How to Help Your Child Catch Up in French After Moving to Luxembourg

Moving to Luxembourg can be an exciting change for a family — but for a child, starting school in a new country can feel like being asked to learn several things at once.

There may be a new school, new classmates, unfamiliar routines and, depending on the child's previous education, new languages to deal with.

For an English-speaking family, French can be particularly challenging. Your child may have studied some French before moving, but suddenly they need to use French to understand instructions, complete schoolwork, communicate with classmates and participate in everyday activities.

And that is very different from simply knowing French vocabulary or completing a French exercise.

If your child seems to be falling behind, the first step is not necessarily to make them study more.

It is to work out which part of French is actually causing the difficulty. 🔎

I often see this with children who have moved between school systems. A child may know quite a lot of French but still struggle because they cannot understand classroom instructions quickly, read confidently enough, or find the words they need when speaking.

The good news is that these gaps can be worked on systematically.

👉 If your child understands some French but needs to become more confident using it at school, this is exactly the kind of gap I work on in my personalised 1:1 French lessons.

🧩 First, understand what "catching up in French" actually means

One of the biggest mistakes parents can make is treating French as one single skill.

Your child might be:

• good at understanding spoken French but weak at reading;

• able to read simple texts but unable to follow conversations;

• comfortable answering with one or two words but unable to form complete sentences;

• good at everyday French but struggling with school vocabulary;

• confident speaking but making frequent grammar or pronunciation mistakes;

• familiar with French grammar but too slow to use it spontaneously.

These children all need different types of support.

Before creating a study routine, ask yourself:

What does my child currently manage in French, and where exactly do they get stuck?

A simple four-part check

Think about these four areas:

👂 Listening:  Can my child understand the teacher when instructions are given in French?

🗣️ Speaking: Can they answer questions and ask for help without switching to English?

📖 Reading: Can they understand a short French text without translating every sentence?

✍️ Writing: Can they produce simple sentences independently?

You don't need to give your child a formal test at home.

Instead, observe what happens during everyday situations.

For example, can your child understand:

"Sors ton cahier, ouvre-le à la page 24 et fais les deux premiers exercices."

Can they respond naturally to:

"Tu peux m'aider ?"

And can they explain what happened in a short French story afterwards?

If your child is still building their basic vocabulary, start with practical words and short phrases they can actually use in everyday situations. My guide to 80 essential French words for kids is a useful place to start. 

🇱🇺 Remember: your child is adapting to a multilingual environment

Luxembourg is not simply a French-speaking country.

Its education system operates in a multilingual environment, with Luxembourgish, French and German playing different roles. For newly arrived children, the language demands can therefore be considerably more complicated than simply "learning French."

If your child is struggling, it does not automatically mean that they are bad at languages.

They may simply be dealing with a much bigger linguistic workload than they have experienced before.

And they may need time to develop the French they actually need for school.

🎯 1. Start with the French your child needs most

When children are behind, parents often want to start with grammar.

Grammar can certainly be important — especially when a child needs school support — but it is rarely the best place to start blindly.

Instead, look at the situations where your child needs French most urgently.

🏫 At school

Your child may need to understand:

Écoutez. Listen.

Lisez le texte. Read the text.

Travaillez à deux. Work in pairs.

Soulignez les mots importants. Underline important words.

Écrivez une phrase. Write a sentence.

Qui veut répondre ? Who wants to answer?

These expressions are much more useful than memorising an isolated list of verbs.

Your child needs to recognise them quickly enough that they do not have to translate them mentally every time.

🙋 Asking for help

These are some of the first phrases I would teach a child who is struggling at school:

Je n'ai pas compris. I didn't understand.

Tu peux répéter, s'il te plaît ?  Can you repeat, please?

Tu peux parler plus lentement ? Can you speak more slowly?

Qu'est-ce qu'il faut faire ? What do I need to do?

Je dois écrire ? Should I write?

C'est quelle page ? Which page is it?

The goal is not perfect French. The goal is for the child to have a small collection of phrases they can use automatically.  That can make a surprisingly big difference to their independence.

⏳ 2. Don't try to teach everything at once

If your child has recently arrived and is behind in French, it can be tempting to create a huge catch-up programme:

• 30 minutes of vocabulary;

• grammar exercises;

• reading;

• writing;

• French cartoons;

• French books;

• an app;

• homework;

• tutoring...

And then everyone becomes exhausted.

A better approach is to identify two or three priorities.

For example:

Child A

Main problem: understands the teacher but cannot answer.

Focus on:

• speaking;

• sentence patterns;

• high-frequency verbs;

• confidence.

Child B

Main problem: can speak but cannot understand written instructions.

Focus on:

• reading;

• school vocabulary;

• instructions;

• common grammatical structures.

Child C

Main problem: has studied French before but everything takes too long.

Focus on:

• automaticity;

• listening;

• repeated sentence patterns;

• short speaking exercises.

This is much more manageable than trying to "improve French" in general.

🏠 3. Build a small daily French routine

Your child does not necessarily need hours of extra French every evening.

