Ana Miranda
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Reading with children from birth to two

20/4/2022

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My baby is turning two! What a wonderful and challenging age! 

Today I thought I’d share our experience of reading with her, in Portuguese and Dutch, and how important this has been for her development.  

I hope you feel encouraged to find a bit of time everyday to share a book with your tot.
 

→ When A. was a few weeks old, my family sent a box full of books from Brazil. I was so happy to have a variety of stories to read to her. I often did this while she lay on her playmat. She liked listening to my voice and looking at the colorful pictures. 

→ Just before she turned 4 months old, we went back to work and A. started going to daycare. I only saw her for a few minutes in the morning and a couple of hours in the evening. Time was spent mostly on feeding, bathing, and bedtime, so it was very difficult to keep the language exposure I would like... I still sang, talked and tried to read a book everyday.

→ When A. was 8 months old, she was very interested in books with different textures. She would reach, grab, scratch, smile, babble, put them in her mouth and look a bit puzzled (Wait, this isn’t food?). 

→ A couple of months later, our nursing chair turned into our reading nook! She loved sitting on my lap and listening to stories at bedtime. And when the book was done, she looked down at the book basket on the floor, asking for more!

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We started going to the library every 3-4 weeks. We love to always have different books at home.
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→ At 1y6m, she could find and point at some things I named (ball, cat, fish), sometimes she pointed at animals and looked at me - expecting me to make the animal sound. Later she started making sounds for dog, cow and horse, as well as fish lips. 

→ Reading Comprehension... for babies!?

The ultimate goal of reading anything is to understand a message - be it very simple or super complex.

We need to know the words and ideas presented in the text, so that we can make connections to what we know about the world around us.

The world of a baby/toddler is their home, family, toys, pets... so those are the connections they start to make when you read with them!

A. started to spontaneously look for things she knew we had in the house, to match the things she saw on her books. She can also say that she has seen or done the same things that are on the book (rode a bike, went on the swings, saw a dog...)
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→ On PRINT AWARENESS, one of the early pillars of literacy development: I almost jumped when A. (1y8m) pointed at a page of the book we were reading and said, "A!" (in Portuguese, pronounced ‘Ah’). I did NOT expect that, but it actually didn't come as a surprise. 

Literacy development goes hand in hand with language development and it starts even before birth. 

Being intentional and consistent with language and literacy experiences, in a natural and enjoyable way, is so beneficial - and it's never too early. 

I did not TEACH her the letters, but: 

* I've been reading with her everyday since she was a few days old. 

* We have blocks and tiles that spell her name and she's curious about them. I point, say the sounds and put them in order. 

* I read - and point with my finger - everything that might interest her in our environment. 

She's been recognizing A and O consistently and every time we color together she says, "Mama, A!" and hands me a crayon so I can write. We'll continue like this: naturally, playfully and intentionally fostering languages and literacy. What an exciting start!

​Now she’s almost two and we can see that we owe a great deal of her language development - in both Dutch and Portuguese - to the habit of reading aloud regularly. 

And she loves reading so much that she often goes to bed crying for “Nog boekje!” or “Mais livro!” (more books). 

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How's YOUR experience of reading with your children? 

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You might also like:
Support literacy even before your child starts to read
Reading aloud with multilingual children of all ages (YouTube video)

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Improving Writing Skills with Treasure Hunts

18/4/2022

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By Ana Elisa Miranda, Ute Limacher-Riebold and Yoshito Darmon-Shimamori
A Treasure Hunt is a series of written clues that lead to a treasure. This treasure can be any object, which will be hidden somewhere in your house or wherever you are going to play. 

It’s a great opportunity to engage our children in reading and writing, and to develop confidence in creating and playing with languages.

In this video, we talk about: 
  • How to play Treasure Hunt
  • How to support the writing process by using a template
  • How this activity can benefit our children’s spelling and writing skills
  • How this activity builds confidence 
  • Different ways to play with
          Young children
          Beginning or emergent writers
          More confident writers
          Teenagers
  • Going beyond the template and being creative

Have you played Treasure Hunt with your children? 
Will you try a different way to play? 
Let us know in the comments!

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Resources:
How to make a treasure hunt for kids  
Scavenger Hunt Fun  
How to sneak in literacy in your multilingual home  
How to build your child’s writing confidence
What if my child is reluctant to read and write in our home language?
 
