Advice for learning 3 languages
Hello everyone,
My husband and I live in the US and have a 4-year-old son. My husband is American and only speaks English, while I am originally from Vietnam and speak both English and Vietnamese fluently. Right now, our son attends daycare where everything is in English.
Next year, he will begin a French/English immersion program for kindergarten. The school goes from kindergarten through 8th grade. From kindergarten to 2nd grade, instruction is 100% in French. Starting in 3rd grade, it becomes about 70% French and 30% English, and by 4th–5th grade, the curriculum is taught roughly 50/50 in French and English.
At home, my husband and I naturally communicate in English since that is the only language he speaks. I’ve been trying to follow the “one parent, one language” approach by speaking Vietnamese with my son. Although he understands some simple Vietnamese phrases, he usually responds in English and refuses to speak Vietnamese back to me.
For families raising multilingual children, especially with three languages involved, what approaches or strategies have worked well for you? Neither my husband nor I speak French at the moment, but I plan to take French lessons so I can better support and communicate with my son in French as well.
I would really appreciate any advice on how to help my son naturally develop and maintain Vietnamese while also learning English and French.
Thank you so much!