Hello Forum members,
I am father of a tri-lingual 7 year old daughter and am posting this in the hope that some of you may be able to share advice.
My daughter is in a Chinese-English immersion school in San Francisco, and we’ve been following the “one parent, one language” approach since her birth in which mom speaks only Mandarin with her, dad speaks only German with her and in family settings (e.g. dinner) we use English.
My daughter has responded well to this approach and is able to speak, write and read Mandarin and Enlist and speak and understand mid-level German. So far, I have focused her attention German on understanding and speaking but not pushed for reading or writing as I fear it might distract from Mandarin and English skills.
Due to school, homework and friends immersion, her English and Mandarin have made great progress. But earlier this year she started switching to English instead of German. I believe this is because she feels more fluid expression is possible in English while her German capabilities are lagging behind.I continue to speak only German with her.
I am now looking for any advice on what I can do to ensure that she continues to build a solid foundation for German.
I am concerned that she is giving up on expressing herself in German as her capabilities are falling behind her English and Chinese skills. I don’t have the ambition for her to write or read much German, unless this is something that’s critical.
I have considered, sending her to a 2-week German immersion summer camp in 2019 but worry that by then she may have fallen behind so much that she will not even try her German.
Many thanks for any ideas,
Frank