A French in Germany
Aug 5, 2015 6:53:29 GMT 9
Post by Reina on Aug 5, 2015 6:53:29 GMT 9
Welcome Line! I have a similar situation. One of my twins has also been to speech therapy in Dutch (ML) as he could not say many sounds in Dutch. Not taking into account the fact that they advised me to stop speaking Spanish (ml) to him, which I did not do, I am happy he attended. One way or another, the better his Dutch got, the better his Spanish got, especially in grammar. It is like being able to make more difficult sentences in one language created "hangers" where he could also hang more difficult sentences in the other language. It was really fun to see. After two years, he stopped but still he is slightly behind his brother, but well...his brother is extremely talented with languages. As long as it does not cost you and he is happy, continue with it.
As for literacy, I was worrying a lot but with one of the boys, it has been really easy. Once he cracked the trick of reading in ML, a few days of practice enabled to read in ml. Maybe it was made very easy by the way they learn to read in ML (Dutch), phonetically. The sound of the letter itself is almost the same in Spanish so once he learned the exceptions, he could read in Spanish. What we did is that he would try every day to read a few sentences from the book I am reading to them. Then it was like a game for him and it did not involve much time or effort on my side. Also when we visited Spain this summer (we are just back), he read all the signs, names of stores... He loved it and it was a great practice. Is your son interested in reading in French?
For his brother, the one who went to therapy, I have not started yet as he is still having problems reading in Dutch. So we are concentrating the efforts in helping him there, leaving literacy in Spanish for a later stage. I would love him also to read in Spanish as his brother does but it is HIS bilingual trip and I may have my targets but I need to change them to fit his abilities and needs.
As time is limited and I am too lazy to have a homework routine every day (Adam is my hero with that), I have decided that all my efforts will go to boosting their speaking ability in ml and keeping the language alive (they are 7 now). I believe that when they are older, they will also be able to learn to write and to read in Spanish fluently as their spoken Spanish is very strong, they use it every day and their vocabulary is very broad. At this point, it does not worry me much anymore. It will come later.
Reading the gap, I would advise you to shift gears with the reading and start reading him more difficult books with more complex vocabulary and with chapters in ml. 4 years old is a great time to move into chapter books. Chapter books give you the chance to talk about it during the day (what do you think is going to happen next? will the hero win?). More complex books for older kids will give him the chance to hear many difficult words he would not hear every day. My kids stopped me every sentence when we started, asking the meaning of this or that word, but after a while you hear those words in their speech and you know exactly why you do it even when it is annoying to stop so many times while reading.
As for literacy, I was worrying a lot but with one of the boys, it has been really easy. Once he cracked the trick of reading in ML, a few days of practice enabled to read in ml. Maybe it was made very easy by the way they learn to read in ML (Dutch), phonetically. The sound of the letter itself is almost the same in Spanish so once he learned the exceptions, he could read in Spanish. What we did is that he would try every day to read a few sentences from the book I am reading to them. Then it was like a game for him and it did not involve much time or effort on my side. Also when we visited Spain this summer (we are just back), he read all the signs, names of stores... He loved it and it was a great practice. Is your son interested in reading in French?
For his brother, the one who went to therapy, I have not started yet as he is still having problems reading in Dutch. So we are concentrating the efforts in helping him there, leaving literacy in Spanish for a later stage. I would love him also to read in Spanish as his brother does but it is HIS bilingual trip and I may have my targets but I need to change them to fit his abilities and needs.
As time is limited and I am too lazy to have a homework routine every day (Adam is my hero with that), I have decided that all my efforts will go to boosting their speaking ability in ml and keeping the language alive (they are 7 now). I believe that when they are older, they will also be able to learn to write and to read in Spanish fluently as their spoken Spanish is very strong, they use it every day and their vocabulary is very broad. At this point, it does not worry me much anymore. It will come later.
Reading the gap, I would advise you to shift gears with the reading and start reading him more difficult books with more complex vocabulary and with chapters in ml. 4 years old is a great time to move into chapter books. Chapter books give you the chance to talk about it during the day (what do you think is going to happen next? will the hero win?). More complex books for older kids will give him the chance to hear many difficult words he would not hear every day. My kids stopped me every sentence when we started, asking the meaning of this or that word, but after a while you hear those words in their speech and you know exactly why you do it even when it is annoying to stop so many times while reading.