Bilingual child is struggling with one of his language - It's the one he uses at school

[FireAndWater]

ds2 is 5yo and in Y1. He is brought up bilingual (DH is english, we live in England and have always done so) but has major problems with english. That in turn has some big impact on his reading and writing abilities and on the way he relates to other children (as he can not always understand what people tell him or 'hear' the engllish sounds).

Until now I haven't being too worried. I went along the lines that after a year full time at school things would just fall into place. But it hasn't.

He needs to be much more confortable speaking english to be able to mix with the other kids (which in turn will help with his english). but I'm sure where to go from there. Any idea?

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What is your family language - the language you all speak together at home? At the very least you need to be practicing OPOL (one parent one language), so DH always speaks English to him. If your DH has less linguistic input (eg because he works long hours) think of alternatives. DH can maybe take him to a sports club or activity on the weekend. What about your DH's relatives? Can you send him to them in school holidays for a few days at least? He really needs to be more in situations where only English is spoken - don't worry about him being 'comfortable' in the language first, kids adapt very quickly once they're motivated enough to learn the other language properly.

On top of that, you can make sure that he only watches good quality English TV and does English computer-based learning activities, but these are very much a poor second to hands-on experience.

We do practice OPOL. DH doesn't speak french no risk for him to stop using english!

The issue is that DH doesn't speak to them as much as I do, not just because he isn't at home as much. In the last 3 years, he was with the dcs on his own every other weekends as I was working so really the total number of hours that dc2 has spend in an english only speaking environment is much greater than french.
DH family won't be able to help but also dc2 has develop his own ways to cope with being in an english speaking environment : he does things on his own and doesn't bother interacting with anybody.... except if someone makes a special effort to play with him, the way he wants to. I am aware of just one person who has been able to establish such a link with him. Anyone else (incl DH parent's) haven't really managed that.

Books, DCs etc are always available in both languages. But they both tend to prefer french (Lots of reason for that).

Does anyone know if going to see a SALT might be of any help?

Did your DS2 go to pre-school at all? Does he speak French to his sibling(s)?

I can quite understand that if your DS2 has mainly been with you and French-speaking siblings, his English won't be very good yet - even after a full year in reception.

My DD speaks English to me and her English is still much stronger than her French, even after three years at maternelle and living in a French-speaking family (she speaks French to her father and stepbrothers).

Don't worry, but try to expose your DS2 to more English - clubs and sports as well as school.

He has been in some sort of childacre since he was 6 months old varying from 1 to 3 days a week (childminder, nursery, playgroup or pre-school)...

Because his command of french is better and because they have spent most of their time together with me, dc1 and dc2 speak in french (or to be precise a mixture or french and english) together.

I am not worried about the fact that french is stronger than english but that his english is so bad that it stops him from making friends and from learning (aka he is a good 6 months behind in literacy because he is struggling with spoken language a pre-requisite (sp?) for any writing or reading). It is also affecting his confidence badly (not surprisingly).
Spending time with english speaking children doesn't work because he doesn't speak to them so they don't play together + they are sruggling to understand him too.