Ciao all

Our family hope to move to the region Emilia Romagna in 2008. We will be putting our home on the market early 2008 and hope to be in Italy for Christmas 2008 (fingers crossed).

I have three children who will be 9, 5 and 2.5/3 who at the moment do not speak Italian. My question is, should I put them in an international school or the local school? My youngest I think will just go to the local school because of his age. It’s just my two girls that concern me. I have also only managed to find two international schools in this region.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you
Paola x

A good start would be to do a board search (use the 'Find' button) as similar subjects have been discussed before. Look in the kids section too. Happy reading!

Your middle kid will also be in Scuola dell'infanzia", so he or she will still have a full year to learn italian before tackling the real stuff. For the 9 years old the situation is a bit more complicate. While she may use at least a year in an international school to get used to the new environment and language, usually kids of that age are still very fast in getting the langauge, so he may be proficient in Italian in three months or so. Besides, you would have to consider that she will be in third or fourth grade and it may be better to stick with one school at elast until he moves on to junior high school, be it a private international school or a public (state) Italian school. Which schools, in turn, have the advantage of being completley free until the end of the fifth grade, books included. So an altenrative plan may be putting him in a public Italian school, adding a bilingual tutor to help her though the first year (you may put an ad at the university for an English language student who wants to work for a couple of afternoons, or also at any foreign langauges-oriented high schools for a last year student: in both cases the job will be also attractive for the hired tutor to train in English). A final issue to consider is learning English. English is taught at Italian schools, but at elast for the first several years it's very basic and the lessons may become interesting to a native speaker only by the last couple of years of high school. Your kids will need some more specific attention to English grammar and generlaly speaking langauge to retain it. You may provide it yourself, or have them go to an International school for the junior high school years, while sticking with Italian public schools for the irst five years and maybe for the high school.

The youngest, at 2 years and a half, will still be expected to go to "nido d'infanzia" for a few months. Unluckily, these schools are too few to cover all the requests, you you may have to wait for a few months until she gets to the age of three and will be able to go to "scuola dell'infanzia".

Notice also that in Italy "public" schools means owned and managed by the state or by the local administration and totally free (except a small yearly tax, some 20-50 euro depending on the year, and books), while "private" refers to schools owned and managed by privates and requiring tuition fees.

I have 2 kids so I have personal experience with putting them in Italian schools. I have answered this question several times in other threads. Let me know if you have questions.
www.anythingbutdull.blogspot.com

My children 8 and 4 did this last year. My daughter who is 8 is fluent and is happier in Italian school than was in English school. My son is 4 and speaks but keeps his Italian to a minimum. He starts the Prima next year and I think then things will change. At the moment he only has to play.

My daught got a support teacher. This may well be available it worth asking.

We are doing this right now. Our boy is 8 and in the third grade. We deliberated between an international school and a local public school as we are here for just a year. After advice from many people on this board and hearing their experiences we enrolled him in public school.

He has now been in class for almost 2 months and is doing well. He has easily picked up enough language skills to play with friends and sometimes helps us in stores when our skills fail. School is a little more difficult but he enjoys going and seems to be doing well. His teachers have made some allowances for him. As I write, he is working with a tutor that we have hired for twice a week sessions to help with his work and his reading and conversation. There are days when he says he wants to go back to San Diego where every one speaks English. But--I would not change the decision we made as the growth opportunities are significant.

You have a great deal of time before your move. Why not locate a tutor that can start working with your kids now--they could be doing quite well in two years. We had one for Casey and it worked well in helping to develop his confidence and alleviate fears.

Thank you all for your replys and great advice I will have a look for other posts also.

I am leaning towards public. For now the kids are getting an Italian Muzzy language course for Christmas.

TTFN
Px

quote:

Originally posted by Kirstin:
My children 8 and 4 did this last year. My daughter who is 8 is fluent and is happier in Italian school than was in English school. My son is 4 and speaks but keeps his Italian to a minimum. He starts the Prima next year and I think then things will change. At the moment he only has to play.

My daught got a support teacher. This may well be available it worth asking.

Hi Kirstin

Does your 8 year old go to public school?

TTFN
Px

This has been our dilemma for several years now too. We live in Rome and will be here indefinitely - we have deep roots here and no plans of moving, at least nowhere outside of Italy. Our daughters have been going to a British international school since they started school which has been 4 and 3 years respectively now. My initial reasons were because I liked the international mix and I wanted to be very active in their education. Four years later this still holds true, but I am more and more concerned that their Italian is still very elementary. However, I am still not prepared to place them in the Italian public school system. They really like their school and teachers and when I mention putting them in an Italian school - the wailing begins. I'll have to check out the other posts and see what others experiences have been.

Hi Paola,

I have 2 children currently going to public school here. We moved to Italy 3 months ago and I was also worried about them learning the language but up to now they are doing great.

My daughter is 12 and is in the 7th grade, she is doing very good. It was a little difficult at the begining since the material they give her here is much more advanced than what she had at NY but she has managed to learn it. Also at school they have an Italian teacher helping her two or three times a week with the language.

My boy its doing good also, he's in the 1st grade and has learned all by himself. I guess a little help learning the language before they come wont hurt so maybe you can try to do that.

Good luck!

Thank you all so much.

I have spoken to hubbie and I think the kids will have lessons here between now and the move. Once we are in Italy they will go to the local public school, with extra Italian lessons at home. It might be hard for them to start with but I am sure they will pick it up quickly. With a local school I thought it would be easier also for them to make local friends.

