{"id":169,"date":"2013-02-14T19:49:43","date_gmt":"2013-02-14T19:49:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nikkimcarthur.com\/?p=169"},"modified":"2013-02-14T19:49:43","modified_gmt":"2013-02-14T19:49:43","slug":"keeping-up-with-the-english","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amotherinfrance.com\/keeping-up-with-the-english\/","title":{"rendered":"Keeping up with the English!"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>One big challenge when bringing up English speaking children in a foreign speaking country, is when and how to introduce written English. \u00a0It\u2019s one thing to expect a child to learn to speak two languages at the same time, but is it an unnecessary pressure to expect them to cope with learning the different written spellings and pronunciations of two languages at the same time?<\/p>\n My biggest concern was that my children would not be able to read and write in English.\u00a0 I\u2019ve heard of cases of English speaking teenagers with very poor written skills.\u00a0 What a wasted opportunity to be orally bilingual, but not able to read and write in both languages too. It obviously wont just happen automatically without at least a little gentle encouragement, but when is the right time to start introducing it?<\/p>\n Our second eldest was ten when we moved to France, so he was already competent in reading and writing in English. We never had to do anything special with him to keep up his English, other than encourage him to read and keep in touch with English friends and family (mainly through Facebook and MSN).\u00a0 He\u2019s eighteen now and studying at University in Montpellier.\u00a0 He is fully fluent in French, but he prefers talking, reading and writing in English.<\/p>\n Our three youngest children are different.\u00a0 They have only attended French schools and are learning to read and write in French first.\u00a0 French is very different to English and I think it\u2019s a lot to ask a 5 or 6 year old (or younger) to try and learn both methods of reading and writing at the same time.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t want to make the learning process more difficult for them at school.\u00a0 We had no intention of returning to the UK, so didn\u2019t feel there was any rush with their English.<\/p>\n We decided to take a more organic approach.\u00a0 We didn\u2019t do any formal teaching of reading or writing in English until they\u2019d mastered the basics of French.\u00a0 We spoke exclusively in English at home, we read to them in English and they are exposed to English on TV, but we didn\u2019t sit down with them and try to teach them to read and write in English while they were starting to learn to read and write in French.<\/p>\n James was about seven nearly eight when he started showing an interest in learning to read English.\u00a0 I let him take the lead, as if I had tried to force him, he would only have resented it.\u00a0 He was playing games on the computer which often have instructions in English.\u00a0 He was tired of having to ask me what they said \u2013 he wanted to be able to read himself and he asked if we could teach him.<\/p>\n I bought him some English early readers, not complete beginners, but books appropriate for his age or maybe slightly younger to start with.\u00a0 I sat with him for a short time most evenings while he attempted to read them. At first he would naturally read them as he would French, processing the letters on the page to form words from his knowledge of French sounds.\u00a0 I would gently correct him and within a few weeks he was correcting himself.\u00a0 He could already speak English fluently, so he knew when the words he was producing sounded incorrect.<\/p>\n James is now ten and reads English as well as he can read French, however his written English isn\u2019t so good.\u00a0 He\u2019s recently started messaging friends in England and his older brothers and was making lots of errors.\u00a0 He really wants to be able to write in English now and can see the benefit.\u00a0 Reading in English helps, but he now needs some instruction on some grammar rules and spellings to help him develop his writing skills.\u00a0 We\u2019ve started spending just 10 minutes a day on spellings and grammar and after two weeks he\u2019s already made big improvements.\u00a0 By typing messages in English he\u2019s getting the opportunity to see written English, write English, keep in touch with family and friends and improve his keyboard skills at the same time.<\/p>\n It really helps if the child is exposed to things that will motivate them to learn.\u00a0 No one enjoys learning if they can\u2019t see an advantage to it.\u00a0 Make sure that the benefits of reading and writing are clear and \u2018because it will be useful to you in later life\u2019 is not an incentive for a child of any age.<\/p>\n