Can I help my child learn English if I don't speak it well?

Do I need to speak good English to help?

No. Your child needs to hear English, and they need someone who shares it with them. You can do the second part with very little English.

Research on young children and screens shows that a grown-up who joins in makes a difference. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) says that the good effects of high-quality educational media are stronger when a parent or caregiver watches together or teaches with the child. The UK government's 2026 advice for under-5s says the same: using screens together "is better for children's development than solo screen use."

Joining in does not need perfect English. It means sitting next to your child, pointing, smiling and saying the word after the game, song or book says it.

Will my child copy my accent or my mistakes?

Many parents worry about this. We did not find good research on this exact question, so here is plain advice instead.

• Let a clear voice go first. A game, a song or an audiobook can say the new word. Then you say it too.
• Don't stay quiet because of your accent. Joining in is what the research above supports, and you can do it with the English you have.
• Your child will hear many voices. Songs, games, teachers and, later, friends at school. Your voice is one of them.
• Check the words you are not sure about. Play the word again and say it together. Make it part of the fun: "Let's listen again!"
• When you make a mistake, say so. "Oops! Let's try again." Your child sees that learning means trying.

Should I speak only English at home?

You don't have to. Using more than one language "does not confuse children or cause speech or language delays", says ASHA's public information site (the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association). But each language grows with how much a child hears it. In a study of toddlers learning two languages, their skills in each language followed how much of that language they heard (Hoff and colleagues, 2012). So if English takes the place of your home language, your home language may grow more slowly.

Some families choose "one parent, one language", where one parent speaks only English to the child. This is a family choice. If you choose it, make sure your home language still gets plenty of time.

A simple balance is to use your home language for most of the day: for stories, feelings, jokes and family talk. Add English in short, playful moments. Our guide Will learning English confuse my child? explains more.

What can I say to my child in English?

You only need a few short phrases. Many of them ask your child to find something, not to speak. That is a good first step, because children often understand new words before they can say them. In one study, five-year-olds learning English with a song came to recognize the new words, but most could not say them yet (Coyle and Gómez Gracia, 2014).

• To find things: "Where is the ball?" "Show me the cup." "Can you find something red?"
• To praise: "Yes!" "You found it!" "Good listening!"
• To take turns: "My turn." "Your turn."
• To say a word together: "Let's say it together: apple."
• To give a choice: "Is it a cat or a dog?"
• To describe: "A big ball. A small ball." "The apple is red."
• To finish: "Bye-bye, words! See you tomorrow."

You can also put one English word into a sentence in your own language. That's fine.

What does a 10-minute English routine look like?

Pick the same time each day, when your child is rested and has eaten: after school, after a snack, or on a weekend morning. UK advice for children aged 2 to 5 says to keep screens away from mealtimes and the hour before bed (UK government, 2026).

• Hello (1 minute). Sit together and say, "English time!" Choose five words from one place, for example the kitchen: cup, spoon, apple, table, chair.
• Listen and find (4 minutes). Play an English game or look at a picture book together. When a word is said, your child finds the thing. You say it after: "Cup. Yes, the cup!"
• Find it at home (3 minutes). Put the screen or the book away. Walk around and ask, "Where is the spoon?" Your child points to it or brings it. Then swap: your child asks, and you find.
• Sing (2 minutes). Sing one short English song together. Clap and join in, even if you don't know all the words.
• Goodbye. "Bye-bye, words! See you tomorrow."

The next day, bring back two or three words from the day before and add a few new ones. Young children forget a new word quickly if they hear it only once (Vlach and Sandhofer, 2012). In a study with 2-year-olds, what mattered most for saying new words was how many different days they heard them (Childers and Tomasello, 2002).

Ten minutes is a starting point, not a rule. On a busy day, two minutes of "Where is the...?" at bath time is still worth doing.

What if I can't read the English in a picture book?

Choose books with big pictures and few words. You don't have to read every line. Point and name the things you know: "A dog. A ball. A tree." Then talk about the pictures in your own language too.

Talking about the pictures helps. A review of 38 studies found that young children who can't read yet learn words from picture books shared with a grown-up. They learn more when the grown-up asks questions and talks about the pictures, and when each word comes up many times (Flack, Field and Horst, 2018). Most of these studies were in children's first language, but you can do the same with English words.

How Kadoo fits

Kadoo is an English learning game for iPhone and iPad, made for children aged 4 to 8 who are learning English as a new language, including in families who don't speak English at home. Every word is spoken aloud in American English, so your child can hear the word, find the thing, and say it with you. Kadoo's help and parents' area are in eight languages, including French, German, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese (Brazil), while the places themselves are in English. The parents' area shows the words your child has met and gives ideas to try together at home. Kadoo does not use the microphone, so it can't hear your child speak or correct them: talking together is your part. Parents' other questions about Kadoo are answered in Kadoo's questions and answers.

Sources

• American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, public information site, Learning More Than One Language.
• Munzer, Parga-Belinkie, Milkovich and colleagues, American Academy of Pediatrics (2026), Digital ecosystems, children, and adolescents: Policy statement, Pediatrics.
• UK Department for Education, Department of Health and Social Care and Prime Minister's Office (2026), New screen time guidance for parents of under-5s.
• Hoff, Core, Place, Rumiche, Señor and Parra (2012), Dual language exposure and early bilingual development, Journal of Child Language.
• Coyle and Gómez Gracia (2014), Using songs to enhance L2 vocabulary acquisition in preschool children, ELT Journal.
• Vlach and Sandhofer (2012), Fast mapping across time: Memory processes support children's retention of learned words, Frontiers in Psychology.
• Childers and Tomasello (2002), Two-year-olds learn novel nouns, verbs, and conventional actions from massed or distributed exposures, Developmental Psychology.
• Flack, Field and Horst (2018), The effects of shared storybook reading on word learning: A meta-analysis, Developmental Psychology.