Parent to Parent

Have your children learned to read and write in the second language, or if they are younger, do you expect that they will learn to read and write?
If so, how will they/did they learn this?

I expect that he will be able to read and hopefully write in French. I have bought some elementary books, similar to the ones I had growing up and I will take the time with him to do that.
— Mother of bilingual 2-year old (French)

Yes, we have been teaching him Chinese and he is going to Sunday Chinese class.
— Father of bilingual 6-year old (Chinese)

They are still too young, but I do anticipate them learning to read and write French. I plan on teaching them. I'm also hoping they will attend a local language immersion school starting from kindergarten where they will either be continuing with French or taking up a new language.
— Mother of bilingual 4-year old and 2 1/2-year old (French)

She will go to an international school where they will teach her in two languages.
— Mother of bilingual 2-year old (Dutch)

My parents taught me to read to the point where I started to read on my own, developing my reading, writing and speaking skills.
— Adult raised in bilingual home/Father of bilingual 2-year old (Spanish)

International school and some home support.
— Mother of bilingual 7-year old and 5-year old (French)

American-born Chinese do not seem to care as much about reading and writing. Mom does not read or write that well at all [in Chinese], and had very little formal training. Dad reads and writes [in Japanese], but is planning to only teach her the basics: if she wants to continue later in life, the foundation will be there. As you know, it takes a great deal of time and effort to read and write languages using Chinese characters. Lots of people, especially those born overseas can speak the language, but are functional illiterates. We might send her to school for Chinese later in life, but hey, she's just starting to talk.
— Father of trilingual 2-year old (Chinese & Japanese)

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