Hello,
Thank you very much for this reassuring mail Olga! We seem to be getting this understanding from various parties that the German speaking part of Switzerland will be accommodating towards the non German speaking children, I truly hope this will the case. I do feel pretty confident in trying out the local schools come autumn. I will place Rhiannon in a playgroup during the spring so she can get used to the new language. Possibly also find an English playgroup too just to get new friends as soon as possible.
Good luck to you too Olga, you will notice that soon as your daughter will go to a French playgroup, she will act as your translator for French. That is what has happened with us. It is fascinating to follow these children from multilingual back grounds.
Will let you know how we get on.
Jaana
Olga Sakwinska <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Hi,
We're doing three languages "only", also in Switzerland. I'm Polish, my
husband British and we live in Vaud. Our daughter is 18 m old, and she just
starts speaking, at least 2 languages at the same time (I'm not sure about
French as mine is pretty bad...). So I don't have more experience than you,
but I would like to offer some reassurance - we've lived in German part of
Switzerland before she was born.
In the German part of Switzerland the programmes to help the kids who don't
speak Swiss German run quite well (as opposed to French part, especially
Vaud!). On your place I would inquire about the programme at the local
preschool to see what they do. My friends came to Switzerland with their
bilingual (polish-english) boys (7&9 y old). They started at school
immediately, and within a year were doing better than average in German.
They both liked their "special lessons" in German. Now, after 6 years, the
parents are more worried that they don't speak enough Polish, they speak
swiss German between themselves. It's slightly different with English (as
it seems to have a rather high status among the kids here and it's "cool"
to be able to speak it).
Will Rhiannon go to any playgroup before September? It might be good intro
to Swiss German. If you think she is too shy to start new language and a
new playgroup at the same time, you might be able to find one for English
speakers (have a look at the group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Expat-Moms-In-Switzerland/). In larger places
(Zurich, Basel) there also bilingual (English-German) ones - perhaps the
best option? But maybe it's worth trying with local only-German one. After
all, she is old enough to tell you if she really doesn't like it.
You also have think that with French and English she will be able to
communicate with all the teachers at the very least, and quite probably
with some of the kids at the preschool. You can't change much about the
shyness factor. The best thing to do is to find as many friends with kids
as you can (also neighbours, etc.) so your daughter has extra opportunity
to find some friends.
It will be interesting to hear from you about how the move has gone!
Good luck!
Olga
Jaana Howells
Chemin des Peupliers 25
Villars-sur-Gl�ne CH-1752
Switzerland
Tel/Fax: +41 (26) 322 0060
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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