Kids in Spanish immersion programs- When/how do they learn to read/write in English?

[Anonymous]

I understand that some English instruction begins to happen in 4th grade. Is this when kids are taught to read in English? Or are parents expected to invest time/money on this part while kids attend a one way language immersion programs so by the time they get to 4th grade they know how to read in English? Thanks for any insight! Just got a spot at RCF.

[Anonymous]

I didn't realize these program were one way. I thought they were bilingual - part of the day in one language, part of the day in English

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I didn't realize these program were one way. I thought they were bilingual - part of the day in one language, part of the day in English

Nope. One way (the county-wide lottery ones).

[Anonymous]

They refer to it as “El Milagro de Segundo Grado”. I guess what it means is the skill set for reading in Spanish magically transfers into English around the end of 2nd grade.

My 2nd grader is in full Spanish immersion (no English instruction and standardized testing is in Spanish) and he can read in English. We never taught him and he didn’t learn it at school.

His level of reading in English is probably lower than his peers, but not by a lot. We are told he will catch up by the end of elementary. I’m
Not worried.

We aren’t in MCPS though sorry!

[Anonymous]

We have a kid in a one-way immersion program. We don’t speak the language at home (though both parents can understand it at about 75%). No issues with kid learning to read or write in English.

At 10 (3rd grade), they have been exposed to <5000 hrs of the immersion language. Assuming 10-hr days of consciousness since birth on average, that is out of 36,500 hours in English.

Assuming your kid learns typically, do not let this anxiety stop you from giving your kid the absolutely mind-blowing life benefit of being multilingual. Really.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have a kid in a one-way immersion program. We don’t speak the language at home (though both parents can understand it at about 75%). No issues with kid learning to read or write in English.

At 10 (3rd grade), they have been exposed to <5000 hrs of the immersion language. Assuming 10-hr days of consciousness since birth on average, that is out of 36,500 hours in English.

Assuming your kid learns typically, do not let this anxiety stop you from giving your kid the absolutely mind-blowing life benefit of being multilingual. Really.

Did you work/had to work with your kiddo to teach them how or read in English or did this happen at school in 3rd grade?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They refer to it as “El Milagro de Segundo Grado”. I guess what it means is the skill set for reading in Spanish magically transfers into English around the end of 2nd grade.

My 2nd grader is in full Spanish immersion (no English instruction and standardized testing is in Spanish) and he can read in English. We never taught him and he didn’t learn it at school.

His level of reading in English is probably lower than his peers, but not by a lot. We are told he will catch up by the end of elementary. I’m
Not worried.

We aren’t in MCPS though sorry!

What data does MCPS have to show that kids will catch up the end of 2nd grade?

[Anonymous]

My french immersion kids are now in high school. One has ADHD. Both had no problem learning to read in English and it all clicked by 3rd grade. We continued to read to them in English, and we speak English at home. I couldn't point you to a specific data source, but MCPS has been doing immersion for 40+ years. They are not great spellers in English, which we were told to expect. Frankly, I'm a terrible speller, but we all have devices with spell check and it's not a problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My french immersion kids are now in high school. One has ADHD. Both had no problem learning to read in English and it all clicked by 3rd grade. We continued to read to them in English, and we speak English at home. I couldn't point you to a specific data source, but MCPS has been doing immersion for 40+ years. They are not great spellers in English, which we were told to expect. Frankly, I'm a terrible speller, but we all have devices with spell check and it's not a problem.

Is this a common thing in immersion kids? (Not great at spelling in English) I have heard this from someone else too. Do you know what the explanation to that is?

[Anonymous]

I do not think there are different skills in learning to read in a specific language. As long as they speak English as well they can use the same phonics skills. Sight words might need some support but otherwise they should be fine.

[Anonymous]

My kid is in one-way Spanish immersion and has been reading fluent English since preschool, and--now in 2nd grade--still no problem reading English. It's amazing how fluently she can understand Spanish both verbally and written. In contrast, I took four years of Spanish and I know I could never achieve her level of fluency. I can get by (okay, not really) reading Spanish, but go blank when hearing it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They refer to it as “El Milagro de Segundo Grado”. I guess what it means is the skill set for reading in Spanish magically transfers into English around the end of 2nd grade.

My 2nd grader is in full Spanish immersion (no English instruction and standardized testing is in Spanish) and he can read in English. We never taught him and he didn’t learn it at school.

His level of reading in English is probably lower than his peers, but not by a lot. We are told he will catch up by the end of elementary. I’m
Not worried.

We aren’t in MCPS though sorry!

What data does MCPS have to show that kids will catch up the end of 2nd grade?

There is no data showing that because this is not true - except for precocious readers who were already reading English before K. When we attended the immersion open house in the spring before K, we were told that everyone would catch up by middle school.
We have a 3rd grader now who can read English but not quite at the level of his non-immersion peers, so that tracks. English is not formally taught in the immersion curriculum until 4th grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My french immersion kids are now in high school. One has ADHD. Both had no problem learning to read in English and it all clicked by 3rd grade. We continued to read to them in English, and we speak English at home. I couldn't point you to a specific data source, but MCPS has been doing immersion for 40+ years. They are not great spellers in English, which we were told to expect. Frankly, I'm a terrible speller, but we all have devices with spell check and it's not a problem.

Is this a common thing in immersion kids? (Not great at spelling in English) I have heard this from someone else too. Do you know what the explanation to that is?

Because similar words are spelled differently in French vs. English. Math vocabulary terms was another difference. They knew the term in French before English. It really doesn't matter now that they are in high school. Not sure how common it is but definitely have heard similar experiences anecdotally. 1000% worth it in my experience with 2 kids who are bilingual, one of them now taking Spanish and excelling compared to others in her class.

[Anonymous]

It's pretty easy to learn to read and write English if you already speak English and you have strong reading skills in another language especially one that uses the Latin alphabet. You'll have to learn some rules specific to English but it will come easily. If you don't have strong reading skills or have a lot of exposure to English, it's harder.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have a kid in a one-way immersion program. We don’t speak the language at home (though both parents can understand it at about 75%). No issues with kid learning to read or write in English.

At 10 (3rd grade), they have been exposed to <5000 hrs of the immersion language. Assuming 10-hr days of consciousness since birth on average, that is out of 36,500 hours in English.

Assuming your kid learns typically, do not let this anxiety stop you from giving your kid the absolutely mind-blowing life benefit of being multilingual. Really.

No 10 yo should be in 3rd grade. Kids are mostly 8 yo in 3rd.