My son started learning to read when he was in preschool and they did teach reading to a certain extent in kindergarten. I learned to read when I was four, My parents taught me. Which is what all parents should do, start teaching your children at home.
Thankshmm, I had a very supporting kindergarten teacher… I already knew how to read/write (even in cursive(thanks, grandma)), so they put me in a first grade reading class, and I spent the rest of my day with the kindergarten class. Same in 1st grade. However, I switched schools when I got into 2nd grade, but the school system in which I had been had done such an excellent job educating me, I got skipped up to 3rd grade.
My son was learning his letters in preschool and reading in Kindergarten. Now that he is in first grade he wants to reads everything and he does it very well. As for me, that was almost thirty years ago, I can barely remember what happened last week, let alone whether or not I could read when I was in Kindergarten.
Hokkaido Brit, I wouldn’t worry about your kids’ reading/writing level. They’re very young, and English is complicated to spell. That said, I’m no expert.
But I was raised bilingual, so maybe I can help there. My parents got me (and my sister) lots of books, kid’s magazines, tapes of people telling stories, etc.; if DVDs had existed in those days, they’d have been all over those as well. (Say what you like about e-commerce, but it’s made life a million billion times easier for multi-continental families. I used to have to buy my Euro-comix in Europe and bring them back myself. Nowadays, amazon.fr will deliver them to my door.) Continuing exposure is key. If I were you, I’d get the kids a multi-region DVD player, lots of DVDs in English, and pretty much continue your write-a-few-sentences (maybe more as they get older) excercise.