At De La Fontaine trilingual Montessori school, our goal is full multilingualism: we want children to understand, speak, read and write in 3 languages. We know, from experience, that it requires a specific approach, which we have implemented at De La Fontaine Trilingual Montessori school
Starting early. The younger your child is when he is introduced to a foreign language, the faster, more naturally he will learn. We strongly encourage parents to enroll in our Young Toddler program as soon your child turns 1 year old. So as your child will become fully trilingual much more easily than older children.
Full immersion. Many schools offer Spanish, French as an occasional, 2-3 times per week, or one hour a day activity. While this is better than nothing, it will not enable a child to actually speak a second/third language as a preschooler. In most Montessori preschool programs, if another language is introduced, it happens in a dual-teacher, dual-language environment: one teacher speaks English (lead teacher), and another teacher speaks the second language (assistant). This approach is better than the occasional class, but it usually fails in getting children to speak the second/third language: English is already the dominant cultural language, and if the lead teacher speaks English, it becomes the de facto classroom language. Children may learn to understand what the assistant teacher says, but they will rarely use the other language actively.
In contrast, at De La Fontaine Trilingual Montessori school, we offer a full immersion program. Children learn in three languages. Each classroom provide a full day immersion. Throughout the day, your child works with 3 teachers, an English native speaker, a French native speaker and a Spanish native speaker. The teachers speak only their native language, and children are encouraged, over time, to speak to teachers and peers only in those languages.
