Dd's English language skills getting worse

[Alligatorpie]

Dd1 just turned 7 and goes to an international school, where although everyone speaks English, most of the students are local and speak ESL. We have been here almost 2 years,before that we lived in an English speaking country in a very multicultural city ( her day care providers were Columbian and Croatian).
Her English seems to be getting worse. She doesn't use past tense correctly, but uses 'did' regularly. Eg "I did go to the library" "I did see Malika at playtime." I wonder how much of this is developmental, and how much is a result of being in the five percent of non native speakers at school. All her friends are Egyptian or have one Egyptian parent, so she doesn't have friends who speak English as a first language. But she k ows lots of adults who do!
I assume this is a direct translation from Arabic as all the kids speak this way. Dh and I are both teachers and fairy articulate and this drives me nuts. I often remind her that English is her first language and thats not correct, but she continues to speak that way. Does anyone have experience with this? Did your child outgrow it? Cheers.

Hi alligator that is really interesting, as my ds1 (nearly 6) uses the past tense in exactly the same way as your dd. everything is 'I did buy' 'I did go' etc, and - like you- it drives me nuts. I have been correcting him for years now, it seems... I was always wondering if it could have to do with his ASD, but if your dd does it the same way, maybe it really is just a developmental thing, coupled with them living in a non-English speaking country. My dc' stronger language is def not English anymore since starting preschool, and the only English they hear is from me and the TV.

I will be very interested to read other people's replies!

MY 7 year old says "go at the shops" regularly instead of "go to the shops", it's due to "a" in French translated as "at" or "to" in English, for her it is usually translated as "at"! She also has difficulty with "which/that/who" in the right context, that's far easier in French where to use "que/qui".

As long as it's only a few idiosyncrasies in her language, I would relax and not worry.

DD still says, 'I want to go with to the shops' instead of 'I want to go with you to the shops'.

I correct it all the time but it doesn't sink in. She spent her first 6 years in Germany, where they don't use that form, it is a direct translation. Even after 3 years of speaking lots of English in Switzerland and a year in Scotland, she still says it. She is almost 11yo.

She has picked up 'Can I get... ' here though, which makes me grit my teeth every time she says it.

If it is a couple of phrases, then I wouldn't worry about it. Just keep gently reminding her.

I spoke to dd's teacher today ( who is also my friend) and she agreed that while it is annoying, she thinks dd is just trying to fit in. As others have similar issues, i will assume it is developmental and chill out about it.

no reason why you shouldn't actually teach the grammar. She isn't getting the same input a native speaker would get in a country where that language surrounds her. You may have to treat it in some ways like ESL. I would teach her the past tenses. Written exercises on verbs won't do her any damage. A bit every day, no need for it to be overkill and that would sort it out IMO. She can also learn the irregular verbs off by heart (so: go went gone, be was been, dream dreamt dreamt, etc. You can get a list online or any grammar book will have them. I made dd learn them off by heart and we always did some written English work every day. If your dd is not hearing and using them at her international school, she may not pick them up just from reading and listening to you at home.

Children use the (incorrect) version of the past tense I did + infinitive because they don't know the past participles (which are highly irregular in English) due to insufficient exposure.

It sounds as if you need to increase your DD's exposure to correct English, OP. How about buying a lot of DVDs and giving her unlimited access to really good English?