Language issues with au pair

[Anonymous]

Our new au pair is lovely but does not seem to understand a lot of what we say. How do you all handle this? I was thinking we should write all of her instructions out every day but that seems tedious and over managing.

[Anonymous]

I would have a friendly chat to say something like: "Larla, I know it is hard to get used to how quickly we speak and you may need me to clarify things. Please don't worry about asking me to repeat or clarify something. Let's start with talking about xxx - are you clear on what we need you to do on this?"

Also, do you have a family handbook? I think this is best way to get most basic instructions and expectations out there in a way she can digest on her how, at her own pace.

[Anonymous]

Write it all out. She/He will need to get a jump on taking english classes. It's tedious to write things out but it's even more annoying when only 1/4 of what needs to get done, actually gets done.

[Anonymous]

Agree with writing it all out, sorry its a pain but you need to be sure its precise when there's a language barrier

[Anonymous]

Kind thing to do would be hire a bilingual college student at least temporarily to translation