Spanish childminder - worthwhile for dd?

[Ginni]

My partner and I are both native English speakers and speak only English in our home. I'd like my dd to be bilingual and the opportunity for her to go to a Spanish childminder has arisen. My commute to work is already 1.5hrs, and to take her to this childminder will add at least another 30 mins to my journey. I'd like to her from other mumsnetters with some knowledge of language acquisition as to how beneficial you think it would be for dd to go to the Spanish childminder in terms of becoming bilingual and also whether you think it would be worth the lengthy commute. There are other childminders in more convenient locations who I could use btw.

I guess in theory there is no reason this couldn't work - it is, after all, a sort of OPOL (on person one language) - but you would need to set strict ground rules (only spanish, no matter what) in advance with the minder; need to check this is ok for the other kids she looks after; need to prepare your daughter for it unless she is still pre-verbal; see what else you could (and are willing to) do to support her Spanish; and even then it might prove not to be enough time.

In other words, to make this work will take immense commitment from the three adults in this setting. Have you all got that commitment?

What do others think - am I being realistic or pessimistic?

I think Miflaw has made good points. If the CM will be speaking English to other children then I would definitely rule it out. Great idea though if you could get someone closer to home for 1 on 1 care..

Completely agree with previous posters. Your dd will only pick up Spanish if she has lots of exposure, so ideally daily and consistently. Even then, you'd probably want to supplement this with Spanish books, dvds, holidays to Spain - the more opportunities to use Spanish, the better. In other words, it is do-able, but requires a huge and consistent effort (which a few days a week at a Spanish/English speaking childminder will achieve imo).

sorry, meant to say 'will not achieve'

Thank you all for replying. I forgot to say that she will be 6 months old when she goes to a childminder, i'm currently on maternity leave. I am keen to learn Spanish too and to help her as much as possible as annasmammi suggested and to put in the committment there (I love languages, I learnt conversational Japanese while living out there and am keen to pick up a third) It just seems like it'll be such a long commute, i'll have to do a dry run and see how it feels in practise to see if it is do-able. The Spanish childminder has said she will speak her native language at all times to dd, and the other two children in her care are also there to learn Spanish, so that side of things looks good, I just wish she lived in a more convenient location!

BTW today the chance to use a Portugese childminder came up, and that is in a perfect location en-route. I do have a preference for Spanish for various reasons, but at least Portugese would be a good second best if it came to it.

What are your opinions on how it will affect her learning English?

It won't affect her English at all. All the research shows that bilingual children do not speak later than monolingual children.

In my experience, bilingual children often do better in school (including in English) and my 6 and 5 year old German/English bilingual children are no exception .