Children Learning Language via Reading

General discussion about learning languages
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zenmonkey
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Re: Children Learning Language via Reading

Postby zenmonkey » Wed Jul 13, 2022 8:44 pm

ahilan wrote:Of course I don’t wish to solely rely on this, but it’s also until now the one tactic that has really worked and in which we've built up some consistency.

So I’m curious if anyone has experience from their youth or with their kids? I've found most other accounts of reading as a method towards fluency only just touch the surface.


You've answered the question.
If your goals are having kids that can speak the language - just reading isn't going to cut it.
Do whatever drives consistency but that also addresses the goals.

With my daughters - reading was certainly part of the process. And my reading to them was fun and enjoyable but we also mixed a lot of media and other tools. My objective was always to get them to enjoy the language to the point they would be learning on their own.

Seems to have worked - all four love language learning and have projects on their own.
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ahilan
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Re: Children Learning Language via Reading

Postby ahilan » Sat Jul 16, 2022 6:07 am

Thanks for all of the input. I'll definitely check out Reading In The Brain.

They are definitely already reading whole books (kids books of course). And yes comic books is the next progression.
Last night they both started a custom Memrise course (idea being to slowly add words we encounter in the books). They absolutely loved memrise because of the game-like feel, but let's see if it remains interesting long-term. And lastly, yes I am extremely aware of the fun factor for kids and very conscious of the thin line between forcing and encouraging.
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Re: Children Learning Language via Reading

Postby Kraut » Sat Jul 30, 2022 9:01 am

ahilan wrote:Thanks for all of the input. I'll definitely check out Reading In The Brain.

.


The book was written 15 years ago. There is a very recent lecture on the subject (third video) by Dehaene here:

https://www.mpi.nl/events/nijmegen-lectures-2022/videos
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Re: Children Learning Language via Reading

Postby vish » Mon Dec 26, 2022 9:38 am

I acquired English during school by massive amounts of reading - probably reading for 3 odd hours on school days and double that on holidays.
The challenge for you would be to find reading material that is fun and interesting for them.
For me, it was fiction - or more specifically in the genres of adventure and mystery.
A lot exists in English, but not quite sure how true this is for many other languages at that level.
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