Two Months In and My Child Still Does Not Speak English: Is the Approach Wrong? -

Usually no, and the reason is that your measuring stick is wrong rather than your method. Most parents track progress with a single indicator: does my child speak English in front of me. That is the weakest indicator available, the slowest to appear, and the one most distorted by mood, self-consciousness, and time of day.

That does not mean every silence is fine. There are cases where two months of no output is a genuine signal that something in the setup is off: a level mismatch, lessons spaced too far apart, a teacher who never leaves room for the child to talk, or a format that is almost entirely receptive. The skill you need right now is not patience and it is not switching providers. It is telling the two apart. Below are specific criteria you can apply within one week.

What is actually happening in the first two months

Second language learning does not begin with production. It begins with reception. The child builds a store of sounds, patterns, and meanings before producing any of it back. This stage is widely described as a silent period, and it is most visible in younger children and in learners who hear no English outside the lesson, which describes most homes in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf. If that sounds familiar, what an A2 Level Really Tells You About Your Child’s Speaking goes further.

What grows during those two months while you see nothing:

Auditory discrimination between sounds Arabic does not use, such as separating p from b, or v from f.
Comprehension of routine instructions: point, touch, say it again, your turn.
Direct word to image mapping without a detour through Arabic translation.
Familiarity with English sentence rhythm, which is what later makes speech faster and less halting.

Every one of those is a real gain, and not one of them shows up in response to your evening question, “say something in English for me.” That is precisely why parents feel two months were wasted while the child has in fact built a base they cannot yet display. A related situation is discussed in my Child Is Improving in Reading and Going Backwards in Speaking.

There is a second factor parents routinely get backwards: exposure density, not elapsed time. A child taking two lessons a week for two months has had roughly sixteen sessions spread over sixty days. That is not two months of learning in any functional sense, it is sixteen widely spaced contact points. Another child at five lessons a week reaches the same count in three weeks. When you judge the method, count lessons, not months. We cover this in more depth in my Child Refuses to Speak to the Teacher.

Criteria: normal silence or a real problem

This is the table you actually need. Check each row yourself over one week.

Item	Normal silence (keep going)	Problem needing adjustment
Instruction comprehension	Follows lesson commands without translation	Does not follow even repeated instructions
In lesson response	Points, nods, sometimes repeats	Completely silent in every lesson, no exceptions
Isolated words	Words appear during play or singing	Zero language output in any context
Attitude to the lesson	Enters without resistance	Resistance escalating week by week
Material level	Slightly hard but he keeps up	Looks lost, or the material is far below him
Teacher talk ratio	Teacher pauses and waits	Teacher talks through most of the lesson
Lesson frequency	Two or more per week	One per week or fewer
Curriculum movement	Units completed, level advancing	Stuck in the same place since the start

How to read it: if comprehension is growing and only production lags, you are in a normal silent period. If comprehension itself is not growing, silence is not the problem, it is a symptom of something underneath.

A seven day test that reveals comprehension without asking for speech

This method needs almost no English from you and no report from any platform. The principle is to probe reception using commands the child answers with their body rather than their tongue.

Day one, physical commands. Say in English: touch your nose, stand up, clap three times. Model the action the first time, then stop modelling. Record how many the child completes unaided.
Day two, two picture choice. Lay out two images and ask, “where is the apple?” A correct point counts as a full answer.
Day three, ordering. Ask for “put the red one first.” This probes grammatical comprehension, not just vocabulary.
Day four, completion. Sing a song your child knows and stop before the last word. Any sound produced is a gain.
Day five, low cost open question. Ask “what is this?” holding something whose name they certainly know. One word is enough.
Day six, free play. Observe only, ask nothing. Children produce more language in play than they ever produce on demand.
Day seven, inventory. Write down every English word you heard from your child during the week, in any context.

Reading the result: if your child handled most commands on days one and three but the day seven list is nearly empty, this is a textbook silent period and the correct decision is to continue while increasing speaking opportunities. If simple physical commands also failed, comprehension has not been built, and that is where a real adjustment begins. For more on this, see Help a 6.

If adjustment is genuinely needed, where to start

Order your changes from cheapest to most disruptive, and change only one variable per week or you will never know which one worked.

