How to help a 6-year-old girl learn English?

[vaok]

I'm from China. I know listening and speaking is not a problem for native students. But what about writing and reading? what's the practice of teaching children to write and read in English-speaking countries? what should a 6-year-old girl in China should do to learn English well? Can anyone give suggestions or intrductions of the pratice of native learners? thanks.

[onatopp]

In my experience and awareness, adults tend to 'think' they know 6 year olds, and confidently, but in reality, arrogantly guide or feed 6 year olds, their version of 'what's best'. Their is nothing worse than so-called experts in this world.

All anyone has to do, is slow down, and observe. The young see things as they are.
Without prejudice or bias or pre-concieved notions, or hate. They just see.

They question innocently. And to those who are already rolling their eyes at what you are reading, need to heed this.

Expose them, but do not force them, they will learn the worthwhile as their hearts guide them. For the 'Oh Jesus' crowd, try renting 'How to Eat Fried Worms' or 'Aquamarine'. You may think it's 'too mature', or racy, but that only exposes your unpreparedness to answer questions.

Yes, they are young. And yes they are curious. The language and cadence will be over their young little heads. But they will thank you for trusting them to question and realize growth, maturity, wonder. Even if it's (temporarily translated) over their heads, at the moment, you will be pleasantly surprised at the results. Watch them by yourselves first. And smile!

Your child will learn at a child's pace, not yours. There are plenty of language guidance DVDs available. (Rosetta Stone, the finest available), but exposing one to the culture as well as language, will doubly arm one in society.

So give 'How To Eat Fried Worms', Aquamarine, and 'The Sandlot Series' a chance.

It worked wonders for me, after many efforts at trying! The little ones appreciate the exposure,trust and entertaining message. Believe me. Thanks. Be good.

[Jamie (K)]

Now that we're done with the loopy, amorphous, narrow-focused, partially unintelligible, Rousseauean-sounding suggestion, I can offer you this:

Reading and writing are indeed a problem for most children who are native speakers of English. There are cases where a small child learns to read English naturally, but these are rare.

Historically, the most reliable way to teach children to read and write has been with a phonics approach. This approach helps children associate various letter combinations with various sounds. (Contrary to popular belief, English spelling is not completely unpredictable, and there are patterns.) Good reading programs combine training in phonics with a lot of practice in reading and writing various types of age-appropriate texts.

Every so often some new theory (which is usually a renamed old theory) claims to make phonics training obsolete, but those newer approaches never seem to work well.

[vaok]

thank you both!

So give 'How To Eat Fried Worms', Aquamarine, and 'The Sandlot Series' a chance.--------It's difficult to find a place to download them. it's a pity.