Learning difficulties

[Ktllc]

Just my 2 cents on the matter: i teach my boys in English since they are taught in English. Partner has no learning issues and now knows how to read at the first grade level. I do not plan to teach him how to read in French until he reaches 3rd grade. V is not learning as fast as his brother but I feel it helps him to stick to English for academics.
Once they have good English reading skills, it will be easy to learn reading in French. And I have been buying books in English for them since most of my kids books are in French. It helps reinforce what they learn. It does not mean they are ever read to in French. But the French reading is more casual while they tend to be more active when we do English reading.
My approach is not scientifically based, just following my gut feeling! lol

 

[SuZir]

We have always been told to speak your own strongest language to the kids. That it is important to use a language you have emotional connction with. Books, tv etc. can be in other language. Our boys went to school that teaches in our first language but they begun to study also the main language of the country early on at school but as a foreign language.

Kids of course at times heard also me and husband speaking the other language and they watched tv shows with that. Also some of their hobbies (and friends from there) were in second language. We are lucky that sound-letter equivalence is very similar in both languages so it was very easy to learn to read also in other language. English took little more work later on.

 

[Malika]

Well, I guess the language you speak at home - and I quite agree with SuZir in the sense that despite various people urging me to speak French with J, this would feel very strange and unnatural to me - is different from the language you read to the child in. I can see the sense of making this the same as the school language. I've started reading in French to J, and he hasn't complained too vociferously yet about my English accent