Mother-of-two Victoria Hodgson said she has had a smooth experience navigating the multilingual school system in Luxembourg Romain Gamba/Maison Moderne

Mother-of-two Victoria Hodgson said she has had a smooth experience navigating the multilingual school system in Luxembourg Romain Gamba/Maison Moderne

Mother-of-two Victoria Hodgson talks about the pros of putting children into a multilingual school system.

For newcomers, choosing a school in a trilingual country like Luxembourg can be tough. Leaving aside the European/private options, there are public schools that operate in the traditional mix of Luxembourgish, German and French--but also several with English-language streams.

“For us, the integration side of things was really important,” says Victoria Hodgson, whose children attend a public school where the local languages are used. Hodgson and her family moved to the grand duchy from the UK eight years ago, when the children were three and five. Her husband knew French, but she and the kids only spoke English.

Knowing that they would be in Luxembourg for several years, Hodgson and her husband opted for the public system despite the potential language challenges. “I felt that if the children could speak only English properly,” she explains, “then their world would be a lot smaller.”

The kids got the hang of it quickly: the family arrived in April, and by Christmas of that year the elder one was already speaking both Luxembourgish and German. “He was able to make himself understood in school, no problem.” It was even easier for the younger child.Hodgson says that, if your kids are under six or seven (and you’re staying long-term), going with a local-languages school is a no-brainer. Older than that, though, and it’s a little less clear. “I know parents that have successfully gone into the Luxembourg system with eight- or nine-year-olds, and it’s been okay,” she comments. “But I also know parents who have really struggled with putting their children in at that age.”

As for navigating the system as a parent who isn’t fluent in Luxembourgish, German or French, Hodgson reports that her experience has been smooth: there hasn’t been a single teacher, so far, unable to switch to English for her. “We’ve had fantastic teachers,” she says.

Public schools with English-language streams are a fairly new phenomenon, with recently opened facilities in Differdange, Junglinster and Mondorf. These weren’t options when Hodgson and her family moved, but, she says, it wouldn’t have changed their decision.

“I don’t think they push Luxembourgish enough in the international schools,” she comments, adding that it’s easier to move from the Luxembourgish to the international system, if things aren’t working out, than going the other way.

A found that in 2018, 53% of the country’s population spoke Luxembourgish at home, followed by French and Portuguese at 32% and 19%, respectively.