About Betty's HOME

English at home, for parents who aren't native speakers

I'm Betty. I'm not a native English speaker, but I still speak English with my daughter every day.

You already know why English matters for your child. What's hard is knowing what to say in the moment.

Betty with her daughter Becky

You already know why. You need the words.

  • You don't need anyone to convince you that English matters. You already decided.
  • What you don't know is what to say at 7am when the shoes won't go on, at bath time, or in the car when your child is crying.
  • You don't know which books to read, which songs to sing, or which rhymes to say together.
  • In your own language, the words come instantly. In English, you freeze, and by the time you find the sentence, the moment is gone.
  • You worry about your accent, and whether your child will pick it up from you.
  • At home it feels natural. In front of family, it feels like everyone is listening.

The moment this started

I always wanted to speak English with my child. I just didn't know it would feel so strange, and be so hard.

My daughter was a newborn. I was changing her diaper and getting her into a onesie. I'd read that you should talk your baby through everything you do, so I tried.

Then I got to the snaps.

"Let me put on your onesie... and now these... these tiny buttons at the bottom..."

I didn't know what to call them. I didn't know how to say what I was doing with my own two hands to my own child. So I said something close enough and moved on.

"Let me put this together."

Today I know it's simply this:

"Let me snap you up."

That happened more times than I can count in those first months. Not big words. Small, ordinary ones. The kind you only notice you don't know when you actually need them.

Snapping up a onesie

"Let me snap you up."

Stacking rings on a peg

"Let's stack the ring on the peg."

My English, and what it didn't cover

I'm not new to English. I have English certificates, and I run an online English school for children, Betty's Academy.

5.0 on Google from 20 reviews of Betty's Academy

Even so, there are still tiny moments I have to look up. Snaps on a onesie. Or that toddler toy where you stack the rings: the stick in the middle is called a peg. You're welcome 🙂 No certificate taught me those words.

This is the English you speak with a small child at home. The real English of an ordinary day.

Why Betty's HOME exists

I didn't want to make it more complicated. I didn't have time to create games or be a teacher at home. I wanted to add English to what we were already doing. For that, I needed the exact words for the exact moments that make up a day with a small child.

  • Putting on Becky's shoes in the stroller

    Getting dressed

    "Let's put on your shoes."

  • Betty blowing on Becky's food

    Eating

    "Is it hot? We have to blow on it."

  • Becky lifting a flap in a book

    Reading time

    "Let's lift the flap."

Those words were hard to find anywhere in one place, so I started collecting them, checking them, and now I share them.

You're allowed to start with what you have

My accent isn't perfect. I still work on my own pronunciation. Narrating my day in English, out loud, is partly how I practice.

I didn't wait until my English was perfect to start. You don't have to either. You'll say some things a little wrong, and that's fine.

And it's good for you too, because you're learning along the way. My English improved much more from talking to a toddler than it ever did at school.

Your child doesn't need perfect English from you. They need you, talking to them.

Betty hugging Becky at home

English for toddlers and babies, made for non-native parents

Betty's HOME is an app for parents of children aged 0 to 5 who want to speak English at home. Every phrase is everyday and natural, the kind you'd actually say, not a textbook line.

You don't need to run lessons or become a teacher. You need to know what to say in the moment, the way I didn't, that day with the snaps.

What Betty's HOME is not

  • a school
  • a test
  • another thing to get right

There's no pressure and no schedule.

It's English, used the way it already happens at home, snaps and all.

Start here

Not a native speaker and want to speak English with your child?

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Free until 31 December 2026. No payment details needed.

Talk soon,

Betty

Looking for English lessons for ages 5 to 10? That's Betty's Academy.