Advise for Spanish-English bilingual family adopting a 9-year-old Russian girl

[Blume, Maria]

Dear Colleagues:

A friend of mine is adopting a 9 year-old Russian girl. The family lives in 
El Paso, TX. The family language is Spanish and the language the child 
would be schooled in would be primarily English.

They are planning to home school her for the some months until she adapts 
to the family and the language change, and have her tested in Russian first 
to see how she is doing cognitively and linguistically since this is a 
child who has spent many years in an orphanage. The family is learning 
Russian but obviously their Russian is very basic. They have found a 
Russian speaker here at our university who can help tutor her in English 
and there is a chance they may find a Russian-Spanish bilingual in nearby 
Ciudad Juárez to help with Spanish.

In principle they do not want to change the home language from Spanish to 
English. The mother asked me for advice but I do not have much experience 
in late childhood trilingualism. I advised that since the child is going to 
stay at home at first, Spanish should be introduced first so that she feels 
comfortable in the home environment and later could English  be introduced.

Could you please give me your advise so that I can tell the mother on

Should they introduce one language first or both at the same time?
What would be indicators that the child is ready for the second language if 
they introduce one first?
Any bibliography suited for university-educated parents who are not experts 
in language (mother is a translator, the father is a doctor) or any 
practical tips?

Thanks in advance for your responses

María

María Blume
Assistant Professor
Department of Languages and Linguistics
Liberal Arts Building, Room 119
University of Texas at El Paso
El Paso, TX 79968
mblume at utep.edu
915-747-6320

Director of the UTEP Language Acquisition and Linguistics Research Lab
Liberal Arts Building, Room 111
University of Texas at El Paso
El Paso, TX 79968
915-747-7024


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