Learning To Read Among English Language Learners

Since learning how to read is something that is critical to a child's success later on in life, it's talked about a lot on how to improve learning especially for children whose native language is not English. It is a common myth that people believe that if your first language isn't English that you won't be able to not only read well, but be able to read quickly. The problem I feel with this is that those children are hearing from parent's and anyone in general who believes in that myth and they automatically assume that they don't have the capability to learn the same as their other classmates. The importance is being able to inform the children and instruct them that they have the capability to learn how to read the same as anyone else.

Something interesting that people have found recently is that basic speed reading skills can be largely beneficial in developing one's language capabilities and helps out with their cognitive skills. Even though the non-native English reader will still be slower than those in the class, that slow speed will still be faster than a child's initial approach to learning to read. I feel that this will help children to gain confidence in themselves, which is a key element in learning.

I think the tricky thing for children are that at home their parents aren't speaking English so they are around that language a majority of the time and when they go to school they only are experiencing a few hours a day of English. Something people are bringing attention to now are dual-language schools. Even though these could potentially benefit the children being around teachers and other student's in the same boat as them, it also is limiting them. This will make them feel like outsiders and that they can't be in the same school as others. I think dual-language schools would help children if they attended and then switched over to a regular public school. It has been proven that this helps to build up the children's confidence and one of the children who attended the dual-language school that they interviewed had reported feeling smarter at this type of school due to the fact that they were able to get even instruction of both languages.

As most things it's better to get a head start on instruction, especially for the kindergarten age group. Children need to be able to master reading skills early on and this is something that deals with their home situation. If parents aren't teaching them at home and just assume that everything is done at school these children will fall behind. It has been shown that about 25% of children who don't master reading skills during school will have a tough time down the road. Which is why figuring out a solution for non-native English learners to learn reading skills is extremely important at the moment.

Scott Dual-Language Magnet Elementary School, in which children are instructed in both English and Spanish
http://cjonline.com/news/2013-09-01/scott-become-kansas-second-bilingual-school