I am trying to decide if I should be doing little reader English and Spanish at the same time? I want to start exposing my 9 month old to Spanish, but am a little worrier that doing LR in both might be confusing her phonics since the letters are the same.
Anyone have any experience with using LR with two latin alphabet languages? Or personal thoughts/ideas?
I am leaning towards using Little Pim and other spanish language programs with less emphasis on the words now and then once she is further in LR english (hopefully reading some around 1 year from now) then introducing LR in Spanish…
I don’t have experience using LR in both languages, but I am teaching my daughter both English and Spanish. At 15 months, she can read words in both languages and understands most things in both languages although she is slightly stronger in Spanish. This was our goal because it’s much easier for children to lose a language that they don’t necessarily have to use everyday. We live in the US so she’s not going to lose English, so we try our best to make Spanish a priority.
We speak to her mostly in Spanish unless we are doing an activity in English. My husband and I speak to each other in English, and we use sign language as a bridge for the two languages as well. I truly believe that this has helped tremendously. For example, I might ask her in Spanish if she’s hungry and do the sign. Later in the day, her daddy will ask her if she’s hungry in English and do the sign. This helps her make the connection. Sign language has been invaluable for us because I think it helps her distinguish between the two languages thereby reducing any confusion that might be there.
Anyway, back to your original question. I would go ahead and do both LR in English and Spanish. If I had both curriculums, I would use them both. While I understand your concern about the alphabet since I had that concern as well, I think doing LR in both languages from the start would be best and easiest for her to acquire both languages.
As for confusion, I haven’t experienced “confusion” with my daughter at this point. I think babies have the capacity to learn multiple languages without a problem of confusing themselves.
She may need to sort the different sounds, rules, etc in her head, but that’s a good thing, in my opinion.
I forgot to mention that as a point of reference (as far as reading goes), she’s learning sight words in both languages, knows her letters and sounds in English, and we are doing some phonics in both languages.
Thanks for you thoughts. I guess that it makes sense that if kids aren’t confused by learning multiple languages (which studies show they are not) then it most likely wouldn’t confuse them to learn to read multiple languages, however I think I may hold off and just do LR English for a while (next 6-9mo) and then layer back in LR Spanish. Until then I think I will try and use other avenues for spanish exposure that are less reading focused (Little Pim, billingual story/play time at the library). I’ll have to pick up some Michel Thomas CDs for myself and try to learn more because I learned it in high school and don’t remember much so that I can speak some with her as well.
Little Pim is great! My daughter really enjoys it!! It does show the written word on screen, but it’s not a heavy reading DVD. You may want to check out Whistlefritz. They have several great full Spanish immersion DVDs that do not focus so much on the written word but teach Spanish effectively. This sounds like what you might be looking for. This is an excellent way to introduce little ones to Spanish. My daughter also loves those DVDs.
There are so many different approaches to early learning, and I think the best approach is the one that works for each individual family.
Good luck! It sounds like you have a great plan in place 
I guess multiple languages with confuse the child so he should be taught is a single medium (English).
Learning multiple languages challenges the brain and improves cognitive and social-emotional development, learning, and the chances for long-term success.
дети изучающие неÑколько Ñзыков, более развитые. Ðто видно вокруг. Они запоминают любой материал гораздо быÑтрее чем обычные дети. ТренируетÑÑ ÑƒÑидчивоÑÑ‚ÑŒ