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Re: That's weird. DomA Send a noteboard - 21/04/2012 05:41:27 PM
Why would you hold off on teaching someone how to read in a language they speak? Our daughter is learning to read in English and in Russian and I wouldn't delay either for one instant.


But your daughter has parents competent to guide her with her Russian and English.

Her parents understand spoken American English and can read it, but as for guiding her or correcting her syntax/grammar, they're far more limited. They also live in a very French area, not in Montreal. But I doubt they would stop her from reading a book in English if she wished to, they just won't push her to read in English for now.

But I extrapolate. Aside from an expressed preference for French pre-school literature over what they've seen available in English, I don't really know their motivations. Both teach young kids and don't read English books in translation (not even when it's the translation they offer in class), so they have tons of books in English for older kids at home (from 6 to 12, roughly). Eventually she'll get a much larger access to English children books than most kids from a francophone background do (for most, it's none at all).

It's already much better than us. We started reading in English only around 12 (in school, with Christie's Murder on the Orient Express) and there's never been a single book in English at home as we grew up. I wish I would have started earlier, but OTOH I suspect the fact I read so many French classics and contemporary literature as a teenager owes much to the fact I didn't read regularly in English before I was about 16.

We're more or less the first generation for which learning English was somewhat encouraged (less so than now, for political reasons) and part of the public school curriculum. In my parents' youth, the Catholic Church still held control of public schools and discouraged learning English. One more mean to shield us from the so-called "evils" of protestantism.
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Books for very small children: suggestions? - 20/04/2012 12:19:39 AM 1753 Views
Really, before 18 months you're wasting your time - 20/04/2012 01:26:05 AM 1438 Views
I dunno. I really enjoyed books when I was that young - 20/04/2012 03:12:29 AM 1467 Views
At a year and a half? - 20/04/2012 06:18:01 PM 1253 Views
I don't remember reading quite that young, but I do remember not long after that. - 20/04/2012 09:35:11 PM 1434 Views
Color me slightly skeptical. - 21/04/2012 01:17:51 PM 1326 Views
my mother spent over 20 years classroom teaching, is an Ed.D... - 21/04/2012 10:40:56 PM 1683 Views
So did my mother. Elementary school teacher from 1960-1990. - 22/04/2012 05:24:44 PM 1255 Views
I double checked. I was confusing it with another event. I was about 2.5 *NM* - 22/04/2012 12:19:09 AM 794 Views
That sounds about right. *NM* - 22/04/2012 05:20:35 PM 646 Views
Similar experience here... - 20/04/2012 07:04:51 PM 1573 Views
Yah, I was a bit like your niece - 20/04/2012 09:30:02 PM 1599 Views
Re: Yah, I was a bit like your niece - 20/04/2012 11:48:12 PM 1465 Views
That's weird. - 21/04/2012 01:22:24 PM 1364 Views
Re: That's weird. - 21/04/2012 05:41:27 PM 1480 Views
Doesn't need to be an extended period of time, though. A few minutes is enough at the beginning. - 23/04/2012 12:42:23 PM 1544 Views
No problem, if you just want to flush money down a toilet. - 23/04/2012 02:29:57 PM 1227 Views
Re: No problem, if you just want to flush money down a toilet. - 23/04/2012 03:32:22 PM 1386 Views
Look, it's useless to discuss at this point but let's have the discussion again in 2 years. - 23/04/2012 04:39:47 PM 1650 Views
I'm really interested in the evidence for the crawling thing. - 25/04/2012 08:11:31 PM 1515 Views
I can't find actual scientific studies on the web - 25/04/2012 09:56:14 PM 1251 Views
Re: I can't find actual scientific studies on the web - 26/04/2012 03:45:40 AM 1672 Views
anyone who thinks an infant sleeping on its stomach is dangerous is behind the times. - 26/04/2012 01:51:59 PM 1522 Views
Yes, the SIDS indicia are all over the place. - 26/04/2012 02:29:15 PM 1300 Views
If there was a big ad campaign in the UK about this then no-one told my medical team. - 26/04/2012 07:40:48 PM 1353 Views
Hmmm. *shrug* I don't know. I trust this professor to have his facts straight. - 26/04/2012 08:01:53 PM 1397 Views
Possible answer is difference between Scottish and English health systems. - 26/04/2012 08:28:38 PM 1290 Views
weird. maybe trends have swung back the other way. - 26/04/2012 10:01:01 PM 1367 Views
I hope you don't have it mixed up... - 26/04/2012 10:18:00 PM 1402 Views
I'm very happy to hear that. - 26/04/2012 10:12:32 PM 1535 Views
Re: Look, it's useless to discuss at this point but let's have the discussion again in 2 years. - 26/04/2012 01:39:25 PM 1230 Views
Yes, yes, of course. Everyone thinks they have the experience. - 26/04/2012 02:25:10 PM 1371 Views
I understand where you're coming from - 26/04/2012 04:50:46 PM 1615 Views
I agree with that, of course. To a point. - 26/04/2012 07:06:37 PM 1448 Views
OH! Another suggestion! - 20/04/2012 03:36:45 AM 1648 Views
I LOVE that book. - 23/04/2012 12:44:08 PM 1333 Views
Books by Ruth Brown - 20/04/2012 04:26:18 PM 1230 Views
Re: Books by Ruth Brown - 23/04/2012 12:44:42 PM 1181 Views
Kama Sutra - 20/04/2012 06:57:27 PM 1299 Views
Re: Kama Sutra - 23/04/2012 12:45:43 PM 1409 Views
Mo Willems is awesome *NM* - 20/04/2012 09:15:52 PM 654 Views
They look nice, thank you. *NM* - 23/04/2012 12:50:21 PM 600 Views
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie / If You Give a Moose a Muffin *NM* - 21/04/2012 06:37:07 PM 666 Views
Heh, cute. Thank you. *NM* - 23/04/2012 12:50:47 PM 660 Views
Bright, tactile ones. - 23/04/2012 09:04:53 PM 1314 Views
Yup. - 26/04/2012 01:39:57 PM 1376 Views
You won't once you have it. - 26/04/2012 04:07:14 PM 1426 Views
"Go The F**k to Sleep" - 25/04/2012 11:45:31 PM 1344 Views
Suspect that will hit close to home. - 26/04/2012 01:40:50 PM 1370 Views

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