Should I employ Au Pair with poor English?

[RobinSM]

My 6-year-old son is bi-lingual. He speaks Hebrew and as he has an American dad, he speaks English as well. We recently moved to the USA and his English just started to emerge and he is doing well even though there are still language gaps compared to his peers. I am debating if it would be okay to hire a Spanish-speaking Au Pair and ask her to only speak Spanish to my son? Will it be too much and can delay his English advancement? She has poor English and I'm afraid my son will pick up on her mistakes so I'm thinking maybe I should ask her to speak her native language ( I'm, his mom, not a native English speaker either)
Would love your input. Thank you!

Do they have au pairs in the US?

I grew up in the USA with an Italian mum, American father and Peruvian Nanny. My mum only spoke to us in perfect English with a thick Italian accent and to the Nanny in Spanish with an Italian accent. The Nanny only spoke to us in very very broken English. I did not pick up any issues with English from the Nanny, but speak Spanish with an Italian accent. My biggest "regret" (not that it was my choice...) is that my mother didn't speak Italian to me and the nanny didn't speak Spanish to me, so although I am pretty fluent in both languages, I am definitely not bilingual.

You will be doing your ds a favor by hiring a Spanish speaking nanny and having her only speak Spanish to him. He will learn English perfectly before you can blink.

Studies say that although bilingual/trilingual children can be a little delayed in their language initially, they end up surpassing their peers before too long.

Generally speaking Au Pairs go to other countries so they can learn the language, so the Au Pair’s goal is likely to speak English as much as possible.

If you’d like a native Spanish speaking babysitter, I don’t think you’ll have any problem finding one in the US.

We are currently in the USA, the Au pair I want to bring is from Colombia. I can't find a native English one at a price I can afford. So I'm trying to figure out if this is a good idea..

PS. My neighbors (here in the USA) are Persian and speak Farsi and English to their son. They have a Spanish speaking Nanny who speaks Spanish to their son. The son is 3 and speaks all 3 languages comfortably. I think Hebrew will be coming along soon too.

What State are you in? Will you be employing the Au-Pair with a proper work visa? Some US states won't give driver licenses to non-residents. You do not want someone looking after your child who isn't legal to drive.

@RobinSM i think having your LO learn another language is a fine idea, but I’d check that her goal isn’t working on her English skills, and also that an Au Pair is ultimately the cheapest option for you. The people I know who’ve used one in the US didn’t do it for cost savings! It’s quite expensive to go through all the visa stuff etc. And you need to be prepared to give your Au Pair quite a nice life, as they usually have to attend school, have their own private bedroom and bathroom in your home, have full board, and also to be included in travel and family plans.

Depends how much English the au pair can actually speak and whether it’s enough to safely look after your child. For example, could they reasonably make a 911 calll and explain what was happening if your son had an accident or was choking or something?