Hello all,
I have an issue within my family that is causing a lot of stress and arguments at the moment.
To give you a bit of background, DP speaks Spanish and I speak English. We have 2 dds (3.10 yrs and 17 months). We lived in Spain until Nov 2010 and I spoke English to the dds and DP spoke Spanish (OPOL). In Spain, DP worked 6 days a week til 9pm and is much quieter than me, so dd1 had much more English than Spanish in Spain, but I wasn't worried as they would be speaking Spanish in nursery/school.
Then 14 months ago the girls and I left Spain to go back to the UK and live near my parents, as our business in Spain collapsed due to the recession. DP was offered a job in a different part of Spain and only speaks beginners English so he took the job and we spent a year living in different countries. 
In that time dd1's English came on leaps and bounds and she now is in nursery school and speaks fluently. On the other hand she only knows a few words of Spanish and understands a few simple sentences. I tried to speak to her in Spanish during our year apart from DP but she always protested and I didn't want to put her off it. I had Dora dvds but couldn't afford to buy loads of Spanish dvds and books which are v expensive.
DP moved over to be with us here 2 months ago and we are planning to stay in the UK for the foreseeable future. He is keen to improve his beginner's English quickly and has already been offered a job starting next month [happy]
The problem is now he doesn't understand dd1 and she doesn't understand him much, and DP is solving that problem by practising his English on her. I have told him the importance of bilingualism, of always speaking to his dds in Spanish, of the fact that he is the only exposure they have to Spanish and so how important it is that he sticks to it, and that they wouldn't be able to speak to his brother or have a real feel for his culture if they didn't become Spanish native speakers, but he is not listening to me.
He says that he needs to learn English and that this is an opportunity to learn with his dds and that he won't do what I say and I can't control him. He says "What do they know?" if I mention experts or research. I've said it's selfish for him to put his needs to learn English before their opportunity to become native Spanish speakers, but that just puts his back up. I've said he's modelling bad English for them which is wrong, but he just says I don't care about him or want him to learn English and want to sabotage his attempts to learn. He says I should be doing more to teach them Spanish as I am a linguist. This makes me v cross as I have been doing everything alone (apart from the wonderful help of granny) while we've been apart, and when I tried to do anything in Spanish with dd1 usually she complained and I didn't want to turn her off it.
Apologies, this as turned into an essay! If you are still with me 
what would you do in this situation. I speak Spanish fluently, and have thought about speaking to my dds in Spanish only from now on, but I'm not sure I want to give up speaking my native language to my dds. And wouldn't it freak dd1 (3.10 yrs) out completely? Any time I try to speak to her in Spanish she protests. Maybe I could start speaking to dd2 in Spanish only from now on and dd1 might eventually join in?
I've bought a book for DP and dd1 to read with animals and they are reading it which is lovely and I could make sure any dvds we buy from now on are in Spanish but it is too little imo. DP is naturally quiet, he doesn't speak to the dds much when he gives them a meal or when playing, it doesn't come naturally to him to describe things, and he's not going to accept any advice or pointers from me. He's more into physical play, which is great, but it is very telling that he has never sat down with dd1 and taught her the animals or parts of the body or clothes or food in Spanish. I taught her the colours and numbers!! WHY wouldn't it occur to him to teach her words!? Isn't that what parents do?! 
Arrgghh!!!
Sorry for the rant but this issue is causing a lot of stress and conflict in our family, which is stressed enough as it is, what with DP having moved here away from friends, in house all day after a long separation, not working yet, not speaking the language, etc etc. Help! Any advice greatfully received!