For many families, a short and consistent routine is more realistic.

Try 15–20 minutes.

👂 Monday: listening

Choose a short French video, story or dialogue.  Don't ask your child to understand every word.

Instead ask:

What is it about?

Who is speaking?

What happened?

This is particularly important because classroom French is not always as slow and clear as the French children hear in a textbook. If your child knows some French but struggles to understand people when they speak naturally, these simple strategies for training the ear to understand real French can help. 

🗣️ Tuesday: speaking

Choose five useful sentence patterns.

For example:

J'aime...

Je n'aime pas...

Je préfère...

Je pense que...

Je ne comprends pas...

Ask your child simple questions and encourage complete answers.

📖 Wednesday: reading

Choose a short text that is below your child's maximum level. The objective is confidence and fluency, not struggle.

If every sentence contains several unknown words, the text is probably too difficult for independent reading.

If your child is not yet comfortable reading independently in French, start with short, accessible texts and gradually increase the difficulty. You can also use my French reading activities for children and learners at different levels to practise comprehension without making reading feel overwhelming, for learners who are ready for short texts.

📚 Thursday: school French

Take vocabulary or expressions from your child's current schoolwork.

Instead of learning:

répondre = to answer

practise:

Je réponds à la question.

Je ne sais pas quoi répondre.

💬 Friday: conversation

Talk about the week.

For example:

Qu'est-ce que tu as fait à l'école aujourd'hui ?

Avec qui as-tu joué ?

Qu'est-ce que tu as préféré ?

Don't correct every mistake. Choose one or two things to improve.

At home, short playful activities can sometimes be more effective than another worksheet. For more ideas, see my guide to learning French with kids through simple games and activities. 

🧱 4. Teach phrases, not just vocabulary

This is particularly important when a child needs to catch up quickly.

Knowing a word does not necessarily mean being able to use it.

Imagine your child has learned:

            répéter = repeat

That is useful.

But what they actually need at school is:

Tu peux répéter, s'il te plaît ?

Or they may know:

           comprendre = understand

but need:

Je n'ai pas compris.

This is why I often work with chunks — ready-to-use groups of words that children can retrieve as a whole.

The progression becomes:

recognise → understand → repeat → adapt → use independently

For a child who has recently moved to Luxembourg, this can be particularly valuable because they need French for real situations, not just for French lessons.

🔄 5. Use your child's existing knowledge

If your child has already studied French before moving to Luxembourg, don't automatically start from zero.

They may have a large amount of passive knowledge.

For example, they may recognise:

Il est allé à l'école.

but struggle to produce:

Il est allé à l'école hier.

Or they may understand:

Qu'est-ce que tu fais ?

but always answer:

I don't know.

This doesn't mean the knowledge has disappeared.

It may simply not be automatic yet.

One of the most useful things you can do is take French your child already recognises and gradually turn it into French they can produce without hesitation.

This is one of the things I practise with my students: taking language they already understand and helping them turn it into language they can actually use.

❤️ 6. Don't abandon your child's home language

If your family speaks English — or another language — at home, you don't need to stop using it because your child needs more French.

Your home language is not the enemy of French. Instead, think about giving French additional space.

For example:

• English for family conversations;

• French for a short bedtime story;

• English for homework explanations when necessary;

• French for a five-minute conversation about the school day;

• French cartoons or audio during part of the week.

You don't have to turn your home into a French-only environment.

🌍 7. Give your child opportunities to use French outside lessons

Children often make faster progress when French stops being something they only do "for school".

Look for small, low-pressure opportunities.

Depending on your family's routine, this could mean:

• ordering something in French;

• saying bonjour and merci in shops;

• speaking French during an extracurricular activity;

• playing with French-speaking classmates;

• visiting a library;

• listening to French children's stories;

• watching a favourite programme in French;

• asking a simple question in French.

The important thing is to make the language functional.

Instead of:

"Let's practise French for 20 minutes."

sometimes the activity can simply be:

"You ask the question in French."

That gives the language a purpose.

For younger children, French cartoons can be an easy way to add more French to the day without turning every moment into a lesson. I’ve put together a list of French cartoons for kids that can support language learning, with ideas for making screen time more useful for French learners. 

📚 8. Choose French books that are actually manageable

One common mistake is to choose a book according to the child's age rather than their French level.

A ten-year-old who has just started learning French may be much more comfortable reading a book intended for younger French-speaking children.

That is completely fine.

The objective is not to prove that your child can read a book written for ten-year-old native speakers.

The objective is to help them become a confident French reader.

Look for books with:

• illustrations;

• short chapters;

• familiar situations;

• repeated vocabulary;

• relatively short sentences;

• enough context to understand unfamiliar words.

As a general practical guide, if your child understands the majority of a page and can explain what happened without translating every word, the book may be at a useful level.

You can also alternate:

easy reading for confidence + slightly more challenging reading for progress.

🤝 9. Work with the school rather than trying to recreate school at home

If your child has recently arrived in Luxembourg, speak to their teacher about the specific difficulties you are seeing.

