Giving your child opportunities to learn 2 or more languages is one of the best gifts you can provide for her. This starts at home during the early years when a child spends the most time with a parent and during her sensitive period when the child has a powerful capacity to learn several languages at a near native level. Practically speaking, what can you do as a parent, to reinforce the target, second language at home? Based on my experience as a bilingual parent, I would recommend speaking only (or at least mostly) in that language when interacting with the child — narrate and explain what you are doing during activities of the day and evening, ask the child questions and review colors, shapes, numbers and the alphabet in that language; read to your child only in that language; have your child watch TV shows they like in the target language; take your child on trips in a country that speaks that language; expose them to other children her age who speak the language through play dates, classes and any community events. This post will delve into my personal experience of teaching my preschooler (3-4 years old) the French language so that you can apply what you think might prove helpful in your own family.

Since Emilia and Leo were babies, I have been speaking to them exclusively in French when I am alone with them. You can read here about how I reinforced the French language with my first born, for roughly the first 2 years of her life. Emilia will be turning 4 in the next few months and I want to keep track of her progress in the French language, especially since it’s been improving leaps and bounds recently in terms of sentence structure and accent!

As Emilia is talking more in her native language, English, she is also making remarkable progress in the minority language, French and this has all been further strengthened by our recent trip to France to visit my parents in January, her French classes and the fact that I can spend more time with her after school now that she attends a public pre-K school. She is saying more and more full sentences in French when expressing what she would like (Je veux du lait; Je veux de l’eau, s’il te plait), what she wants to or can do (Je veux faire pipi, Je veux aller en/là bas; Je peux le faire toute seule; Je veux voir; Je veux que tu restes ici avec moi, s’il te plait), when she asks questions about where something or someone is or what is happening or what a person is doing (Où est Papa, Où est Leo?; Qu’est-ce qui se passe? Qu’est-ce que c’est ce bruit? Qu’est-ce qu’il fait? C’est quoi ca?); expressing possession and making negative sentences (Ça c’est à moi; C’est mon chat; C’est pour moi et ça c’est pour toi; c’est à moi, pas à toi) and so forth. Every time she interacts with an adult in French, I make sure she learns good manners, such as greeting them, thanking them and saying good-bye (Bonjour; Merci; Aurevoir). Of course, introducing herself is very important and so I ask her every once in a while what her name is and how old she is in French, to which she answers: “Je m’appelle Emilia et j’ai 3 ans“.

Emilia loves stories and so her nighttime routine includes having her father read to her in English and for me to read to her in French. This was also the case when she spent time with my parents in France (my father is French so he would read to her in French and my mother is American so she would read to her in English). What we have noticed over the past few months is that she asks to read the same books over and over again and after a while, she clearly memorizes it and can ‘”read” the story back to us. This is valid for English and French stories that she enjoys the most. While we read stories in French, I also make it a point to ask her questions about the story to test her comprehension, especially as she becomes more and more familiar with it. If she replies to me in English, I ask her to say the same thing in French. It might take her a while to form the complete sentence but she is capable of doing it. If she doesn’t know how to say certain words in French, she asks me and I gladly tell her how to say it. Repetition and a variety of exposure to the French language is key to a child acquiring vocabulary, sentence structure, and improving her accent. Emilia’s French r is perfect and so are the notoriously difficult vowel combinations like “ain“, “en” and “on“. She pronounces these very clearly. She makes some mistakes with the articles. For instance, she may say: “Je mets ma manteau” (I put on my coat) instead of “Je mets mon manteau” but I simply correct her and have her repeat. Sometimes, I worry that correcting her will discourage her from speaking the language but so far, so good!

In terms of reading and writing, at 3-4 years old, I don’t push it too much because at that age, it’s more about play. I do engage Emilia in letter and number recognition activities in the target language, tracing the letters in her name. This can be a Montessori sensory activity of tracing letters in sand or flour while sounding out the letter. You can also simply have her trace the dotted letters on a piece of paper, again while she sounds out the corresponding letter. The best way for a child to learn the alphabet is through phonetics. The ABC song is fun and a great way to teach a toddler the alphabet through music but it doesn’t hold any value in terms of teaching the phonics associated with each letter. For more information on how the Montessori method teaches the Alphabet and Phonics, read this post and this post.

Obviously, English comes more naturally to our daughter so when she wants to express herself quickly, she tends to revert back to English with me. I have been working on translating what she says in English to French and making sure she repeats the same sentence back to me. This work is paying off and because of what she is learning with me and in her French class, her confidence level has increased and she is now much more willing to say complete sentences to me, her teacher and classmates. Her French teacher informed me she is talking more and more in French in class and in the instances when he does not, she asks her to repeat what she said in French. Consistency is key, not only with what the parents are engaging in at home but also across the various caregivers in your child’s life (teachers, grand-parents, aunts and uncles).

We are also a Latino family (my husband is Puerto Rican and I was born in Colombia) and we know how important it is for our children to be able to speak Spanish in the United States. They are both exposed to the Spanish language on a regular basis through daycare, school and my husband’s family, but neither of us speak it at a native level. It’s not recommended for a parent to introduce a language if they do not speak it as perfectly as their native language. As long as they hear the language and learn the basics such as colors, counting, animals through their teachers, TV shows and songs, we are happy with that!

Above all else, remember that the window for learning a language quickly and at a near-native level is from birth to 6 years old with the optimal period being between 3 and 6 years old, so be sure not to miss it or you may regret it later in life, as a parent. I do hear some parents say they will wait until their child is 3 or 4 to teach their child a second language and while that is just fine, keep in mind that it will be harder for you and your child to slip into the target language mode if you don’t start earlier than that. As I said before, it’s best to engage in this discipline from the moment your baby is born (and even prior, while she is in your womb)! Enjoy seeing your little one develop bilingual language skills! For me personally, it has been so rewarding to see the fruits of my labor and dedication to speaking and teaching French with both Emilia and Leo.