Nanny not native English speaker- speech acquisition?

[RobinScherbatsky]

I live in an Asian country where Filipina and Indonesian domestic help is plentiful and, on the whole, reliable. However I have concerns that a DC looked after principally by a non-native English speaker during the years of language acquisition will be disadvantaged by picking up incorrect pronunciation and grammar, and not exposed to wide enough vocabulary.Can anyone offer any advice from experience? Is it better to ask the helper to speak to the child in her native language and leave the English language modelling to the parents, or would I just end up with a child who was frustrated because he could not communicate his basic needs to us in a language we understood?

How many hours a day in your dc with the domestic help and not with parents?

We both work full time, so would be 7 hours a day ( DC only theoretical at the moment)

You are right to think about this. I don't think your DC will be disadvantaged providing you also spend a lot of time talking to them, reading to them etc. I am also a great believer in quality DVDs in English as a means of boosting vocabulary and expression.

IMO, DCs get fed up with Filipina-type domestic help by about the age of 6 - while Filipinas are generally fantastically careful about cleanliness and safety, they are not culturally inclined to engage with DCs to the extent that the British or Americans are used to and DCs can get bored.

Hmm that's quite long hours, but presumably there must be something that the Filipina or Indonesian could take your DC to like a playgroup during the day where there are native English speakers. Or is there not a nursery facility with native English speakers? It would be theoretically a decent idea for the Filipina or Indonesian to speak their own language, but could you get a near 100% guarantee that your son would always have someone speaking only that language, and not be swapping from Filipino to Indonesian or some other language perhaps...

Mine had a Romanian nanny, a Filippina nanny, then a Romanian au pair and a Slovak au pair. We both worked full time. DD1 speaks like The Queen and DD2 has a hybrid Milton Keynes/Transatlantic drawl.

I had the same worry when we moved to asia 5 years ago but it has not been a problem at all.
This was compounded by the fact neither DH nor I are native speakers.
We speak two other languages at home and DH has a funny accent. They are also learning mandarin and really as long as they are in an environment that is mainly anglofile, none of this seems to a problem.
We interract with them a lot, we read a lot.

Funnily enough, english was not DS's first language but he's been in a british school since nursery and has developped a standard BBC english.
DD though, was born iin asia and her first language was english. She attends an "international" school so her accent is vaguely american.

Just be consistent, provide a lot of playtime with like minded families without the maid in tow.
and there is no shame correcting a mistake when you hear it.

I also live in Asia and have a Filipina helper/nanny who looks after my 2 yr old son 3 days a week while I work (7.30am to 6pm). Her English is okay- strongly accented and has some grammatical quirks (e.g. uses he and she interchangably) but easy enough to understand and she can read English well enough to read pre-schooler books fluently. She speaks/reads to DS in English and DS's language is on track per the paediatrician. He has some slightly strange ways of pronouncing new words but that seems to adjust over time (used to say doog instead of dog, but now says dog). Getting them to speak "Filipino" is going to be too confusing IMO as there are several languages/dialects and many of them speak a mixture of dialects and English to one another.

DS goes to English medium pre-school 2 afternoons a week, and does another 3/4 activities in English. Dh and I also read and speak to him a lot.

To be honest with you, I think the real issue with using helpers as FT childcare is ensuring consistency of approach/discipline/proper engagement rather than language. Whilst I disagree with Bonsoir that none of them engage well, it does vary a lot, which is always going to be an issue when you're hiring someone to do a hybrid childcare/ housekeeping role. I see it a lot at the playgroup I attend with DS. Some of the helpers just sit there on their phones. Others really get involved with their charges- encourage imagininative play, help them with craft, read to them etc.

I would hire someone a bit older (late thirties/ early forties) who has had their own children. A lot of expats are tempted to hire the twenty-somethings with teaching degrees, as it seems closer to "qualified childcare" (and to be fair, the younger ones do tend to speak more fluent English) but this doesnt seem to translate to good engagement with babies/toddlers.

HTH

Have to agree it comes down to the individual - when I left for work this morning DS and our helper were both engrossed in constructing a pirate ship out of old shoe boxes! She is also very good in English and in the holidays is helping both kids (6 & 4) do a couple of pages of exercises each day.
But we have also worked very hard at making sure they totally respect her and she knows kids come first over housekeeping. You have to set the tone - it is hard for someone you employ to flip from scrubbing toilets to teacher! And for every helper I see disengaged I'll see a kid who treats their helper disrespectfully which unfortunately is something they learn - sometimes at home sometimes from peers. My two know this is absolutely unacceptable.

Letting the helper speak her native language would be great if you are there for the long run and speak exclusively english yourself.

they can become fluent very quickly if they have an emotional bond but will likewise forget it all pretty quickly when that connection is gone.

That's very true. As a parent and the employer, you set the tone for the relationship between child and helper, and their priorities. I know a few people who effectively ensure that the helper prioritises the housework because they go postal if they get home and the ironing's not done. They dont think about the fact that if that was the case, then their PFB probably would have spent the afternoon in front of Nikalodean because there are only so many hours in the day, and what some mums expect (helper to be both "western style" nanny and cleaner) is ridiculous.

laptop i do sometimes wonder if the Philippines will strike oil and suddenly Tagalog will become the "must have" language for DCs. Then I'll be kicking myself!!

I doubt and agree they'd only learn a form of 'pidgin' tagalok or bahasa.

Still better than nothing in the long run.
I have a number of friends who grew up in africa or the middle east and have learned the basics from the help around the house.
Same is true here for cantonese with old timers who had local ayas.
But not for everyone i guess.
I come from a culture where help is like family so maybe it is easier in a sense to blur the boundaries.
I consider my kids should take as much interest in her as she does in them.
But then again they are older now.
OP sorry for the long rant!

Thanks for all your really helpful replies. Laptop, I would never in a million years have guessed that English was not your first language!

The tips about the employer/employee relationship are interesting too. Having been an au pair myself in my late teens I can see it from both sides, albeit I wasn't expected to do much cleaning. I certainly wasn't much interested in children then, I must say, so take the point about the twenty-somethings. On the on the other hand my bit of glorified Parisian babysitting on my gap year is nothing compared to what many Filipinas go through in a lifetime to afford school for their kids. Utmost respect for the helper will be mandatory in this family too.