Re: Should I send my 4 year old to English or Spanish school in Tenerife?
Kathy...when I first arrived in Spain many years ago with two small daughters I put them in the nearest Spanish school which happened to be run by nuns (this was in Mallorca).
As the girls spoke only English, I prepared ahead of time a little notebook for them to take to school with pictures cut out of magazines pasted in, displaying different things they might have to communicate to their teachers during the first weeks. I used pictures of:
1. a bathroom......I have to go there
2. a glass of water......I'm thirsty
3. a person with a cut or injury.......obviously....showing I've hurt myself
4. someone feeling ill........again that's obvious
5. a sandwich.....I'm hungry
etc. etc.
When the nuns saw this they laughed but thought it was a good idea, and said the internationally understood "pee pee" was all they had to say when needing the bathroom. They hardly had to use their little book as they picked up Spanish right away and found that gestures speak as much as words. Withing two weeks the youngest (then 5 years old) was singing a little children's song from beginning to end in an almost perfect Spanish!
No one at the school spoke English.
Re: Should I send my 4 year old to English or Spanish school in Tenerife?
Thank you for this it helps me worry a little less just scary but I'm sure he will be fine xx
Re: Should I send my 4 year old to English or Spanish school in Tenerife?
It is very good idea :) We are coming to TNRF in September, but I am not shore wich school we should chose... because my child (4 yrs) dont know Spanish or English.. so thats not the main point. But I am more interested in education level? Can you feel the difference between private and state schools?
Re: Should I send my 4 year old to English or Spanish school in Tenerife?
Hi just reading through posts a s we are hopefully making the move ASAP with our 2year old boy and obviously have the same worries everyone has and just wondered if Kathy was still there and how things went early on and how it all is now would be comforting to hear from people who have already made the brave decision and moved specially with little ones!??