There have been similar posts on this forum already, but all seem to deal with younger children. We are moving out to Zurich this September with two children (5yo daughter/ 18mo son). I am worried about my daughter as we plan to send her to the local kindergarten (international schools being unaffordable) - she is quite quiet, especially in new situations and I am wondering what experiences people have had in a similar siutation. If she was 2 or 3 I wouldn't be worried as kids pick things up quickly at that age and only use relativiely simple language with each other. However as she is a bit older I think she will struggle - I realise a lot depends on the child, the school, the parents' attitude, etc but any stories of success/joy and brilliance would be greatly appreciated, as would tips/ideas/do's/don'ts. Incidently my wife speaks German but I don't. Fun times ahead.

My 6 year old went to local kindergarten for 6 months. She adjusted so well that they put her on normal first grade the next school year. At this age their brains are still "plastic" and still learning very fast.

My daughter was 5 when she started school here last August. She had zero French and is now happily chatting away with the other kids. They really do pick up things quickly and you're doing them a favour in the long run. Wish I knew languages at that age!!

I don't think you have anything to worry about. My tip is to encourage your daughter to play out with local children. When we did this with our son, we noticed a big jump in his grasp and usage of Swiss German.

Hi,

We've been in Switzerland now for one year. Our daughter (then 4.5) started Kindergarten last August with almost Zero knowledge of German/Swiss German. The first 3 months were really tough on all of us. But as recommended by people in this forum I organised lots of 1 on 1 playdates to build up her friendships and confidence with the other kinder children and we had a real turn around at 4 months. Up until then she mostly observed in kindergarten and waited until she felt completely confident with her language (people told me this was common with girls).

Also we found that almost 75% of the children in her kinsky spoke a language other than Swiss German at home, so she wasn't the only one to struggle with the language at the start and the teachers are very experienced with this.

At 7 months she had an appointment with the school Speech Pathologist(which is standard in our town for all first year kindergarten children) and the Pathologist thought she was Swiss born. It is amazing how fast they learn. If only I could learn half as fast! Anyhow now she and her 3 year old brother are completely fluent in both german and Swiss German and love living here(we all do).

I would also recommend that as you have a couple of months up your sleeve, maybe your wife could start teaching her some German, or organise a teacher. Oh and another thing we did was only let her watch TV or DVDs in German.

Good luck with the move.

Hiring a babysitter, helped my daughter alot.

I hired a 13 year old, to babysit once a week, she played and sang songs with her,and her german improved. I also had some time for myself.

I am also worried about my 7 and 4 year old girls, as we are moving in August with NO German at all. But I guess we have to have faith and believe the ones who say that after 4 months things get easier. But what
do we do during the 4 months, that I wonder!

Hire a babysitter!!!

I will! Where do you suggest I look to find a babysitter?

thanks for your responses - nice to hear positive comments from people. Time for my german practice now.

I advertised on liliput.ch and just wrote my ad in English. I was looking for someone to look after my sons for two afternoons and found someone quickly. She's been coming twice a week for a few months and my three year old is starting to come out with the odd German phrase. If you need someone just for the language (so don't mind someone younger) then you could advertise on the free boards at your local Coop or Migros.

Does your child speak to you in the local language? I keep telling her to speak to me in French.

We had our then 9 year old and 4 year old start local school with almost no german. Two years later our oldest is fluent in high german but has an accent and the (soon to be ex) kindergartener speaks both german and swiss german beautifully. Kindergarten is especially great for learning the language. It was an ideal learning environment for those in the class new to German.

Choosing local schools is a leap of faith and is certainly not easy but after the first 6 months, language will probably not be one of your bigger concerns.

I've been reading these posts with interest. We've just heard that my husband will be starting a job in Zug in January. We aren't planning on relocating the family till the summer but was wondering which language for me to learn (Swiss German or German German?) and which language for the children (boy aged 5 and girl aged 4) to learn? None of speak any German of any type.

My 5 year old daughter started local kindergarten this year. Like your daughter, she is quiet. She is also shy and withdrawn until she gets to know someone (a process that can be a very long one for her). I had intense angst about it all. Ends up, I need not have worried. She spent her first week or two more or less watching from the sidelines. Her extraordinarily professional teachers, however, found numerous ways of drawing her in without singling her out. Now, months later, she is playing with all, and excited about school and the new words she is learning. We are making a point at making time outside of school to play with the non-English speaking children (there are 3 of 10 that speak English - which proves to be a bit of an impediment to the speed at which they learn to speak the language). According to her teachers, progress is good. Once again, I credit the fantastic teachers this kindergarten has - but I expect there are many good teachers out there. If you have any other questions about our experiences, please feel free to send me a message off-post. Good luck.

You will struggle to find anyone to teach you Swiss German even here but especially in London. Learn/ Start German if you can and the children will pick up Swiss German from playing with their little friends when they get here.

Oh, and by the way, it has also given me more opportunity to speak german in a few months that I have had in years of living here. This is a big plus if you want to stick around for awhile or simply feel a bit more integrated.

I can understand you want her to keep up her French - and yet, what message does that give her/ what sort of incentive to learn the local language, if she gets 'penalised' for it. I've known so many children who at a certain age, totally turned away from the parental language as they feel pressurised and hate being 'different'. Just not sure how I feel about that.

If you ask her what she is, she'll tell you she is Catalan. she speaks Catalan all day long at school and is well integrated. Everyone at school is very supportive and find her lucky to speak 5 languages as such a young age.

I think we made a good move to put her in a local school, for her integration but our, as parents and family too.

Smiley Bex, thank you for raising this thread! I was looking for it recently and couldn't find it.

I would like to ask for an advise. My daughter (3 y.o.) is attending a playgroup 2 times per week. That playgroup is in High German. I would like to hire a babysitter as well to make her learn the language quicker.

Would you recommend to hire a babysitter who will speak High German or Swiss German with my daughter? From one point of view, it would be good if she hears the same language in the playgroup and from the babysitter, but from the other point of view she has to learn the local language to be able to communicate with local children.

What do you think?

Thanks.