image credit: read to me dad (via flickr)

In honor of Father’s Day in the United States (in Spain, Father’s Day is celebrated in March), we’ve decided to dedicate today’s post to all the dads out there who are raising bilingual readers. All too often we associate this daily commitment with moms, but there are also many amazing fathers who are extremely involved in giving their children the gifts of bilingualism and literacy. According to a recent article by the UK National Literacy Trust, “Dads and other male carers are just as important as mums in encouraging children to enjoy reading - perhaps even more so, since reading is often thought of by boys as a “girly” thing to do.” Father-child shared reading is even more important in OPOL households, as children need to be read to in both parents’ languages in order to receive balanced input of the vocabulary, sentence structure, sounds, rhythms and rhymes of each of individual language.

Are you an involved dad who’s interested in making reading a priority, but you don’t know where to begin? Here’s a list of down to earth tips for dads from Dad’s Space , an excellent resource for fathers across the globe:

• With kids under two, don’t worry if they’d rather flick through the pages and point at pictures than read the story - at this point the story is much less important than the child understanding the world around them.
• Get interactive – why not encourage children to write their own stories using characters in a book, you can also write one yourself!
• Personalise reading- choose the correct reading matter for you and your child, you can read anything such as football programmes, comics, sporting magazines etc.
• Read with your child everyday. Make a point to sit down together everyday and read something – it could be before bed or before dinner – make it into a regular occasion which you can both look forward to.
• Read yourself- children copy their parents so set a good example!
• Fill your home with books, both fiction and non fiction, and encourage your child to fill their own bookcase with their favourite books. Books in the home encourage a life long love of reading for the whole family. It doesn’t have to be expensive either - you can pick up books in libraries, charity shops and on Freecycle for little or nothing!
• Find a subject you can both enjoy whether its horror, comedy, science fiction or adventure stories and really enjoy reading for the pleasure of a good story.
• Take it in turn to read pages or chapters, by sharing the experience not only are you spending time with your child but you are able to keep track of how they are improving.
• Visit your local library or book shop together- discuss what you want to read and spend time hunting down books for you both to enjoy.
• Enjoy reading – it’s a gift which you can share with your child and will last them a lifetime.

Thanks to Dad’s Space for the great advice, and Happy Father’s Day to all our bilingual dads!