Teaching Amy to read and write English

[pne]

I wonder whether (and if so, when and how) to teach Amy to read and write English.

She'll be taught (and, presumably, learn) to read and write German at school, so that part's sorted, but I don't really want her to be illiterate in half of her native languages. And English spelling is complicated enough that I don't know whether just knowing how to read German will let you read English easily, let alon write it.

So I wonder whether to teach her to read and write English myself at some point (and if so, how).

I remember that in Bilingual Children: from Birth to Teens, the author made little reading and writing exercises for his children, in order for them to practise their second language, and I wonder whether I should do something similar eventually.

Suggestions for methods, time to start, or other things?

Comments

[pne]

A quick Google search indicates that German now uses entirely the same alphabet as English.

Yes and no. German also has ä ö ü ß, which aren't counted as separate letters (they're usually sorted as "ae oe ue ss" - e.g. in telephone books - or as "a o u ss" - e.g. in dictionaries), so you could say German has 26 letters just like English, but to read and write, you'd still have to know how about those four extra "shapes". ("ß" is special in that it doesn't really have an upper-case version.)

I think it would do her a disservice to slow down her progress in the language that she'll be expected to use in school.

Good point.