Schooling experiences

[AZJAM]

Anyone recently moved to Spain & got some experiences of the above?

We've got a 6 & 8 yr old girl who can't speak Spanish. What schooling could we get?

Thanks

[chris(madrid)]

GET THEM INTO A SPANISH STATE SCHOOL ASAP - If you plan to stay here. It'll be hard at first, no doubt, but it's the best thing you can do. Where's JoJo?

[Stravinsky]

Agreed, just about the right age to make it

[markdcb]

What about the private schooling, I too have 3 childrenaroung that age but my 10year old doesnt do change well and would just go into his shell.

Sue

[Stravinsky]

Originally Posted by markdcb

What about the private schooling, I too have 3 childrenaroung that age but my 10year old doesnt do change well and would just go into his shell.

Sue

Private schooling will be at an English school, using the english language mostly. Depends if you want them to become bi-lingual or not. Guess you could send him private and have Spanish language lessons as extra

[jojo]

We put both ours into an international school when we arrived in February. my son had just turned 13 and my daughtew was 10. They both settled in quickly and enjoy it there!! BUT, as good as the school is (and academically it is excellent), neither of my children can speak spanish and they really dont feel comfortable enough to intergrate with the spanish kids that live around us - nor do they want to venture anywhere on their own (town, shops, playgrounds etc).

My son, due to his age, he has GCSEs around the corner, he really is a kid who benefits from small class sizes, is very shy and doesnt do change, I think the international school was the right choice. However, my daughter who is now 11, is very confident, outgoing and always up for a challenge, so we are seriously considering putting her into the local state school in the new term - I'm hoping this will not only help her learn the language (someone needs to in our house, cos I dont seem to be doing too well!!!), intergrate with the local kids and invironment, but she will encourage my son to join her.

My advice would be at your kids ages - state school - thats if you're planning to stay in Spain and want the kids to stay too! Once they hit their teens, maybe international would be the best thing????!

Jo

[chris(madrid)]

Originally Posted by Stravinsky

Guess you could send him private and have Spanish language lessons as extra

imo - if you want them to be independent - they HAVE TO LEARN SPANISH.

I was very shy when I was suddenly plopped in the UK at 8years. Knew nobody, felt left out as I had no "old school friends". Having been doubled schooled (my parents gave me extra to do) I arrived advanced for my age and was sort of left out as being a brainbox (this is far from reality). BUT this made me VERY independent. Some (my wife) might say TOO independent at times.

My parents were always careful not to overprotect me, and I think this is really important too. Naturally you'll suffer if your kids do - but you need to have them bilingual (at least at everyday school level) within 6 months - or they'll never want to. How you achieve this is open - But language is key. Or they'll never be happy here.

[Maya01]

We moved to Coin (Malaga/Andalucia) just over 4 years ago and all 3 of our children started Spanish schools - their ages were 5, 8 and 11. All 3 learned Spanish very quickly, despite not knowing any when we arrived. They soon made friends with a variety of nationalities, not just Spanish children - German, Moroccan, Dutch, English, to name a few.

The 8 year old is now 15 and just graduated from her school and has signed to stay on for another 2 years.

The 8 year old turns 12 in August and he's just graduated from primary school and will move up to the same school as his sister.

The 5 year old is now 9 and perfectly happy at his school.

The only problem we had was teaching our youngest the English alphabet and reading/writing. At first we let him focus on learning Spanish and have only really moved on to the English reading and writing, during the past 12 months. At first he found reading English quite difficult but in the last few months it seems to have all fallen into place and he's now reading and writing English very well. (Chatting to family and old English friends on MSN has really helped).

We also made the decision to move right into the town so the children could play outside with their Spanish friends, out of school. That's also worked brilliantly for them and we do know other children at the same schools who are still struggling with their Spanish. We were originally in the campo but once the children made friends they felt they were missing out by not being able to go out and play together. We've seen so many people come and go because their children didn't settle or learn Spanish and all of them lived out in the campo. I know the idea of a nice house, land and pool is appealing but if you plan to stay and integrate then living in town, at least at first, really does make a huge difference. You also get to know your neighbours and simply have to learn some Spanish yourself which is a big bonus!

IMO - Spanish schools and living in town, amongst the Spanish population are the best ways to settle children, help them with the language and to make friends.

Maya

[rjnpenang]

Have you considered a PRIVATE Spanish school?, see my post on page 2 of "A nice place to move a family to¨, these schools were/are susidised by the goverment and are very popular, uniforms, nice lunches, good teachers etc and are not expensive by international standards.
I think there are at least 2 in this area, They would probably put your kids in a lower year until they pick up Spanish BUT I can guarantee you they will be fluent in 6 months and will be correcting you in the supermarket!.

[Boadicea]

At just 6, find a good Spanish state school and put your child in it. She will be speaking Spanish well within months.

I'm English and went to a Spanish school - it certainly hasn't done me any harm in terms of languages, I spoke 3 before I was 6-7 and have learnt others since.

As for English - speak English at home and make sure you read stories and that she has English books as she grows older - she'll be fine!