becoming a childminder when English is not your 1st language?

[aliperi]

After a bad experience taking my son to a childminder...I am seriously considering becoming a childminder myself.

I have so much to offer and could do a much better job than my ex-childminder! I love children and think I could provide a loving home with lost of fun and activities where children would love.

However I'm worried that because I am Spanish and Spanish is my 1st language this will put parents off. My English is very good, I've been living in the UK for 15 years and married to a Brit, but I do have an accent.

Do you think I would get any bussines?

It wouldn't put me off one bit!

Wouldn't put me off - quite the opposite.

i did my icp course with a foregn lady, she's been full since she was registered. she also offers to teach the older children basic language, the parent really love it.

go for it, you never know untill you try

I know a Spanish childminder, she gets business. I'd love it, personally, especially if she spoke to my child in Spanish.

If you can understand the EYFS and how to do observations then you will be in great demand as i'm sure lots of parents would love their children to learn another language at the same time (bargain)

That would be brilliant, you can make clear to parents that, if they wish, you can childmind in either language and open up a whole new world of experiences to children that they wouldn;t get anywhere else...

I'm very very bad at languages, and I'd love my children to have such a great opportunity.

It should be a great selling point IMO. My children learn spanish at school, but would have been fantastic to have the opportunity to have learned from an earlier age. You might get enquiries from other spanish/english families too.

Ofsted will want to see that your English is good enough to understand the Early Years Foundations Stage and to exchange information with parents and other settings. Judging from your post, you shouldn't have a problem satisfying them on that point.

I know an ex-childminder who couldn't get any mindees although I gave out her tel to lots of parents - many didn't even bother to call her . She has a very strong accent (not spanish), I have trouble following what she's saying sometimes. I heard one parent who visited her said they were worried her english wasn't good enough and might lead to misunderstandings and another fear was that their child's english development might be hindered.

If you do get any narrow-minded parents who are put off by your accent, I'm sure they'll be outnumbered by those who view this as a very positive aspect of your service.

I know a lovely spanish lady (a mum)

in the event that she chose to become a CM and i had a child it wouldnt even cross my mind to be bothered about her spanish accent!

It wouldn't put me off, my ds is with a Somali CM whose English isn't that great, but her husband and daughters help her a lot. But he loves it there and she's learning English much better too. She takes him to activities and also has English lessons. The health care professionals he's seen since he started there over 15 months ago have been very impressed with his development and vocabulary as they're prety good for a two year old (and he's picked up bits of her language too!)

There may well be families in Cambridge as a university town for whom speaking Spanish is a real plus.

thank you all for your replies they are very encouraging xxxx