Elizabeth's English Skills

As I'm sure many of you've heard already, Elizabeth continues to amaze all of us with her English! Last July when she first came to our home, she knew absolutely no English. Since we are all English speakers, and some of us speak a bit of Chinese as well, it wasn't long before she began picking it up since that is the main language used in our home. About a month and a half after arriving in our home, we also began her on an English home school program where she began studying Phonics, Math, and Handwriting. She quickly learned English phonics and could readily sound out any English word that followed the phonics rules she'd learned. The only problem we then had was that, although she could sound out and read the words, she often didn't know what she was reading. Unlike native English speakers who already knew what a "cat" was, she had to learn the meanings of each of these words too. While there are still many meanings she hasn't learned, her vocabulary continues to grow. We know it will just take some time. At home now, she speaks English nearly exclusively. No, she hasn't forgotten her Chinese as she has plenty of opportunity to use that as well. She has done remarkably well and we are very proud of the progress she has made in such a short period of time!! Although she was a bit reluctant at first, she did agree to allow me to video her so she could show all of you just how well she can read in English.