Hire a Nanny with basic English?

[Roxyoc]

Hello - We are looking for a new nanny for our 1 year old and 3 year old and my husband has suggested we ask our cleaner. She is Portuguese and only has basic English however she is excellent with our children, hard working and reliable. She has recently started taking English classes so I am hearing improvement every week. I am nervous that her English is not up to scratch so wanted to ask if anyone has experience of a nanny with basic English? Would appreciate your thoughts. I work from home most of the time so if the children needed the doctor, I would take them.

No! This is the person your children will be learning lots of their language from, and who would be responsible for them in an emergency. No flipping way.

Sad to say but no, I wouldn’t.
Your children need to hear correctly spoken English but perhaps when her command is improved, you might ask her then?

If you hear her not speaking good enough English would she be offended if you offered to help her with that? A means to an end?

Definitely not, as language is central to children's cognitive development and future learning and the preschool years are critical in the development of expression and comprehension.

On the positive side, your children could grow up bilingual, learning English from you and Portuguese from the nanny.

I was brought up by a nanny who had English as a second language and it didn't do me much harm. I can still, you know, write an essay and spot a split infinitive etc.

I think it's fine. I can see a good argument for having someone you already know.

She'd be a babysitter not a nanny.

My friend had a nanny whose first language was not English. Her child ended up as bilingual. I would have loved to have a nanny who could have taught my child another language.
I would be more concerned that she had the right skills and experience. For example - would you expect her to get child first aid training? Does she have experience of looking after young children?

What are her skills in childcare and education? Will she be doing the cleaning while watching them or devoting time to their development with appropriate activities?

Absolutely yes.

You know , trust , and like her already and your children can learn a new language.

It would depend for me whether she could speak English well enough to telephone for help in an emergency and then converse well enough with that help to ensure your child’s safety.

if not, no I wouldn’t yet, but it sounds as if she’s improving a lot and may be an option for the future.

BTW - you’ll has need to check for visa status. Does she have historical right to remain?

Thanks everyone . Such useful and helpful advice. We will not be employing her as in an emergency her English would not be sufficient

That’s funny, as you said you are at home too, so for any emergency she doesn’t need to make the call…
It is really sad how you people thinking of foreigners… But it seems her English is enough for cleaning your house but wait! What if the house get on fire? She can’t call emergency department so why is she still there?!?

This thread was a year ago, and the OP said she worked from home ‘most’ of the time, so they’d be time where the nanny was alone.

and yes, obviously you need to be able to speak English well to look after an English speaking child.

How many parents have paediatric First Aid Training? How much childcare do first time parents have?

@Roxyoc I wouldn't. A second language would be brilliant, but not enough to outweigh learning English from a native speaker IMO.