Our family was driving down the freeway together the other morning and we passed a small sign alongside the road. It said, “Paul Johnson Memorial Bridge”. It was one of those placards posted next to interchanges, overpasses and even small stretches of highway to commemorate the life of a fallen hero or some other significant person. It wasn’t a very large sign, but it was readable…if you are an English reader.

What happened in our car was a little out of the ordinary. Our non-English reading daughter, saw the sign as we drove by and read out-loud, “Paul Johnson”. It didn’t impress my mind as unusual; both my girls and I drive around a lot in the car and they are always “reading” signs: Target, In & Out, Chick-Fil-A. It is more an exercise in recognizing design and logo than actual reading. So on this morning, I didn’t “catch” this unusual incident.

But my husband did. He raised his eyebrows and fixed his gaze on our daughter through the rearview mirror and declared, “You read that!” She was shamefaced and embarrassed at being “caught” reading English. “That’s not even an easy one!” we told her, “How did you do that?” We could see that she was pleased with herself, but she just shrugged her shoulders and smiled.

The interesting backstory to this reading incident is that neither I or my husband have given our daughter any “formal” reading lessons, whether in or out of school. I have been teaching her phonograms (the sounds of the english letters), both as single letters and in multi-letter combinations. I have been using flashcards to teach these. And I do read-aloud to her. I have noticed her informally “following along” with her eyes upon the page. And I know she is following along because sometimes she “corrects” me if I drop a word or change a word or transpose a couple of words! (And she doesn’t cut me any slack – what an accomplishment for a “non-reader”!)

Her first year in the United States was spent in listening and learning to speak and converse in English. But now, she is evidently coalescing and cataloging her knowledge, and this internal arranging of language information is enabling this “non-reader” to begin reading. This is exciting! I find this learning process truly amazing and facinating. God has created us with an innate ability to discover and learn and understand language.

I am observing the stages of language learning and reading readiness – and I have seen them before. My first daughter acquired English from her babyhood; now my 11-year-old Taiwanese daughter is passing through the same developmental milestones as her older sister did. The main difference? Her age of acquisition is much later.

“Paul Johnson” Indeed! The cat is out of the bag; my “non-reader” is ready to begin reading lessons!