Audit the talk ratio. Watch one full lesson and estimate: did the teacher speak more than two thirds of the time? If so, your child never received speaking opportunities, and the silence is a product of lesson design rather than the child.
Audit the level. Material that is too hard produces defensive silence, and material that is too easy produces boredom that looks like silence. Request a level reassessment.
Raise frequency before switching platforms. Moving from one lesson a week to three changes outcomes more than any other single switch, because long gaps erase what the previous lesson built.
Change the teacher rather than the programme. A teacher who pauses, waits, and tolerates an empty gap pulls out more speech than an energetic teacher who fills every second. Review teacher profiles on the 51Talk teachers page and choose on lesson management style, not enthusiasm alone.
Reconsider the format itself. If your child only uses a self study app such as Duolingo or Lingokids, silence is entirely expected. Those apps are genuinely effective for vocabulary and early literacy, but they provide no live pronunciation correction and no human partner. Speaking requires someone who answers back.
Check timing and rest. A lesson placed straight after a long school day produces a silent child for reasons that have nothing to do with the curriculum.

Formats, and why some produce speech more slowly

Format	What it does well	Why speech may lag
Self study app	Vocabulary and letter recognition	No live pronunciation correction, no human reply
Large group class	Lower cost, peer interaction	Each child’s share of speaking time is tiny
Small group	Balance of interaction and cost	A shy child hides behind bolder peers
Live one to one	Every speaking minute belongs to one child	Depends heavily on whether the teacher waits
Free conversation with a native speaker	Excellent natural exposure	Weak structured progression, better for already fluent learners

This is not a ranking. The right format shifts with stage. Unstructured conversation is genuinely valuable for a child who already speaks and needs fluency, but it is one of the slowest routes to extracting a first word from a silent beginner.

Where 51Talk sits on the extended silence problem

What 51Talk is

51Talk is an online English education platform founded in 2011, listed on NYSE American under the ticker COE, and operated internationally through HelloWorld Online Education PTE. LTD. It delivers live one to one lessons with TESOL certified teachers from countries where English is an official language, across a network described as more than 20,000 teachers, with a curriculum built on CEFR and aligned to Cambridge English Qualifications.

What the lesson structure addresses here specifically

Extended silence is usually an opportunity problem, not an ability problem. In a one to one lesson the child shares speaking time with nobody, so every production opportunity returns to them. More usefully for your current question, the learning loop includes periodic measurement: preview before the lesson, the live session, post lesson practice, a unit diagnostic report, and a levelling assessment. That loop gives you an objective reference to compare against your own impression, which matters precisely when you suspect two months produced nothing. The level ladder from LS and L0 upward is described on the 51Talk courses page, and requesting a re-levelling is reasonable whenever you suspect a mismatch.

Honest limits

The platform does not control the frequency your family chooses, and frequency is the single strongest lever on this problem. No provider can name the date a particular child will start speaking either, and any promise of a results timeline should raise your suspicion rather than your confidence. If delayed production extends to Arabic as well, that is outside the scope of any language platform, and the right professional is a licensed speech-language pathologist or a paediatrician. Company background is on the 51Talk about page.

Bonus tips: drawing out the first words

Do not ask your child to “say something in English.” It is a context free open test that produces silence even in adults.
Use binary choices instead of open questions. “Water or juice?” is far easier to answer than “what do you want?”
Make English a tool for getting something, not a performance for visiting relatives.
Avoid correcting every error on the spot, because constant correction lowers the number of attempts.
Raise lesson frequency before you consider changing platforms entirely.
Rerun the seven day test four weeks after an adjustment, not one week after, and compare against your first day seven list.

If you want an external read on your child’s current level, you can book a live trial lesson through the official booking page and ask for a placement opinion.

Frequently asked questions

Does 51Talk specifically help when two months have passed with no speech? The one to one format increases each child’s share of speaking opportunities because lesson time is not divided among classmates, and the assessment loop makes it possible to revisit the level if it is mismatched. No provider can name a date for a particular child’s first sentence, and the frequency your family chooses remains the largest factor.

How long does a normal silent period usually last? It varies considerably with age, exposure density, and temperament. It is more useful to track monthly growth in comprehension than to wait for a specific date for a first word.

Can too few lessons per week explain delayed speech on its own? It is one of the strongest and most overlooked causes. One lesson a week leaves a seven day gap in which much of what was built fades, and raising frequency typically has more impact than changing platform.

Are apps alone enough to produce speaking? Self study apps work well for vocabulary and early reading, but they offer no live pronunciation correction and no partner who responds, so they suit a supporting role rather than being the main source of speech.

How do I know the level is too hard? Signs include giving up early in the lesson, asking to end it, copying the teacher without comprehension, and failing to follow simple routine instructions. In that case request a re-levelling rather than applying more pressure.

When is the delay a reason to consult a specialist? When it also shows in Arabic: a smaller vocabulary than peers in the first language, difficulty forming sentences, or concerns raised by school teachers. Then the right professional is a licensed speech-language pathologist or a paediatrician, not a foreign language platform.