Hello!

I have been looking for a club which my kids, aged 8 and 5 years, could keep up their english reading and writting skills. They both attend local swiss school in Adliswil and I was wondering if there was such a club/group close by. We are in the process of leasing a car so I have to travel by(the excellent) public transport, so I don't want to have to travel too far.

Kind Regards C

Hope you find something - in addition, get them English language DVDs.

I would think English is easy - it is all around you.

And don't get too wound up - we have boys of 4 and 11, left Denmark when the youngest was 7 months, and then spent 1.5 y in Ch before moving to Portugal (my wife is Portuguese).

The oldest speaks Portuguese, Danish, English and bits of German, his Danish is a bit odd at times (using unusual phrases).

The younger is native in Portuguese and understands most Danish - and tries to speak it to me (and even more my mum). It is not the Danish of a 4yo, but we make sense of it.

Good luck

__________________
- Clarity of writing is usually preceded by clarity of thought.

Thanx for your reply!

I don't think I put in enough info on my thread.

We left the U.K. 8 weeks ago, having lived there all of our lifes. I want the kids to keep up all that they have learned from their education back home as well as learn from the Swiss system!

Bye C

Where do you live'

I have just put an article up for Hands on Kids which is in Effretikon
I has classes for children to 12 yrs age in english


www.hands-on.kids.ch

Debbie

Hey Claire, I also live in Adliswil and have three kids (11, 9 & 3) - as well as a pretty good library of English kids' books. Care to come over sometime and share books/conversation?

In terms of formal instruction, that could be tricky - your eight-year-old should at least have basic literacy and numeracy down in English, which will give them an advantage if they take up formal schooling in English at any later time in their life (at any level), and the five-year-old should have a pretty good basis (perhaps even fluency?).
Getting good books (and DVDs, to hear the language) would also be a good way of maintaining what they have - even advancing things a little. Oh, and make sure you get as many of your English-speaking relatives as possible to get Skype set up, so your kids can chat to uncles, aunts, cousins, grandparents and so on regularly - at least you don't have the problem of massively separated time zones!

You can give a try in Funtastic English club Affoltern as they conduct afternoon session and holiday camps for kids.

www.funtastic-english.ch

But it is not near your region

Hello there,

I teach English speaking children phonics, reading and writing in Wollerau, SZ. This is not too far from where you live, approximately 15 -20 minutes I would say.

If you think you may be interested then please find out more information on my website www.linkstoliteracy.ch

Currently my classes are full and parents are signing their children up for next academic year. However, one space will be available in the reading and writing class next month due to a family relocating back to the UK and this may be suitable for your younger child.

Please don't hesitate to contact me should you have any further questions.

Best wishes,

Annelise

Just wanted to encourage parents in this situation to definitely seek out some formal English class for their children. This is an area I work and have some experience in (first and second language acquisition plus the effect of schooling in another language)

What tends to happen if no formal writing/reading/spelling is studied is that the child grows up - hits teenage years sounding completely native (especially if they have 2 English speaking parents) but as soon as they have to write an assignment they tend to write like a second language speaker.

Usually their work is full of spelling errors, often with linguistic interference from the language they've studied formally at school and frequently with a lack of the breadth of vocabulary you'd expect from native speakers in the UK for example.

These errors are usually pretty ingrained and extremely difficult to iron out once the kids are 15, 16. I'd urge all parents who want to give their kids the opportunities that come with being truly bi-lingual if your children are in the Swiss system - supplement this with weekly structured English classes for as long as possible.

This is such an important issue for me, and so many xpats, to keep up the level of fluency of their mother tongue. My children are 5 and 6 and planning to move to switzerland soon. Does anyone know of English classes in the french speaking region please? Thanks.

There are English reading and writing classes in Oberreiden which isn't too far from you. I have never been there but I have friends whose kids go there and they think the classes are excellent

http://www.parksideschool.ch/reading.html.en

Thank you so much StephanieWD - this is exactly what I hope doesn't happen to my kid!
Not sure if I should just start a new thread or not for Lausanne (apologies to the OP for crashing their thread).
I am looking for an age appropriate English reading/writing class for an English speaking child (aged 4.5, who has just started at a local school in Lausanne). Grateful for any leads

'French-speaking region' is still quite large, so if you could specify the Canton or largest town, some may be able to help you. For example, there is Bell language school in Geneva.

maybe until you find a class or tutor for regular lessons you could do some at home just to keep the english going. I brought on ebay all the oxford reading books they use the uk primary schools, the read at home and the oxford phonetics series too. They have exercises listed to help with increasing their vocabularily practising spelling etc.. cost me £50 for both sets and goes up to level 5 and each level has 6 books. Not sure how far you are would be happy to lend them or maybe if you wanted to do a reading afternoon. I know its not the same as a class but until you find somewhere/someone in the interim its good practice. I also have some biligual books which have lots of activities to do in english and french so he is learning both. Oh and if there are any english groups for 5 year olds in the canton of vaud ( im near morges) be interested to know thanks.

Our children have been attending Parkside for the reading and writing class, we can highly recommend. Very professional and great teachers.

For the under-6 crowd, if you have iTunes, I've found 'Super Why!' and 'Martha Speaks' from PBS Kids to be really neat and my almost-5 year-old really loves them. She has only been watching them for 2 weeks or so, but already is starting to spell words (much to my own amazement.) Getting them into reading at an early age, too, is a big help.

Just a wee update......

I have been taking our daughter to Funtastic English Club in Horgan for a month now and I have to say she loves it!! We have one private lesson and one small group lesson, one after the other. I also do some work at home. We are moving back to the UK in a month and I know that these classes will help our daughter back into the English schooling system.