Thank you for your replies. I have felt this past spring that not teaching English at home was a mistake. When DD entered K, we were told we could/should read to our child in English but do not try to specifically teach reading skills in English. The teachers were concerned that the children would get confused and have a difficult time learning Spanish.
After reading through some bicultural education materials, I am convinced that strength in a native language greatly helps acquisition of another language. It echoes all of your experiences and that makes an even stronger case yet! I wondered how other countries (for ex in Europe), where many children are at least bilingual, facilitate the multi-literacy process. Anecdotally, it is like you said, sfb, they mostly do it simultaneously and are not exclusionary.
We plan to support the program and enlist the tutor again. The tutor feels it has really been a confidence issue and that her achievement will increase as she gains confidence. DD6 has always been highly verbal. We thought the program would be such a great match. However, I think the process of decoding and learning to read things that had no meaning really slowed her progress.
She wasn't an early reader but has always enjoyed more sophisticated books for her age. By 1st, she was placed in the lowest reading level. By nature, these books are not high interest and she suffered for it. Her teacher told us that she would notice DD inching her way towards the higher level reading groups to listen in on their books. It broke my heart.
We plan to actively support her progress in English literacy at home. All of your insights have given me more confidence that we're doing the right thing. Thank you!
