Bilingual Q&A 14: What is literacy? The relationship between literacy and reading
Parents' letting go is closely related to children's reading ability and literacy.
There is a critical point in mother tongue learning. Only in childhood (usually before the age of 11 or 12) can the language acquired reach the mother tongue level. Languages learned after the age of 12 are usually always second languages (except A few people who are particularly talented in languages). Therefore, Chinese education in primary schools is very important:
In terms of literacy:
In China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, primary school students who graduate at the age of 11 or 12 have about 2500-3000 words. This amount is enough for them to read many Chinese books by themselves. It can also be said that they have the foundation for independent study and improvement of their Chinese language. If we can help children master this amount of literacy before the age of 11 or 12 (the critical point of mother tongue learning), the children will have the basic ability to read independently, and parents can let go.
There is no age limit for this kind of literacy, and it does not have to be completed until the age of 11 or 12. As long as the method is appropriate and time is devoted to learning, many children will achieve this level of literacy by reading a lot of Chinese books at a "younger" age.
In terms of reading:
As long as the child has a certain amount of literacy and can take the initiative to continue reading some Chinese books, even if he does not listen or speak the language, he will not "lose" Chinese. The language will always belong to him. Parents can start to let go. Even if their children no longer communicate with you in Chinese and only use English to talk to you, there is no need to worry too much. This is why we always regard "reading" as the most important thing. We must help children reach a level where they can read independently before they are 11 or 12 years old. In other words, it is not just about recognizing 2500-3000 Chinese characters, but laying a solid foundation for them. If their basic ability to read is not first interested in reading, constantly consolidating the Chinese characters they have learned, continuing to accumulate and expand their vocabulary, and constantly improving their reading skills, how can they generate permanent motivation and interest in reading? How can I always "have" this native-level ability?
In terms of time investment:
If you start learning at the age of two, it will take almost ten years to develop this basic reading ability. Such a long time is indeed a test for parents! If you only learn one language in a mother-tongue society, most of the time investment will be borne by the school.
If a child wants to become bilingual, wants to learn another language, and hopes to reach a level close to his “native language”, extra efforts will be needed during these 10 years.
In fact, this process is very similar to many parents asking their children to learn piano, and the road is not "smooth" either. Some people say that for children to learn piano, the test is not the child's perseverance, but the parents' perseverance. Not many people succeed in learning the piano. It also requires extra efforts from the parents. It is not only time-consuming to pick up and drop off, supervise and even accompany the piano to practice. There is no In 10 years, it may not be as good as it can be. In the same way, encouraging children to learn an additional language requires dedication and persistence, and should not be given up halfway.
Let me roughly divide these 10 years into two 5-year periods:
A: The first 5 years (parents still need to devote a lot of time to accompany and read together)
After completing our Lele Listening and Reading series, we only need to recognize the most commonly used 1000 words. Then or at the same time, parents need to often encourage or even accompany their children to read other picture books, which gradually increases to about 1800 words. For other picture story books, if you have a reading pen/reading robot or an e-book, children can read the pronunciation of new words and try to understand the meaning of the text. Parents who are literate can directly read out the new words to help their children understand the reading content. . At this stage, parents often need a lot of "parent-child reading time" to accompany reading to help their children expand their vocabulary and improve their reading skills.
B: The next 5 years (parents don’t need too much time together to read together)
Parents should urge their children to read a short article or short story every day (is there a Chinese website with one article a day?), and rely on themselves to continue to improve their reading ability. (Children most likely do not want to read with an adult at this time because they see with their "eyes" and read faster than their "mouths"). At this time, they have switched from picture storybooks to text-only articles or storybooks. At this stage, whatever Chinese materials your children read, whether it is martial arts novels, romance novels, news, comics, etc., as long as they like it and want to read it, please encourage them and do not restrict them to only reading literary works. By reading like this every day, they will unknowingly accumulate new words and reach the literacy level of 2500/3000 words. At this time, "Chinese will always be a part of them."
C: If you want higher "achievement"
After these 10 years, the children went to middle school, and parents were no longer able to "control" their children's study time. When children enter adolescence, they study more "subjects", engage in more extracurricular activities, and even learn other foreign languages. They don't have much time to learn Chinese. Parents have to let it go if they don't want to. During this period, children may only occasionally listen to Chinese and read Chinese books. We believe that the foundation for learning Chinese as the first language has been laid in the previous 10 years. Parents should not expect that their children will continue to learn Chinese in the 6th year of middle school. Of course, it may There are a few children whose opportunities are different.
After going to college, they are 18-year-old adults. No matter what the reason is, as long as the "children themselves" have a strong motivation to learn Chinese at this time, they will make every effort to improve their Chinese proficiency again, and because of the 10 years of primary school Based on the basics, reaching the level of native Chinese is just around the corner.Continue reading: