how do you know she understands?

[Anonymous]

it has become apparent with our current au pair that she doesn't understand as much as we intially thought. we like her and she is really good with the kids, so all together we have not had any huge issues. i'm just looking for suggestions from other host moms, of what you do or tools you have to ensure that she understands? do you write a daily list for her? what works of you?

[Anonymous]

I would write things down so she can refer to it. A schedule is nice so she remembers the important things, like when Sally has to be at soccer practice.

[Anonymous]

Our current au pair has lower English skills than we expected, even six months in to our placement. But she's fantastic with our girls. Soooooo....

We do as much as possible in writing. Big calendar on the wall. We email her instructions as much as possible to make it easier to plug the information into Google Translate. When something is really important, we put it through a translator ourselves to see if it "looks" right or not. We often pantomime as well. Lots of pointing.

And we text a lot. Facebook Message too. Especially about times and places to meet (we often drop her off/pick her up from East Falls Church metro when she goes out for the weekend). I figure if she's out with her friends and gets a text from me one of them will probably be able to read it