English nannies in Russia: The success story of one family

Move to Switzerland at the age of eight and go to a local school. At the age of five apply to the elite group for the study of the English language. At the age of three bask on a Cuban beach and chat with peers without using a single word in Russian. At the age of one — name your toys in a foreign language.

It's not the rosy dreams of the parents of a better life for their children, but realistic goals. Goals that many Russian families strive for and achieve. Educational standards in England, Germany, and France were quite applicable to Russian kids. A lot of parents can afford English governesses in Russia.

Anna Chernysheva shares with the portal Kids365.ru her experience of hiring an English-speaking nanny through the English Nanny agency and tells what she taught her son.

What do you call Германия (Germany) in English?

- Anna, why did you decide to hire a foreign nanny?

• I travel a lot and I know how important it is to know English and be able to communicate in it. My son had qualified Russian-speaking nannies. They helped in his development, taught him interesting things. He goes to kindergarten part-time, where he also learns new things. However, of course, we are thinking about the future, namely, the further education of our children.

Anna is convinced: until the age of five, a child's brain absorbs a huge amount of different information like a sponge. Who knows what will be useful in life? Therefore, it is important for parents to try to give the maximum before the five-year limit is overcome. It has long been known that the best nannies and tutors come from London. And from America, where the Chernyshevy family's nanny came from.

• Now my son is 3 years and 9 months old, - Anna Chernysheva continues. — In two years, we want to send him to an English-language school (according to the British education system, school begins with a full 5 years), and going to a school where everyone speaks English, and your child does not understand anything is not an option. That's why this year we started looking for an English nanny in Russia.

- How did you choose the staff? Recommendations from friends, monitoring Internet sites?

• The choice, and also the understanding that it is time to confront this issue occurred by accident. We went to a ski resort in winter. Once, at dinner in a restaurant, a family was sitting at the next table, and I listened to them talking in English. The girl counted to 100, then asked her father about the countries and then asked him in pure Russian: "Папа, а как будет Германия по-английски (Dad, What do you call Germany in English?)". I almost choked, because I was 100% sure that it was the British or the Americans! That evening we met, it turned out that it was a father with a daughter and their governess from England, who is working with the girl from the first year of life (at that time, the baby was already about 5 years old). And her father, as it turned out, is the director of the international recruitment agency English Nanny. He helped me, told me about his experience, personally engaged in the selection of candidates.

By the way, Valentin Grogol (that same director from the ski resort) hired a nanny for his daughter when she was one year old. The father didn't want to waste time. His priority is bilingual upbringing.

Valentin Grogol explains:

• If children hear not only their native language but also a foreign language, it will be much easier for them to master both languages in the future. That's why celebrities, politicians, bankers, and just wealthy people hire English nannies, even for their new-born children. This trend does not lose popularity even in a crisis. More and more families are hiring nannies from European countries for one-year-olds (and younger children). Qualified nannies and governesses from the UK are ready to spend five days a week with their wards for 8-10 hours a day.

The main thing is to agree

- Anna, how was your first personal meeting with your nanny?

• The first communication was via Skype. Our nanny's name is Kate, Catherine. She's a young, energetic girl. First, she told me about herself and how she sees the plan for working with my son. After the virtual conversation, we met in Moscow. Our English-speaking nanny had previously worked for another family in the capital, so I was able to communicate and get recommendations from her previous employer.

- Does Kate speak Russian?

• Our nanny can speak Russian, but we communicate in English (it's easier for her and me), but my parents speak Russian. She is currently working with a Russian language teacher on her own initiative and wants to master it at a good level.

- At what age, and how did the child start communicating with Kate?

• It happened in June of 2016, my son at that time was 3.5 years. The first month was a kind of adaptation period. Therefore, they mostly played, and the nanny focused attention on every household item or toy and called it in English. They spend together as much time as before: our nanny works 5 days a week for 9 hours a day.

- What was the child's reaction to the new person in the house and new knowledge?

• The first week the child's reaction was more negative, so a governess from London or from America, as in our case, is a new person who also pays all her attention only to him. And this is still half a problem, but that person also speaks an unknown language and requires some communication and understanding. The son resisted a little and was capricious at first. When he saw someone familiar, he immediately switched his attention to us. But it didn't last long, so I can say that our adaptation went well.

- Were there any difficulties? Difficult moments? Crisises?

• Not realy. The agency has taken care of finding the right candidate from the UK or the US. There was a period of adaptation to a new person for all of us. When you have an assistant working for you, the main task of the mother is to correctly place emphasis on what you expect from this person. You need to tell her what to do and explain how to do it. And it is desirable to do at the very beginning.

Teaching with passion

The relationship between the Chernyshev family and Catherine is regulated by an employment contract. It is signed for a year from her first day at work. If the parents deem it necessary, they can extend the contract. In general, from from the age of 4-5 years it already makes sense to hire not a nanny, but a governess. The difference is that the English governess has academic knowledge. She is more like a teacher rather than someone who provides supervision, care and language classes.

- Anna, tell us about the child's success and the results of the nanny's work.

• Our nanny with knowledge of English has been working with my son for 3 months. At the moment, in my opinion, they have achieved a lot:

1. the child knows the alphabet;
2. he has no problem counting to ten;
3. speaks in simple sentences;
4. can write his name in English;
5. sings different songs;
6. likes to listen to English literature.

In addition to knowledge of English nanny provides a overall development to the child: they draw, do arts and crafts, play. In my opinion, the result is obvious, and so far we are happy with it. Now the main thing for us is that the child learns to communicate fluently in English.

Anna was right: you can achieve effective results by combining the learning process with a general knowledge of the world. Nanny cooks porridge and lists the ingredients in English. The child gets dressed for a walk by naming items of clothing. A card with kind words in two languages is drawn for the grandmother's anniversary. Unobtrusively and in a playful way, Russian children learn to speak a foreign language so well that they can be mistaken for real native speakers.