KiasuParents - Parenting in Singapore

I might need to send my new Indon helper for English course. Just picked her yesterday to replace my existing who is returning home in 3 weeks' time after completing her 2-yrs with us.

This new girl's English is way too weak!!

Anyone has recommendation on where we can send them to brush up English?

Thanks in advance.

There is no crash course I believe. As an employer, we just have to be more patience. I tried to picked up Malay instead of my maid picking up English.
Using itranslate on iPhone is a great help to build my communication with the fdw

How weak??

Does she read well??

Can she understand better than speak??

My new maid's EL is not really passable, her vocab is very weak and she has problems expressing/describing something, but she reads better.

So,

1. After demonstrating how to use the machines and getting her to show me, I wrote the instructions down for her in simple EL and pasted on strategic places like just beside the washing machine and just above the steamer, for instance, on how to operate it. I made her read out what I had written and double checked whether she has understood or not.

2. I also drew up a time table and listed daily duties for her to do, and wrote it on the table calendar which I placed in her room.

3. Every nite, I make her note down what to prepare/cut for the following day's meal as I do the cooking.

4. If there are additional duties on top of the daily ones, I make her write it
down.

5. Things that are to be replenished and kept in the storeroom, pantry or fridge, I wrote reminders and pasted them on the respective doors so that
when she opens them to take something out, she can assess what needs to
be added in the grocery list.

I notice that she can write in EL although some words are in Indon and there are of course spelling errors.

I also, from time to time, use hand gestures.

There was an occasion when I was teaching her to puree food for my DS2. I told her not to make it so thick and to dilute it with water. She did not
understand the word 'thick', so I demonstrated how to make it for her, and made her write down in Indo and pasted it on the wall near where the baby cereals are placed. But I made it a point to check when she was preparing
the food subsequently, to ensure she got the texture right.

I am even prepared to invest in an Indo/EL dictionary if need be.

Actually, if your current maid is still with you, I assume she is training your new maid??? Then you can request her to teach the new one some common EL phrases and make her write it down and revise them every nite. Thats what my ex-helper did before she left.

I do not know if what I have penned down will help you, but as the previous poster mentioned,
we have to be patient with them. As long as she has a positive attitude,
then we will just have to give them some time to adapt and pick up the language.

My 2 cents

I learnt Indonesian from my first maid who was not interested in learning English.
Those days no electronic translator so i armed myself with a dictionary each time i conversed with her.
You can send your maid to the indonesian school in siglap.

http://sis.kbrisingapura.com/

I heard of maids going there for english.

I've had parents send their FDWs for Phonics programme with me. In fact, even alternative caregivers like grandparents and nannies as the parents are full time working parents and have no time to teach the children. So they aimed to prepare and equip their alternative caregivers with positive teaching knowledge for them to work with their children at home. There are also those conversational language courses conducted at community centres i should think is suitable for a crash course for your FDW. Hope this helps.

thanks everyone on your reply, feedbacks and valuable experiences.

2yrs ago i bought a english-indon dictionary for my expiring helper too. i was going to get one for this new lady too.

how weak arh.. hahah.. first conversation.. i asked if she is afraid of dog..she like blurred and later just kept shaking her head.. cos she doesn't know what's that.. luckily we passed by a pet shop so i pointed to her. hahaa.

im sure need time to pick up lar... but just tot since also she's alone at hm during the day.. n shldnt have too much to do since just a small hse, perhaps can send her for some enrichment course... which is definitely valuable to herself too?

but then oso.. being new to Spore.. it's not a good idea to so quickly expose her to 'the outside' huh.

heeee~