I am raising trilingual kids and my eldest will start learning to read in Dutch at school soon. He’s shown a lot of interest in reading at home. He often sits in during my classes so he’s already reading quite a lot in English. Italian in comparison to English is quite simple to read and so he’s been experimenting with that too.
However, when I spoke to his school teacher about his situation she advised us to stop teaching him to read in our home languages while he’s learning to read in Dutch. I trust his teacher, but I wanted to do some more research about how to support children in this situation.
Dr Ute Limacher-Riebold is a language consultant and specialises in helping families navigate this type of situation. We had a chat about this topic and recorded it, perhaps it will help your family too.
Watch it here:
How will this help your family? Let us know in the comments.
FREE gift pack for your family: Printable Reading Guide and Activity.
- Do you wonder how to really make the most of reading to your child?
- Do you have the Gruffalo book by Julia Donaldson at home?
Did you answer yes to both questions? I have the perfect thing for you! Click on the button to download your free Gruffalo reading guide.
I’ll also include a copy of our wonderful community newspaper The Academy Press created by the English Voice Academy English students.