hi northen lass
thanks for the advise !
which area are you in?
do your children now speak spanish fluently,if so how long did it take them
ive started learning spanish myself,and am teaching my children,so weve got a year to get the basics
you mentioned an empradon,what is this?
will i need a padron and an nie number for the school?
my daughter will be 4 when we move,will she go to playgroup (free) like they do here or does she have to wait til shes 6 to start school?
thanks again
elle
Hi again.
I live in Asturias.
My son who is 6 is the most fluent in spanish (for a child anyway).
My daughter who is 7 is very shy and I think that although she understands spanish and everything that her teacher, friends and spanish cartoons she is not as good as speaking it. She only really speaks to her friends in spanish but thats all that's important to 7 year olds anyway.
But we have only been her in Asturias for over a year.
If you get into a school with more spanish children it will be so much better for the children to learn. It would also help to allow your children only to watch spanish cartoons and not English.
As for your 4 year old daughter, most schools have classes for children from the ages of 3. The school my children go to, there are classes for 3 year olds, 4 year olds and 5 year olds. My son last year was in the 5 year old class and loved it. He had a lovely teacher and there was only about 12 children in the class.
3 to 5 year olds do not have to go but it is available and I would recommend it.
The school year is different here in Spain to the UK.
In the UK its birthdays from September to August are together.
In Spain its January to December. So a child born on 2nd Jan 2002 and 23rd December 2002 are in the same class .
As for the empradon - it's a document which means you are registered with the Town Hall, similar to the electrol roll in the UK. This document shows the school that you live where you say you do.
To get this document, you would need to take your passports, your NIE (for the children too usually), rental contract.
Quite a lot of paperwork at first but once it done, its done. I am assuming you already have an NIE with being here before. If not, it a visit to the Police Station - this time with your passport and passport photos and birth certificates.
So first port of call would be to find out which school you want your children to go to, check they have places. Find a house to rent then then go to the Town Hall and get your empradon.
Getting the basics in spanish for your children will be fun - mine knew colours and numbers and hello - simple stuff.
What I would say that if children are younger than 9 the language will not be a problem, so relax in that area.
You would need to make it a priority. Get some confidence in speaking it, Find an intercambio now - you may have some spanish speakers nearby who want to practice English and you practice spanish with them.
Learning Spanish has been harder than I expected. For us adults it is a lengthy process - at least 4 or 5 years to get good and that's with lessons and practice. So get starting it if you really want to make it a success.
Good luck.