TTFN
Px

quote:

Originally posted by lomalinda66:
Four years later this still holds true, but I am more and more concerned that their Italian is still very elementary. However, I am still not prepared to place them in the Italian public school system. They really like their school and teachers and when I mention putting them in an Italian school - the wailing begins.

Linda, have you considered keeping them in the International School and adding Italian-based extra-school activities like sports and or boyscouting? This way they may still stay at their school but also be prompted to use their Italian with agemates and new friends. They will still lack the formal part (grammar etc.), but at the same time they will gain fluency.

My daughter goes to a covent school, so private but the substence teacher is paid for by the state. As far as I'm aware this is something anyone can ask for.

By the way I went to a parents evening this week and the teacher found it very funny that the English girl is helping the Italians with their school work during classtime.

Funny how things go full circle.

Hi Alice - yes, the girls have done some extracurricular activities in Italian and they do have a lot of contact with the language through their babysitter, our friends, associates, the day to day, etc. Our oldest (6 yrs) is more comfortable with the language then our 4 yr old. It's just the level of Italian they have is pretty low for having heard it all their lives. My husband and I never felt comfortable speaking to them at home in Italian as we always thought it would be best if they learned from native speakers.

Lomalinda, I thought your children were a few years older. Are they aware that once they move to first grade they will have to say oodbye to their classmates anyway? The classes will be rearranged and most of their classmates will be new kids.

Alice - No, at this school it goes to Year 6 in the British curriculum/5th grade in the American. They then have to go the main campus of the school which is located just outside of Rome (there is a bus service). My oldest is already in Year 2/1st grade. Although the international nature of the school does make the majority of the student body fairly transient, her best-friend for the past 3 years (with no end in sight) is Italian from Rome and her parents have no plans of sending her to Italian public school. So I'm afraid it's a bit more complicated.

Had another thing I wanted to add.

When we were going to arrived in Janaury we were told my 6 year old would NOT be allowed to start school midyear. She had to start in September meaning she would have missed 6 months school. We moved our leaving back 4 months.

It might be something to bear in mind and ask the school before arriving.

quote:

Originally posted by Kirstin:
Had another thing I wanted to add.

When we were going to arrived in Janaury we were told my 6 year old would NOT be allowed to start school midyear. She had to start in September meaning she would have missed 6 months school. We moved our leaving back 4 months.

It might be something to bear in mind and ask the school before arriving.

Thank you for that Kirstin I always assume that they could start anytime.

quote:

Originally posted by Kirstin:
My daughter goes to a covent school, so private but the substence teacher is paid for by the state. As far as I'm aware this is something anyone can ask for.

By the way I went to a parents evening this week and the teacher found it very funny that the English girl is helping the Italians with their school work during classtime.

Funny how things go full circle.

Oh how lovely. I bet you were beaming with pride.

Yes definately.

It did get me thinking though. Before moving my daughter was a very timid shy little person who cried at the drop of the hat. She was also dreadful at maths and science, found both very difficult. Now she's brilliant at maths and science and gets new ideas really really quickly. She also far far more confient and more capable of standing up on her own to feet without tears and hysteria. The change in her is so positive. My theory is that because she had to do something so difficult its done wonders for her confidence, plus the school were so positive and helpful that also boosted her confidence. I think also the Italian people are so much more tacttile than the English and this is something she needed and wasn't getting before.

I had read about dual language children grasping maths and scientific concepts quickly but I didn't the change would happen so quickly. It really is a noticeble difference in her abilities.

Amazing really. Wonder what anyone else experiences of these things are...

Hi kristin

My daughter also came on leaps & bounds with maths, not sure how much of it is due to the teacher though, in the uk she disliked her maths teacher & really struggled. Here in Italy she loves her maths teacher & is a real mathematician. Not sure if it's just my area but the class sizes here are smaller, there are 21 children in her class (prima media), in the UK there was over 30.

rachael

hello,
are you at a state school?
were the children welcoming to your daughter?
we are hopefully making the move next year,
a bit anxious as my husband will teach and we can choose to put her in an international school with if wish to.
I dont feel that will help her with italian life
and i was wondering how other children get on in state school

Here is an idea that no one else has suggested... I do not know about the schools in Emilia Romana, but here in florence there are a good selection of provate catholic schools. My son was in a private scuola materna, and is now in a private elementry school, and I couldnt be happier.

The advantage of these over the state schools for me is that the class sizes are smaller, so you get more individual attention - and because it isn't a state school, you don't have to cope with the italian beaurocracy so much.

Plus, I must say, my child is getting a much better campus, a more well rounded academic education, and he is flourish. The cost this year is 250 Euro a month - but this includes lunch.

However, you really need to look around - some of the private catholic schools can be a little prison like and institutional, and Nuns can be a little scary. Our school is run by nuns, but the teachers are all just real people!

Good Luck!

The problem with private schools is that while ina public school you can bet on an average decent level, with private ones you really risk not just to hit prison-like place but also many are really poor quality, often with totally untrained teachers (occasionally lacking a degree too). So it's a matter of really doing your market researches if you decide on private schools: there are excellent ones and really lousy ones.
Also, be aware that most catholic schools do not accept students that are not catholic, require a baptism certificate or, in case they accept non catholics, a similar statement declaring the child's faith (in case the child is atheist or agnostic, sinc eno certificate or statement can be produced there is no way for him or her to enroll, I found this out when I was looking into Università Cattolica for my uni studies) and even non catholics usually have to go through the mandatory Catholic religion classes