I speak French to my three year old Gabriel, but he responds in English. Also, my wife speaks English to him. How can I help him improve his French and get him out of this “bad habit”?

Andre

Dear Andre,

First, although Gabriel responds in English, he understands French, and therefore has a solid foundation of the language. We call this a passive bilingual. The key to moving to the next step, him responding in French, is to build on this foundation. What’s good for you, is that you’ve already nailed the beginning of this process. By using the One Parent One Language method, where you are only speaking in one language to your son, you are designating yourself as the official “French Person.” This is the most effective way of raising a bilingual child - so keep to it.

Anyways, getting Gabriel to the next step will require two major changes. First, you should gently insist that he responds to you in French. And the other will be to increase his French language input.

For instance, if he plays games on the computer, play the French version. This will enable him to increase his vocabulary, which is important for speaking. Then as you interact with him, encourage him to speak back in French. You could set up specific French speaking times. If you know someone that spends time with him that could interact with him in French to reinforce this it would take the message even further home. Set up rituals of times when you are both speaking in French. For example, if you have a “French bed time” so that when you say “bonne nuit” (good night), try to encourage him to answer in “daddy’s language too”.

Good luck.

Dr. Steiner