Apologies in advance - this is long and perhaps not terribly well explained!
We have lived in Germany now for a year and are due to be here for one more (although this may perhaps be extended due to DH's work). Both DH and myself are English (we are learning German but progress is quite slow!). DS is 16 months now, so has lived here since he was 6 months old. We attend a local weekly Krabbelgruppe and after going for many months we are now accepted and are starting to be asked around to play etc! DS also spends a couple of hours a week in a kinderbetreuung at the gym while I get some 'Me' time and try to get fit! My concern is that because DS is only exposed to German when we are out he will not really pick it up and moreover, he will become confused? Is it a problem for him to be left alone with only German speakers - i.e does he feel like an older child or adult would plunged into a room with everyone speaking in a foreign lanugage? Or does he accept it as he really knows no different?
I would obviously love him to learn even a little of the language (I am assuming we will not be here long enough for him to become truly bilingual but who knows what the future holds). My own German is by no means good enough to try to speak with him all the time so we cannot try that approach. I try my best to speak my few words of German to show willing to the people we meet and improve my own ability but am not sure what he must make of that, so find myself saying everything I can say twice to him while we are out - in English and Deutsch! At the end of the day I just want to do what is best for DS in the long term but don't really know what I should be doing for the best!
All advice and opinion gratefully received!