Correcting English

[fingerscrossed]

OK, this may sound a little 'nasty' to some but it's a problem which I've scratched my head over for some time.

Now that my child is 19mths old and is picking up on language very quickly, I was wondering if I should 'correct' my helper's English. It's mostly the things she says to my child (and she's very chatty with him). They're the typical errors made by Fil maids like, 'Go mummy', 'On the TV/light', 'You like?' etc. but the one that drives me bananas is 'That's daddy's alarm clock, aren't you?' or 'You like, aren't you?'...yes, the question tags are always 'aren't you' regardless. BTW, I'm an English teacher myself.

It's easy; I can make a list and tell her to say it the correct way giving her a reason why I need the correct English. BUT should I? Can she correct herself as that's the way she's been talking for the past 40yrs? And will she feel bad about it? Has anyone else been in this situation?

[rani]

I don't think there's anything wrong with correcting her English. I do it.

[carang]

i teach english, too.

i've not corrected my helper's english too often. if it is a glaring error, then i correct it. otherwise, when i hear my children speaking incorrectly, i correct them.

so far, my children speak like i do, not like my helper even though they spend more time with her.

[fingerscrossed]

Thanks, that makes me feel better. I just hope she understands why I'm doing it.

[carang]

just thought i'd let you know... i've also been correcting my hubby's english for going on 12 years.... still he makes the same mistakes.

[mumbloxy]

i find myself worrying about their pronounciations as well, for example, she says "maaiyonnaise'' which I heard from my son for the first time recently. I didn't want her to feel like I was insulting her accent, so I reiterated to my son & emphasized the correct pronounciation. I think I tend to correct my son more than her. I do correct her though if she does things for my son without him saying pls or thank you.

[aussie mum]

i don't have any problems correcting my helpers pronunciation - and she doesn't seem to mind. I let some things slide of course!
I also make it clear that i want certain words used for certain things when speaking to the children eg. 'flip flops' not 'slippers', shorts not 'short pants'. for the most part she is pretty good at automatically using the word we use in the home. others, like short pants (my pet hate for some reason!!), she just can't adjust so I find myself correcting it nearly every day.