Ask questions such as:

• Does my child understand classroom instructions?

• Is reading or speaking the bigger difficulty?

• Which vocabulary should we prioritise at home?

• Are there particular types of exercises my child finds difficult?

• What would you like my child to be able to do independently?

This gives you something much more useful than simply being told that your child is "behind in French."

You can then support the same skills at home.

🚦 10. Know when extra French support could help

Extra support can be useful when your child is making progress but needs more focused practice.

Look for specific signs rather than simply asking:  "Is my child behind?"

For example:

• they understand very little of what happens in French at school;

• they avoid speaking because they are afraid of making mistakes;

• they cannot follow basic classroom instructions;

• reading in French is extremely slow;

• they know vocabulary but cannot build sentences;

• recurring grammar mistakes are preventing them from communicating clearly;

• they need repeated explanations of the same language patterns;

• homework takes much longer because of the language barrier.

In these cases, personalised lessons can complement school support by concentrating on the child's particular gaps.

A tutor can work on pronunciation, listening, reading, writing, grammar, school vocabulary or speaking — rather than making the child repeat material they already know.

🗓️ A simple four-week French catch-up plan

If you're not sure where to begin, try this.

Week 1 — 🔎 Find the gaps

Observe your child's:

• listening;

• speaking;

• reading;

• writing.

Talk to the teacher if possible.

Choose two priorities.

Week 2 — 🧱 Build useful language

Create a list of 10–15 phrases your child genuinely needs.

Practise them repeatedly in short situations.

Week 3 — 📖 Add reading and listening

Choose:

• one manageable French book;

• one short listening activity.

Keep both at a level where your child can experience success.

Week 4 — 🗣️ Make French active

Give your child more opportunities to:

• answer questions;

• ask for help;

• describe what happened;

• express an opinion;

• speak to other children or adults.

Then reassess.

Is your child understanding more? Are they responding more quickly? Are they using French without being prompted?

These changes may be more meaningful than the number of grammar exercises completed.

❤️ What if my child is frustrated?

This is perhaps the most important part.

A child who has recently moved countries may already feel that they are the "new child".

If French becomes another area in which they constantly feel unsuccessful, they may begin avoiding it.

Try to separate learning French from being tested on French.

Instead of:

🥴 "You need to practise your French."

try:

😀 "Let's see if you can explain this to me in French."

Instead of correcting every mistake, choose one target.

Instead of asking for a 30-minute study session, try ten minutes of successful speaking.

And remember that progress is not always immediately visible.

A child may understand much more for several weeks before they suddenly begin speaking more confidently.

❓ FAQ: Helping a Child Catch Up in French in Luxembourg

How quickly can a child catch up in French after moving to Luxembourg?

There is no single timetable. It depends on the child's age, previous French experience, exposure to French, schooling and individual learning needs.

Rather than focusing on a fixed number of months, look for gradual changes in what your child can understand and do independently.

What if my child understands French but refuses to speak it?

This is very common.

Understanding usually develops before spontaneous speaking. Give your child predictable situations and useful sentence patterns rather than demanding long conversations.

Start with short, successful responses and gradually increase the amount they produce.

My child doesn't speak French at home. Is that a problem?

Not necessarily.

You can create short opportunities for French without changing the family's main home language.

Five or ten minutes of meaningful French can be more sustainable than forcing the entire family to speak French.

How can I help with French homework if I don't speak French?

You don't need to become your child's French teacher.

You can help by:

• asking your child to explain the task;

• checking whether they understand the instructions;

• helping them organise their work;

• encouraging them to use their French resources;

• identifying where they are getting stuck.

If the problem is consistently linguistic rather than organisational, targeted French support may be more appropriate.

Should my child read French books below their age?

Yes. Reading a slightly easier book successfully is often much more useful than struggling through a book that is linguistically far too difficult.

The goal is to build reading ability and confidence, not to choose the most advanced-looking book.

Does my child need a French tutor?

Not every child does.

Some children catch up through school support, regular exposure and a consistent routine at home.

Extra support may be useful when you can identify a specific gap that is not improving — particularly in speaking, pronunciation, listening, reading or school-related French.

🇱🇺 If your child has moved to Luxembourg and is struggling with French

Your child does not need to become fluent overnight.

They need to gradually gain the language they require to participate, understand, communicate and feel more independent at school and in everyday life.

Start by identifying the actual gap.

Then give them useful language, regular exposure and plenty of opportunities to use French successfully.

And don't underestimate the importance of confidence.

In my 1:1 French lessons for children, I work on the specific areas a child finds difficult — whether that is school vocabulary, reading, pronunciation, grammar, listening or speaking. The aim is not simply to give them more French homework, but to help them turn the French they recognise into French they can actually use.

If your child has recently moved to Luxembourg and you are not sure where to start, a personalised assessment can help identify the areas that need attention and create a realistic plan around their school level and goals.

👉 Find out more about personalised French lessons for children in Luxembourg.