How to learn English at home is one of the million questions, and more so these days when we are homebound. English is one of the pending subjects of many Spaniards and that is that we were not educated in bilingualism. We would have liked to have access to all the tools that our children have today. Didactic books, apps, tablets, television channels in English, and many other options that undoubtedly facilitate the learning of the language.
On the Internet we can find many on-line courses, academies and people who offer virtual classes, and many of them even for free. However, everything ends up being ephemeral when our constancy disappears.
I’ve always heard that the best way to learn English is to live in an English-speaking country, but things get complicated when you have kids and you can’t change the course of your life, just like that.
How do you learn English at home when you have a family?
A very authentic and effective way is to hire an Au Pair who lives with the family. They are usually young people between 18 and 30 years old who come to your family for a cultural and linguistic exchange. Their level of English is native or very high so that learning the language is assured. Living and sharing the day to day life with a native person accelerates the practice of the language for the whole family. Not only the youngest ones are practicing daily, but it is also a great opportunity for parents to take advantage of the situation to improve or start learning a new language.
Living and sharing day-to-day life with a native speaker accelerates the practice of the language for the whole family.
For parents who don’t speak the language, the first few weeks are usually more complicated. You get a couple of times red and mess with the conjugation of verbs, but little by little you get loose and when a couple of months go by, you realize how much you have advanced, and you can hold a conversation.
However, the ability of the youngest ones to get by in English is extraordinary. They look for their strategies and key words (ball, play, water, I’m hungry) to survive at first, and little by little their ear gets used to it and they start interacting in English almost without realizing it.
There are many advantages to having an Au Pair living with the family, but English is undoubtedly one of the greatest. The whole family learns English, even the dog 😊.
Kidowe Team – April 2020