Find hundreds of activity ideas for your multilingual family on our books:

The Toolbox for Multilingual Families
The Parents’ Guide to Raising Multi-literate Children 

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Reading aloud with multilingual children (of all ages)

26/3/2022

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By Ana Elisa Miranda, Ute Limacher-Riebold and Yoshito Darmon-Shimamori
Reading aloud is one of the most powerful things we can do to support language and literacy development.

This simple activity has an incredible impact on vocabulary, knowledge, confidence, emotional connection between children and adults, and much more. 

For a multilingual family, reading aloud in different languages is like a window into different cultures and into the sounds, rhythm, words, structure and beauty of each language. 

By reading aloud together we enrich and empower our children's language skills, helping them grow into confident multilinguals.

In this video, we talk about:
  • How to read aloud and make it engaging.
  • Why reading aloud is important in a multilingual family.
  • Which language we should read in.
  • The overall benefits of reading aloud with our children.
  • How we can read together with our children when they are: 
          - Babies
          - Toddlers and pre-school children
          - School-aged children and teenagers
  • We also give tips on how to support children who read in different scripts. So, stick to the end and don’t miss these! 

Watch the video here and let us know in the comments: what’s your top tip for reading with children? 

More about reading aloud:
  • Why reading to your kids in your home language will help them become better readers
  • Reading tips for parents (in multiple languages)
  • How you will start teaching your child to read
  • Establishing a reading routine

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How to help our children with pronunciation in a playful way

3/3/2022

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A Tongue Twister is a sentence that has repeated sounds, which make it difficult to say without stumbling. 

Tongue twisters are good for improving pronunciation and speaking skills. They are like physical exercises, as we strengthen and stretch the muscles involved in speech when we try to articulate them. This muscle exercise leads to a clearer pronunciation, to clearer speech patterns and helps to rectify sounds that could be hard for us to articulate.

Tongue twisters challenge our capacity to enunciate the individual sounds in each word so we don't trip up, they force us to pay careful attention to the precise sounds in each word. 

They are not only a good exercise for beginners in the target language, but also for those whose articulation is affected, for example by retainers or tooth gaps.
Tongue Twisters are also a great warm up for actors, singers and public speakers!
When playing with Tongue Twisters, the aim is to enunciate the sentence as quickly as possible without making mistakes. 

The fun part is that it is a tricky exercise for everyone! Even proficient speakers! So it can help children be less afraid of making mistakes and just give it a go. 
  • Do you play tongue twisters with your children? 
  • Which tongue twisters do you remember from your childhood? 
  • What tongue twisters do you know in your other languages?

​In this video we share some easy and fun ways to use tongue twisters with your children in all their languages.

You can find tongue twisters in over 100 languages here: 
https://www.tongue-twister.net

Have fun with your languages!

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Who is considered multiliterate?

24/1/2022

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Who is multiliterate?

Languages are fluid, lively things. Your skills might change according to how much you speak, listen, read or write in a particular language. Multilinguals are rarely equally proficient in all their languages. 


For example: my first language is Brazilian Portuguese. I then learned English, which I currently use the most - for work, relationships, leisure, studies. I often catch myself thinking in English. At this moment, I am highly proficient in all four skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing). I use Portuguese much less often, and can even notice a "lack of fluency": forgetting words, losing my natural regional accent.

On top of that I have learned some French, but it is quite inactive at the moment. I can read and listen with some comprehension, and my speaking and writing skills are quite basic. Then there's (Flemish) Dutch, which I understand, speak, read and write often, to get by where I live. I can communicate in social situations but I am unable to use it for academic, formal or professional settings. 


If I were to switch jobs or move to a different country, this whole balance would shift. 
Despite the varying levels of skill, I read and write in more than one language, so I am considered multiliterate. 

In her book, Learning to read and write in the multilingual family, Xiao-lei Wang describes a "multilingual literacy competency continuum" and defines the key elements of what being multiliterate means:
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  • “actively using more than one language in reading and writing;
  • with different proficiency levels;
  • for a particular purpose.”

When it comes to our children and our goal of raising them multiliterate, it is important to reflect on the following:
  • What can they already do in each of their languages?
  • Why is it important that they learn to read and write in each language?
  • What level of proficiency do we expect in each language? 
  • For what purpose will they read and write in (language)? 

So, it is not really a question of “Will your multilingual children also be multiliterate?” 
It is more a matter of where in the multilingual literacy competency continuum they will stand, in different moments in their lives. 
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    Hi!

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     I'm Ana - a teacher who loves reading, writing, traveling and nature. 

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