think I know of one single French household (homeschooling household, that is) that bothered with phonics. Yet all the kids can read English with ease.

[Renai]

We are French speakers. The kids learnt to read in French first. We never did any phonics, and both are now reading English with fluency. I never had any phonics instructions either and it has never hurt my English spelling. To get them to read English only took a few read-alouds. And that was it, they were on their own after that.

I don't think I know of one single French household (homeschooling household, that is) that bothered with phonics. Yet all the kids can read English with ease.

Cleo! Long time no see :). Yes, I forgot to mention that reading skills transfer readily from language to another.

[CleoQc]

Renai! Glad to see you here. You're way behind with your measly 75 posts! ;-) What have you been up to?

I keep wishing this forum here could be opened to anyone who uses another language than English as a teaching language - as opposed to a foreign language to be learned.

Some tricks do transfer, regardless of the main treaching language.

[Renai]

Renai! Glad to see you here. You're way behind with your measly 75 posts! ;-) What have you been up to?

I keep wishing this forum here could be opened to anyone who uses another language than English as a teaching language - as opposed to a foreign language to be learned.

Some tricks do transfer, regardless of the main treaching language.

Yes, I know, pathetic posting isn't it? I'm keeping up with my blog (barely), am in two homeschool groups (one I'm trying to revive and the other I periodically participate in), and am in school AGAN, this time elementary certification (so I can continue to work from home). Oh, yeah- I still homeschool.

Opening this forum up to other languages would be a great idea! I didn't realized how many languages were on this board until that poll someone did a few months back.

My daughter had a time with learning to read English in the beginning. She was mixing up the short vowel sounds with Spanish ones, forget long vowels. I finally waited a year (from 1st grade, 2nd semester). I've taught her some phonics using MFW starting in January this year, and she's been picking up things here and there. So, we're going to continue English phonics. Although she reads complicated things in Spanish, she does so very slowly (but with comprehension), so I'm beginning to think there is another problem.

[Renai]

Thank you much for the information. It is really helpful. For me too it is much easier to teach Portuguese first, so we will start there. Also, can you provide me with places where you are getting materials in Spanish? I do not think I can find any int he USA in Portuguese, but I am looking for it. If nothing else, I can get it in Brasil.

Thanks again. Be well

Miriam

Hello Miriam,

I'm finding native Spanish items in different places actually- major school lpublishers sell Spanish items (translated, not native), SantillanaUSA.com, Scholastic Book Clubs (Club Leo), and a couple of local stores (I live in a high immigrant area)

For you, I would suggest a yahoo group called Multilingual Munchkins. People from all over the world raising their children with more than one language. Not all are homeschooling, but there is a wealth of information on finding source material. If you post there, someone, from somewhere in the US, will be able to help you. Here's the link: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/multilingualmunchkin/

[brasilmom]

Hello Miriam,
For you, I would suggest a yahoo group called Multilingual Munchkins. People from all over the world raising their children with more than one language. Not all are homeschooling, but there is a wealth of information on finding source material. If you post there, someone, from somewhere in the US, will be able to help you. Here's the link: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/multilingualmunchkin/

Thank you Renai. I will try them. My dh is on how way to Brazil on a business trip, and I am ordering a ton of books for him to bring back to us. Nonetheless I would like to have a local source.

Be well

Miriam

[brasilmom]

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Pardon me, but I failed to understand your "joke". Maybe you do not like the idea of bilingual children? Can you please elaborate on your message.

Thank you. Be well

Miriam

[Renai]

Pardon me, but I failed to understand your "joke". Maybe you do not like the idea of bilingual children? Can you please elaborate on your message.

Thank you. Be well

Miriam

Miriam, this was spam. Hopefully it will be removed.

[brasilmom]

Thanks Renai. I certainly found it very strange and even saw another post from the same person on another thread in this board. I am glad it was removed.

[sagira]

You know, I spoke Papiamento (my native language) to my son from birth, but taught him to read in English. He's now five and speaking just English to me, reading first and second level readers in English. I think I will rethink my strategy and teach dd (now 1) to read in Papiamento first.

Thanks for the advice!

I'm still going to teach ds to read in Papiamento.

[Betania Neuman]

Hi Miriam!

I am Betania. I'm from Natal, RN, Brasil. I just found your thread and was wondering what you decided to do to teach your child Portuguese and English. I am homeschooling my 2 children, ages 5 and 7 in both languages as well. We are using Projeto Prosa Portugues (editora Saraiva). It's a 5 year program that goes from K (1o Ano) to 4th grade (5o Ano). It's working well so far. We also have a very good literature collection in Portuguese and my children are already reading and writing well for their age/grade, comparing to their English skills.
We buy new books every time we go to Brazil. It helps if you go to the bookstore and look through the books yourself. I usually prefer to buy only books from Brazilian or Portuguese authors. No translations.
We have used comic books (revistas em quadrinhos da Turma da Monica ajudaram muito minhas crianças a gostarem de ler em Português) and videos too (Turma do Cocoricó, Sítio do Picapau Amarelo, Crianças Diante do Trono, etc). They are fun and, except for the Turma da Monica materials, instructive too.
I also made a "cartilha" for my kids, because I couldn't find any to buy on the market. The "pedagogia construtivista" have changed the way schools teach children how to read in Brasil. I prefer to stick with the old B+A = BA, so I made my own reading instruction guide. My kids did very well and read fluently in portuguese. When we went to Brasil a few months ago, we had many school teachers asking what was my "secret" to have such good readers. When I told them I had written a simple cartilha, they coudn't believe it!
I hope this is helpful!

Betania

[brasilmom]

Hi Betania,

Thank you so much for your informative post. I was in Brazil 2 years ago and bought a lot of material while there. I am from Sao Paulo and was able to visit a Feira do Livro at the USP and also some publisher. One cartilha I found there was Caminho Suave which still goes by the phonetic and construção silábica (B+A). We are using that and I am happy with it as is my daughter. For reading we are doing lots of coleção gato e rato and also Mico Maneco as they are basic elementary reading. Like you I choose Brazilian authors for the cultural exposure and no translation. I have not seen the video mentioned (Crianças diante do trono), and will research around. My mother comes just about every year, and new materials arrive with her. I sure wish we could get TV Cultura here as I still love the Turma do Ra tim bum.
I would love to learn more about your cartilha. Sounds like a good one. Where are you located?
We speak Portuguese all day long and I exclusively speak Portuguese to the children. We do our homeschooling in two languages as well. She is able to keep up and is learning all the subjects in two languages.
Thanks again for sharing your ideas. Be well
Miriam

[CleoQc]

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