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DH and I are considering exposing DS26mo to French as a second language. I'd love some feedback from experienced parents here, particularly those whose children weren't in an immersive bilingual environment from birth. DS' English vocabulary is vast, he's developing a love of word play, and I feel a language would be a fun new challenge for him to enjoy! (Confession: I ADORE language learning.)

Background: We speak English at home, though I can also speak French fluently and Spanish nearly fluently. DH is a uningual anglophone.

Goals:
1. For DS to achieve native level fluency for age in French around kindergarten age.
2. To train DS' ear to an authentic French Canadian (Montreal/Quebec City) accent.
3. I'd be thrilled if we could plant some early seeds of meta cognition.
4. Build confidence and competence with early oration (dramatic expression, public speaking).

Prelim Plan: I'm thinking of hiring an undergraduate student majoring in French--ideally French theater!-- to spend two or three one-hour sessions each week with DS, reading French stories, acting out role plays, and playing in French while I exercise. I want his "lessons" to be pretty self-contained with a high entertainment value. It also wouldn't hurt for him to learn to take direction from a sensitive outside teacher. (ETA: Obviously I can do this myself, but I'm looking for someone to relieve me while I exercise, so I figured the caregiver could serve double duty.)

I would be grateful for any feedback that you might have to offer! Thanks!

Are you planning on these sessions being your DS's only exposure to French? Because then you're talking about getting to native fluency on a total of under 500 hours' exposure to the language, which seems optimistic to me even bearing in mind that native fluency compared to native French-speaking 5yos might not be the same as compared to adults!

Provided you don't regard the effort as wasted if native standard isn't achieved, sounds good to me. You might want to think about how you want to prime the student to react if your DS is unhappy about the French immersion - being left with a caregiver who resolutely refused to speak the language you already understand could be very distressing, so some sensitivity might be needed so that it didn't either distress him or turn into English-speaking babysitting.

Aquinas, I will be watching this post with interest. I am fluent in 3 languages and dh in 2. Dh and I talk to each other and dd in one of our native languages. However, dd is still far from being fluent in that language. After 4 years of immersion, she is at the level of a native 1.5 year old. The reason, IMO, is that English is a far simpler language to learn- the grammar rules are simpler. Plus she knows that everyone speaks English and not many speak the other language. So what is the incentive? The only hope I have is that when my siblings and I were young, we spoke in a language different from my parents but as adults, we ended up learning both languages plus English. So it will click someday. All the best and sounds like you have a fun plan. Maybe French cartoons and songs might pique his interest as well.

That's interesting lovemyDD. The only family I have know who have tried raising their kids bilingual - but using their non english langauge at home as you do - were very successful from what I understand. Both children went through a phase between 10 months and 2yrs where they tended to muddle the two languages together, but from my understanding they did separate them by 2-2.5 yrs, figured out when to use which, and became pretty fluent in both. Though I haven't seen them since the youngest was 2, the family has since moved countries and reversed their language use, so now they are working on keeping their kids' English.... I think their girl was an earlier/more fluent speaker in both languages.

I started Mandarin with DD in K, but that was only once a week. And she got Spanish in school. Now she is in 4th grade and we are in Canada so she has to take French, no Spanish but she has the Spanish background. After grade 8 she can switch back to Spanish and I think the French will accomodate that. And she does still have Mandarin once a week, I am adding a couple privates a month. We only speak English at home. I think that as long as you are consistent and keep it going, language works. You have to have real immersion later on and keep it going. Hence why most Canadians do not speak French after high school, like me. I can barely say any words in French. I had no place to talk French. Learning and keeping are two different things.

My dh only speaks Spanish (native Spanish speaker) and I speak English. Thus, the boys get more English than Spanish. Ds6 loves Spanish and using Spanish in non- English settings. He now can read easy readers in Spanish.

He did struggle as a toddler, saying some words only English, some only Spanish. By 2.5, he knew to speak English to English speakers and vice versa.

My ds 3.5, refuses to speak Spanish, but understands everything.

I do think a fun person with songs and activities will help. Also, lots of exposure will help too. Give it a try, and see how your dc reacts.

Off topic, but this reminds me of the time I visited my Danish friends who were then living in Sweden. Their son, at about this age, was attending nursery in Swedish but spoke Danish at home and with various friends and, of course, family. He had very sensibly adopted the policy: "Faced with a new person, speak Swedish to them. If that fails, they must be Danish, so speak Danish." Unfortunately my Swedish didn't pass muster...

aquinas, I wish I had useful advice but we are really struggling to get DD to speak any other language and she is immersed at home at least 20% of the time. She seems very committed to monolingualism for now although she understands French and prefers to watch movies in French over English. She's a puzzle, that one.

[quote= very committed to monolingualism [/quote]
I like that term. That would define my dd. she understands everything we say in our native language but she refuses to speak in it. She has said," mom, I am not from (our home country). I am an American and Americans only like English." I have disapproved of this attitude but I can't really force her.

My Sister in law only speaks english to her kids, her husband only spanish. They go to a school where english is spoken. The older (who is VERY bright) can speak conversationally - but not fluently.

I think to get close to the level you are hoping you will need to also speak to the child in French. How could DS get a Canadian accent from a grad student?