I don't know how long your kids are going to be here, but I'm pretty sure that they are going to learn/speak Swiss German whether you like it or not. And good for them. That would mean that they are socializing. (Don't worry. It's we adults who can muddle our literate learning of German with Swiss German. Children can learn anything.)

I teach in a trilingual kindergarten and speak to our children only in English. The progression of our non-english students is nearly identitical for each: barely a trickle of words and then a sudden gush. The important thing is exposure.
The metaphor that we give our parents in this positionis that of developing film. Picture the paper being imprinted and then the image developing slowly in each pan. Slowly and surely an indelible image forms. This is what happens as a child is exposed to language. When the picture is finished, it is then that he or she begins speaking. Switching to the child's mother tongue is risky and can be akin to letting too much light in somewhere. A child needs exposure to support the imprint.
No worries moms.

Camber - thank you for your reassuring post. That's what I needed to know, that the way he's developing is normal and expected, and not to worry.

His tutor, other school teachers, other parents all keep mentioning this 'step up' in ability at around 6 months, and unless it's literally going to happen overnight, I just don't see it! I've decided they're just talking about kids who already know a Romance language.

He's doing brilliantly: he's happy at school, has made some friends, he knows quite a lot of words now, his reading and pronunciation has improved recently - he even went to camp for 3 days last term! I'm very proud of him, and will now just chill for another six months (whilst doing some sneaky guerilla grammar stuff...).

Jessy - again, loving the tales of kids going from single word utterances to full speech. Your photo metaphor is very helpful.

Thank you, everybody.

kodokan

And I haven't even mentioned that my son's started GERMAN this year as well - taught through the French he doesn't yet understand, of course. He thinks this is funny.

They're quite amazing little creatures, really.

kodokan

Major breakthrough!

Yesterday, my son was watching Bob l'Eponge (SpongeBob) whilst my daughter and I were in the next room sorting out the winter gloves and hats, with much jollity and trying on.

'Can you and A go and do that somewhere else, Mummy, I can't hear what they're saying!' he yelled.

I pointed out that it hardly mattered, did it, as he couldn't understand it. 'Yes I can' he said indignantly. 'Some of it, anyway'. And then proceeded to occasionally giggle in the right places.

Apparently the magic '6 months' thing is true for us, after all!

And my daughter's enfantine teacher told me this morning that she understands lots of things in French. Given she only started a month ago, I think it's more a case of her understanding body language, tone of voice and copying the other kids, but hey! It's all good.

kodokan

And just wait until he starts learning his third language... English!!!

"TGIE, TGIE, TGIE!!!".

(and then comes Latin, but you didn't hear that from me )

hi kodokan,

i have two kids and at home we speak two languages but don't speak french at all, in fact when my son started the school 4 years back, he couldn't frame even a single simple sentence in french except 'i want this and that' and same was the situation of my daughter when she joined the school last year. after they started the school, they were given special french classes twice a week (my daughter is in deuxium enfantine and is still taking the classes). to my surprise, my kids never uttered a word of french at home and as most of our friends speak english, they prefer answering in english and not in french. like you, i was worried too until one day when i got a book for my son and he started reading like he talks in english (not read in english). so what i want to say is, even though your son may not be speaking or uttering words in french to you, i am sure he is grasping well and with your continous support, he can improve.

if you want, you can enroll your name in the municiple library( bibliothèque municipale) situated at the center of lausanne, they have a special kids section (a total separate library). you can take around 15 books at a time including cds and dvds, the library have lots of french books for all aged kids. its a free service, no registration fees nothing and you can keep the books,cds, dvds for 4 weeks and extend further for 4 weeks. there are books which are both in english and french, your son might find them interesting. the site for the this library is www.lausanne.ch/bibliotheque . during the holidays, you can take upto 25 books. if your son enjoys reading, he will find a good collection of french books starting from basic and simple french.

i hope that helps.

zyxel

Hmmm don't discount it, the younger they are the easier it is.....

I only discovered the my 6 year old daughter could speak High German by accident! I was trying to improve my High German by having a conversation with my son and I guess she was feeling left out.... any way she walked over to me and said "you know dad I can talk like that too"! and for the next half a hour or so we talked only in German... she picked it up from watching a half hour of German TV every evening for about 6 months!

Good luck & don't worry it will all turn out fine in the end

Jim

Ok,thanks for that. I was just worried that he was ONLY in the class with other non french speakers, which I think is horrible & shouldn't be allowed. But it's great that he is in regular class most of the time. So my point, to move him in to "regular" class, is mute! & you have other really good advice & as you see, progress is very quick!! All the best & good luck to your little one!