English lessons for domestic helper

Try the YM/WCA?

it sounds like your helper has been "pre-trained" by a Cantonese speaking family previous to yours..... so it might not necessarily be her English that is the problem, it's just her habits, and what she has learned to be tuned to. I have a friend... who has a helper who has the same problem .... after 3 months of asking her to FOCUS and LISTEN and put her heart into her work into this new family .... she has improved significantly. And remind her NOT to assume and presume... if she is in doubt, she MUST ask you to clarify.


Can she speak English? If she's fluent, it's not the English, it's your commands she has problems following, and going to English classes will not cure that.

Graduating from college does not necessarily equate to fluency in English - other then maybe the sort of English used in that particular area. The courses available at YMCA & YWCA are quite good but I agree that it might not necessarily result in a huge improvement in your communications (other than knowing what a fork is). For the record I've done a few trips to non-metro PH areas and didn't see many forks around - just not used.

That is if she had really graduated. I interviewed a helper recently. She said she had a 3 years university degree in IT. I had been trained in IT, so out of curiosity I asked what programs she could use – no answer. Then I asked the simplest question whether she could write a document in Microsoft Word. Guess what her answer was. She said they don’t learn this in the Philippines!!! How many of them actually lie about their university degrees?

I am going to say something really strict/mean, and I hope I don't offend anyone - if I do, appologies in advance.


If you want your helper to have excellent English, for you to all be able to communicate well and your children to hear excellent English from your helper, give it a 1-3 months (up to you) to focus on the issue and if there is no imporvement terminate the helper. I suggest giving it a 1-3 months in case it is a situation that will improve as you get used to each other or with some basic training.


This is not something that you can 'fix', and it can effect the way you are running your household and the way your children are learning the English langauge.


For your next round of interviews, prioritise excellent English. Do your first interview over the phone, to be sure they understand you and you understand them clearly. You could even have them write something for you if you want to check their written English - something job related of course.


While you do not expect your helper to coach or tutor your children, she is communicating with them and this is how children learn.


I don't mean to sound really horrible, but I think we sometime underestimate the influence a helper has on the lives of our family and the entire way the household functions. But it really depends what is important to you - maybe she is an amazing cleaner and cook and that is the priority so she does not spend much time with your children and this is not such a big issue.


Good luck.

crj, I agree with you. My two helpers started with VERY mediocre English. Sometimes, I hardly can understand some of their vobabulary. Sometimes, she struggle with what she wants to say, instead, I have to guess, and give her choices of words, then she will say, yes yes, ...I mean this.....


IN 3 years, my first helper's English has improved dramatically, she agrees herself too that through all the practice with us, her English is much improved. The second one is still working on it, many times, she just says 'yes yes yes " to all my requests and instructions, but at the end, she will not be accurate in performing the task. She will then tell me she THOUGHT I said...this and that.


SO, what I do is I ask her to do something, say "please turn the TV to channel 1 at 10:00am" ( I like to record something, and my baby boy is watching another channel). The other day, she did not, she thought I said, the TV will turn to channel 1 ... not that she needed to turn it.


So, it's best (I find in my experience) to give your instructions, and then ask the HELPER to REPEAT it back to you immediately. That way you know she got it or not.


Regarding English ability, it's hard. English is 2nd Language for most Filipinas. I admire their courage and efforts for working in HK... totally language block (if in Chinese family, it's even worse), and the culture shock !


It's like me ...I learned French all my life in Canada, but if you asked me to go to Paris to work... I don't think I would survive!

Back to the YMCA courses...


Although the dates are passed, you should call and see if they are offering it again...


http://www.esmdywca.org.hk/


ENGLISH FOR DOMESTIC HELPERS UNIT 1


Tutor: Cantab Education Ltd


Course Code: MA148


Friday, 08 SEP - 13 OCT

9:30 AM - 11:00 AM

6 session(s)

NM Fee: $1335 / Member Fee: $1170




An excellent opportunity to not only improve general day to day communication around the home and the level of language our children are exposed to but also to give a little back to our employees in the way of a fun, interesting and extremely useful 2 stage language class.

Each class will concentrate on improving key levels of reading, writing, listening and speaking. Each of these key components is then further broken down into individual skill sets focusing on everyday language, around the home, shopping and amenities, reservations, bookings and recounting school feedback plus many more useful and essential lingual needs for domestic workers here in Hong Kong.


Highlights of stages 1 & 2 are listed below (actual content is greater than listed):


Subjects/topics Grammatical points covered

¡E Receiving/giving instructions ¡E Present simple

¡E Appliances and the amenities ¡E Present continuous

¡E Bill payments and banking ¡E Have /have got

¡E Telephone, text, internet and email ¡E Where, what, why, when, who, how

¡E Recounting feedback (much, many), which

¡E Shopping and alternative purchases ¡E Comparatives and superlatives

¡E Labeling and ingredients ¡E Past simple

¡E Medical, health and emergency ¡E Past continuous

¡E Transport and directions ¡E Future with will, shall, going to

¡E Comfort and care (for child) ¡E Expanding adjective and adverb usage

¡E Homework and help (for child) ¡E Introducing perfect form

¡E Praise and being positive (for child) ¡E Articles

¡E Positive discipline (for child) ¡E Countables and uncountables


We sometimes forget that ¡¥everyday¡¦ English is vitally important to our helpers until the clothes turn pink, the dishwasher explodes and Billy¡¦s nut allergy kicks in over breakfast!

Classes are always lots of fun and very educational.

aquarius, Reading about your helper is realy funny as I have encountered such. even here in Discovery Bay you hear a lot of Filipina that has a very bad grammar in thier conversations with the children. Sometimes I felt shy as I am a Filipina as well and I did not have College or University level with my education. Your helper is from a Chinese family and if that family does not speak proper English no matter how excellent your helper is in English it will certainly be destroyed. She has adopted the croacked English of her former employer so that her employer will understand her. Because believe me there are a lot of chinese employer who can not understand proper English and you will be amazed how in the world can they understand croaked one,well that is how they know it so if you do not speak they way they know it then there will always be misunderstanding. So my point is be patient with your helper for we learn fast. She needs time to unlearn what she had learn from the Chinese.

I was looking for OTHER cources on the YWCA website and saw that one and thought of you :) Their new catalog is coming out mid-December and I have requested they send us one, as I might want our new helper (once she is hired) to take a couple classes.