Does tv help?

[k2togm1]

We speak the minority language at home with our 3yo, who isn't yet speaking English. Will tv in English help encourage him to start making sentences/talking etc? We had a stint at nursery which ends in disaster as he found no being understood utterly upsetting, so we've postponed it for a bit later, but want to help him. DH read somewhere that just watching tv is not enough to learn a language, but I reckon he would copy what is said on tv more than us reading a book. What do you think?

Can't type obviously. Please ignore the weird words...

I think you need to get him into an English speaking surrounding as soon as possible. Will he start school in September?

If the nursery didn't work, have you tried playgroups where you stay as well so he has the added security? Or music or other activity classes?

If he starts school in September I would actually think about getting an English nanny or tutor to get it going.

CDs or TV helps, I learned a lot when I moved from Germany and had limited knowledge but you need some knowledge to start.

Oh he'll only be 3.5 in September and will go to nursery then if not sooner. Yes more socialising should happen, we do, but with friends who know us from always and are used to the situation.

If you started watching TV in a language you don't know, do you think you would pick it up like that?

In order to learn a language you need a frame of reference: mum pointing at the milk, saying "milk", moving on to "more milk?" etc.

It is for this reason that immersion works so well.
Once you have picked up a bit of the language, TV might help, but just watching TV will never be enough.

I would give nursery another shot, I have seen immersion in nursery work very well many times. Over the course of roughly one year children were fluent, comparable to native speakers.

I would start with more playgroups and courses and then nursery again. It is vital that he speaks English when he starts school next year.

Television does work if it's on the level of BabyTV. They'll show a picture of a fork and say 'fork'. Then it'll disappear into a drawer, and when it reappears they'll say 'fork' again. It's not terribly interesting though!

Well then you are all on dh's side, which saves me a fight.

I never intended to just plonk him in front of the tv, just wondered if it would be an incentive for him to copy stuff.

So we have the choice of going back to nursery after Easter or wait until September...