There is an interesting trend growing in the US within families who want their children to learn a second language at as early an age as possible: They hire a Foreign language speaking nanny. This effectively kills two birds with one stone giving them someone to look after their young ones while they work, and also giving the children immersion into a foreign language.
More and more parents are recognising the importance of being bilingual and understand that it is much easier to learn a language as a child than as an adult. To that end then they are hiring foreign nannies on the condition that the nanny speaks only in her native language to the children. This is a complete turnaround from days gone by when foreign nannies would be asked to use only English to the children in the fear that a foreign language would confuse the children and hinder their learning. Now parents are realising that children can easily learn two languages simultaneously, and can effortlessly switch between the two without confusion. So while the parents speak to the children in English, the nanny uses her native tongue, and the children can learn two languages at the same time.
While foreign speaking nannies has always been an obvious benefit of living abroad (like me), I have to admit I had never thought of hiring foreign language speaking nannies solely to help children learn a second language. I think this is a fantastic idea, and one that I think every parent that can afford it should consider. I hope it is a trend that will continue to grow and we can finally become nations of bilingual citizens.
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