Q. At what age can I expect my child be able to read and write?

A. Each child is unique and learns at their own pace and in their own special way. It is important that we place no pressure on them to read or write but have faith that they will acquire those skills when they are ready. There is a time for a child’s first steps, first words and in the same way they each have a time where they have a deep desire to read and write.
 
As parents and teachers what can we do?

Reading
We can foster a love of books from the beginning of our child’s life. By reading to your child from when they are a baby you are building a solid foundation for later reading skills. As well as hearing the comforting sound of a parent’s voice, a baby is learning about reading habits e.g. which way up a book is held or how to turn a page。There are different stages of development e.g. connecting the story to the pictures, recognising that text has meaning. Whatever stage your child is at you can help them to read by creating a comfortable, relaxed, cosy environment where you can share stories. Let your child be your guide. They know the books they want to read, the pictures they want to discuss, the words they want explained. Just go with their natural flow and most of all have fun! By inspiring ‘a love of books’ in our children we can help them to read.

Writing
Again, by creating a relaxed atmoshpere with no pressure, children will naturally learn to write. When a child makes a mark on paper this is the beginning. This is what we call emergent writing. These scribbles then become more formed and start to look like pictures or maybe an imitation of the writing they see the adults in their life do. When children become interested in the alphabet and numbers you may see scribble writing interspersed with letters or numbers. Another stage of writing that you may observe are words spelled phonetically eg ‘dance’ as ‘dans’. Whatever stage your child is at these efforts should be celebrated. To encourage this you could create a simple corner in your child’s room where they can write or draw. This corner could be supplied with little notebooks, envelopes, old stamps, pencils, pens, scissors etc. By making it fun your child will be more likely to want to write.

Q. Why won’t my child speak to me in English?

A. There could be many reasons for this but the one important thing is not to push or become impatient. Most importantly do not expect the child to speak on demand.  There probably  is not a stronger deterrent.  Learning a language to a child under six is as natural as breathing.  He is absorbing all he/she is exposed to and it will come out when it is ready.
It could be that he/she does not associate English with you and since the most important thing to him/her is to communicate he will use the “heart” language that you have spoken to him/her from birth.
You may need to create a need for him to use English: perhaps to translate for you or even pretend you don’t understand Chinese!

Q. You told me my child can read, why does he not do it at home?

A. At school he is an environment of reading.  Books are read together by the teacher, books are encouraged that follow up on a phonic or sight word project that the child has been doing.  The environment is geared to what he knows and what he has been exposed to.  At home, he may not have this support system.  Easy solution: find out what your child is doing at school and purchase books that meet that proficiency level. He may need encouragement to prove that he can do it out of the class as well as in.

Q. It looks like my child is just doing household chores. How is that helping her educational development?

A. In the Practical Life area, children carry out familiar home activities, such as sweeping, polishing, dusting, pouring, preparing foods, etc. These activities are designed to help the child achieve independence and confidence through meaningful activity with real life objects; The objectives of practical life exercises are to help the child develop stronger concentration and coordinated movement. These exercises enable the child to adapt to his environment and establish independence, care of one's self, patience and grace and courtesy.
For example, pouring water from one jug to another helps the child to perfect his coordination. As he becomes absorbed in an activity such as washing the table, he gradually lengthens his span of concentration. He also learns to pay attention to detail as he follows a regular sequence of actions. Finally he learns good working habits as he finishes each task and puts away all his material before beginning another activity.

Q. Is it a problem that my child is being exposed to so many languages?

A. The short answer is no. Children are incredibly sensitive to the different ways people speak. Even when they only hear one language, they learn very quickly about differences between languages.

Multilingual development sometimes results in slightly slower language development than for some monolingual children. Amir was still saying things like "Where you are?" instead of ‘Where are you?’ in English at three. This is a normal developmental stage for monolingual children, but they usually figure out that they have to say ‘Where are you?’ by the time they're three or four. Amir just took a little longer, and of course his first language is not English! He spends most of the day in school where children speak only English. At home he hears Portuguese, Arabic and Chinese. It took him 3 and a half years to start to speak Portuguese. During our holiday in Brazil, it took only two days for him to get used to the language and start using it, whilst before going to Brazil he only answered me in English!

When children are in an environment that speaks many languages, they often switch mixing one language with the other. This doesn't mean that they are confused about the languages they are speaking, in our Arabic, Portuguese, Chinese and English home, our children can fully understand all 4 languages. Now Amir is curious about other languages too (like French). Sometimes he can give short answers to his father in French instead of Arabic! And I am very happy that he is finally speaking to me in Portuguese!

So, don't worry about your child being exposed to so many languages!

Q. It seems like my child is doing the same activities again and again every day, why is this?