My stepdaughter doesn't speak English

[nashwa]

Hi everyone,

My stepdaughter has recently joined our family. She used to live in another country so she doesn't speak English. She's 8 years old and I'm worried about her school situation.
I really need help with this!!

thanks

I am a teacher - over the years I have had loads of kids in my secondary school clases that have NO English and they pick it up amazingly quickly. I can think of a girl I taught geography that came as an asylum seeker from Bosina with not a word of English at 14(in year 10) and left year 11 with an A*.

i'd back up what sph said. I'm a teacher too and have had a couple of EAL students who have come in at 13 or 14 not speaking english at all, who now regularly beat the other students in scrabble and achieve well over what the english students do!

and a Polish lad in dd1's class who did not speak english at all 2 years ago is now more fluent than his mother. Children are far batter than adults at picking up language

better

I am not a teacher so can't comment on how children generally cope but my brothers step dd came to this country from Poland, speaking very little english last june.

She came as school broke up in Poland so had a couple of months here before going to school. The first time we met she had learnt our names and could say the standard greetings etc. Her language came on in leaps and bounds over the summer and we could manage conversation with some translation by the time she started school.

Now it is coming up to a year and her language is fantastic. I cannot remember the last time that her mum had to translate anything for her. She has however started to pick up all our bad speech habits and a yorkshire accent .

She had a polish teacher going into school a couple of times a week but she seemed to settle really well. She has made lots of friends and loves school. As i say, I am not a teacher so cannot judge but her grasp of english and her reading leave me in awe for such a short space of time. She has just turned 10 btw.

She'll be fine. Send her to school and watch her soak up the language and thrive.

I had a Polish child in my class last year He started in September with no English (parents didn't speak English either) by Christmas he was chattering to the other children in a mixture of Polish and English (which they seemed to understand) and by the summer he was chattering to his friends mainly in English.
A slightly older Spanish boy joined us (Spanish mum /English step dad) and it took him about six months to become fluent

thanks everyone
I feel less worried right now

Message withdrawn

Think all classes have some children that don't speak English - some schools have the vast majority of kids that don't know any English at all. I think there's nothing to worry about and 8 is quite young so I think you have nothing to worry about.

I agree, she will pick it up quickly in school and will also have the benefit of having it spoken at home. Many children with EAL only use English in school and manage to switch between the two.

She'll pick it up really fast if she's immersed in the language.