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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I know this is a touchy subject to say the least, but in case this helps anyone I'll put it out there.  When our DS was born we had a neighbor who ran the ESL program at the local elementary school.  I asked if it was a big program since we lived in an affluent county, and she replied it was growing every year.  I was surprised and then she mentioned that the growth was the result of children of professionals (mostly lawyers) who are native English speakers that hire non or low  level English speaking nannies.  The result is that the child does not speak either the nanny's native language, or English, at the appropriate fluency for his/her age.  The recommendation was to find a nanny that either is: 1) truly fluent, or; 2) Shares the same non-English language and you and your spouse and have her use it exclusively.  She mentioned that the issue with having a child learn English during the early years of language acquisition from someone with a low English ability is that the school then has to spend most of the ESL time "unteaching" incorrect English before they can improve.  The issue becomes that the child will likely have delayed reading ability, as it will take years to undo the damage, so they now engage in early intervention rather than wait until they learn to read.

Again, not claiming I'm an expert in this, just relying the information.  Although, it has motivated us to pay above market rates for nannies who are fluent in English.  I have also noticed that when the parents don't speak Spanish and claim that their child has learned it from the nanny it is usually a matter of survival - "I need water", etc. There is never a conversational ability.  So I would be suspicious if someone claims the nanny "taught" them a language. [/quote]
You are exactly right.[/quote]

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