Moving to Italy

[gabcllau]

Moving to italy with kids

Posted 22-04-09 at 02:13 PM by gabcllau
I am from Colombia, so I speak spanish, and I have 3 kids, their ages are 7, 5 and 3.
We are living in US, since 2 years ago so, they are speaking english too. We are moving to italy with them, for a couple of years, and I would like to get advice about schools, What is better, a private english school or a public school, where they probably just learn italian. Somebody has an experience like this? Do you think I can find bilingual schools in Palermo?
Thank you !!! Tags:

[Gala Placidia]

Welcome to the Forum. I am certain that some members will be able to give you advice. Meanwhile, you can have a look at an old thread on public vs. private education in Italy:
http://www.italymag.co.uk/forums/gen...ids-italy.html
Best wishes regarding your future plans.

[debswad]

International Schools in Italy - Italy Schools

Hi this will list all the international schools and then you can investigate what is best for you..

I think it really depends on your children where to send them, my daughter attends an international school because i felt she would have felt far too unsettled, now she has settled in and is understanding Italian i send her to more and more after school groups to help her make friends away from the international environment.

My other daughter attends the materna ( italian state school) but will move to the international school next year.. ( got to be equal)

message me if you want to chat

[KirstyM]

HI. We are moving to Naples this summer. We have 5 children. We are sending our children to the British Forces school. This wasn't my first choice though.
I did want them to go to the International School, but we can't afford to pay for all the children to go there. I am however going to send my little two to an italian nursery
I can't answer your question though - sorry. It probably does depend on your children. I do love the idea of an local Italian school though.
And also, I sure all private schools would teach Italian.

[gabcllau]

I think the problem is that we are going to Palermo, and i am almost sure that there's just one international school, a catholic school, which is good for me, but of course is so expensive. So, Im trying to decide if send the older two to this school and the little one to an italian nursery. My concern is they don't lose the english that they got here in US. So, another possibility is send them to an italian school, and try to find private english classes.I want they learn italian, but without to lose the english.
What do you think about this?Thank you very much for your comments.This is so stressful for me.

[gabcllau]

Another question, is possible to find the information about the curriculum in the elementary school? I am seeing that in some private schools they just teach english 3 hours per week, so, probably would be the same in public schools.
Thank you.

[Gala Placidia]

The only way for the children to keep and improve their English language skills in an Italian environment is to attend a bilingual school teaching both Italian and English, as I guess that English will not be the language spoken at home, but Spanish. I don't want to sound negative, but it would be very difficult for them to maintain and develop their English with only 3 hours a week of tuition and immersed in an Italian-speaking environment and a Spanish-speaking home.

[gabcllau]

I am completely agree with you!!!
The best option is to put them in a bilingual school, but there aren't many options in Palermo.So, I still trying to find the best solution for this.
Thank you.