Vietnamese speaking nanny is a great suggestion.

This is a bit of a fools errand. Your own husband doesn’t speak Vietnamese that well; why would your kids be able to speak it any better? You can waste time doing this but your kids won’t speak it well enough to matter OP. I say this as someone who is basically your husband (heritage language speaker but not teaching it to my kids)

He’s kind of young for a tutor. Would a Vietnamese speaking baby sitter or a playgroup conducted primarily in Vietnamese be an option? Maybe even some activities that he and his Dad can do together — like watch kids videos, or some sort of toddler focused classes?

Sorry I don’t have more specific resources to suggest. It’s great that you’re planning this while he’s young enough to more easily learn a second language.

I personally don’t think a tutor works in your situation. Tutors work for older kids learning academic language or a particular subject. If your child was going to an immersion school, and needs a tutor to support their academic learning, that would make sense.

But for a toddler to learn to speak? You’re better off hiring a nanny who speaks Vietnamese or sending your child to a home daycare where the provider speaks Vietnamese to the kids. Consider it an investment; if the child spends that much time with a caregiver who speaks it to him every single day, you will absolutely see progress within 6 months to a year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If one parent speaks Vietnamese, then helpful for that parent to speak only Vietnamese to kids. That likely only helps with kids understanding the language, but would be a start.

His dad speaks Vietnamese, but not too well! Haha It’s more of Vietnglish!

I thought you were the Vietnamese parent! It’s awesome that you are thinking about this for your child even when it’s not your own heritage language. Make sure your husband is on board with playing an active role in your child’s language learning because tutoring only gets you so far. Even if his Vietnamese is not great, he can still do the cultural celebrations, read simple picture books, sing children’s songs, or watch Vietnamese-dubbed cartoons with your toddler. (And if he’s so inclined, this can even be a chance for him to improve his own Vietnamese.)

Anonymous wrote:If there’s not a large local Vietnamese population where you are, you may have better luck online like Preply. Or put up some ads near your local colleges to see if you can get an international student from Vietnam.

When I wanted to teach my kids Mandarin, I found some blog posts where Chinese moms compiled resources they used. I just did a quick google search and imnotthenanny.com came up as one example for Vietnamese which may give you ideas for reinforcement and practice.

This is helpful! Thank you!

Anonymous wrote:Is there a community bulletin board at Eden Center? If so, put up a notecard there with your desire and a throw-away email.

Thank you!

Anonymous wrote:If one parent speaks Vietnamese, then helpful for that parent to speak only Vietnamese to kids. That likely only helps with kids understanding the language, but would be a start.

His dad speaks Vietnamese, but not too well! Haha It’s more of Vietnglish!

If there’s not a large local Vietnamese population where you are, you may have better luck online like Preply. Or put up some ads near your local colleges to see if you can get an international student from Vietnam.

When I wanted to teach my kids Mandarin, I found some blog posts where Chinese moms compiled resources they used. I just did a quick google search and imnotthenanny.com came up as one example for Vietnamese which may give you ideas for reinforcement and practice.

Is there a community bulletin board at Eden Center? If so, put up a notecard there with your desire and a throw-away email.

If one parent speaks Vietnamese, then helpful for that parent to speak only Vietnamese to kids. That likely only helps with kids understanding the language, but would be a start.

Does any have resources on where to find language tutors specifically for Vietnamese? My son is half Vietnamese and I want him to learn the language to be able to speak with his grandparents one day. And how much do language tutors usually charge?