Hi!
Does anyone have some favorite resources they could share about:
- Reading milestones (particularly as it relates to phonetic learning)
- Advantages/disadvantages of dual-language learning for young readers?
The short version of why I’m asking is: I might enroll my “early reader” in a dual-language program, but I want to make sure I’m not accidentally messing up their foundational understanding of reading in the process.
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The longer version:
-My kid is starting public pre-k this fall. (I know this might be “too young to worry about it”, but I’ll explain below!!)
-Maybe worth mentioning, they are one of the oldest in their grade (will be 5 in a few months)
-They are already somewhat reading. I don’t mean repeating stories, or even just sight words. They know most basic “letter sounds” and can phonetically read simple new words. They will sound out letters (“c a r r o t”), combine stretched sounds (“c-ahh-rrrooh-t”), and then condense and connect it to words they know (“carrot!”). They can read simple sentences this way and make connections about what they read (“Olaf needs to hide his carrot nose because otherwise Sven would eat it.”) They’ve also somehow picked up basic punctuation (question marks, exclamations) and can explain their purpose.
-They learned all of this basically on their own. We consistently read together +\- 30m a day, and we encourage them when they show interest/ask questions, but we’ve by no means explicitly taught them this or pushed anything.
-Their pre-k offers a dual-language Spanish program where kids who speak English at home and kids who speak Spanish at home can learn together. It is taught in both English and Spanish.
-I love the idea of enrolling her in this program! I think she would really enjoy it and benefit overall. But I just want to make sure I’m not doing it at time in her learning that is going to totally mess up her understanding of phonetics / reading / language / etc and/or significantly set her back.
Any resources, thoughts, or advice you’d be willing to share?
Thank you!!!