Hi all,

I'm new to the Forum and amongst the millions of questions I'd like to ask would like to say hi.

I'm a single parent who is in all likelihood moving to Basel in the next 1-2 months following a redundancy from my current job.

My son is 5-years old and so would need to join kindegarten.

Can anyone make any recommendations?

I'm not sure if he should join a german speaking school or an International Bi-lingual school....

Any advice would be great!!

Thanks

Hi there and welcome to the forum.

I can only recommend from my own experiences.

I was a divorcee until 18 months ago and had two boys here. (I was previously married to a Swiss girl). I got custody of the children and didn't fancy going back to the North East so I decided to stay.

Even though they couldn't speak German very well, I put both my boys into the local village school and as it turned out, that was a great decision. They have flourished. We speak English at home and they converse with the outside world in German. My oldest boy is now fluent in English, German, French and Italian and the youngest is learning French and German.

I personally have nothing but praise for the school system here.
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HTH

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Hi Flashman4

Thanks for sharing your experience.

How did your kids get on when they started at the school? Were there any English speaking teachers (not that I expect this in a local school!) at all to help them along at the start?

Thanks again...

Just put him in the public school system, at that age within a couple of months he'll be speaking Swissgerman nearly like a native and if you stay more than a year that will give him the basis to continue his education in German. Did the same with my daughter and today at the age of 19 she's perfectly tri-lingual, English, French and German (her mother is French speaking).

Hi there,

I have two children, a boys aged 5 years and a girl aged 10 years. We arrived here in October and the children originally went to a International School for two months but for various reasons (cost, academics and travel time) we decided to put them in our local swiss school. My daughter did a four week intensive one on one German course provided by the school and then intergrated with the other children gradually over the next four weeks. She is very happy and still has extra German lessons when they have their English lessons. I guess that after three months she understands most of what is going on and she can get by with her spoken German. Her class does not speak any English but she has someone she can go to for help. My son is in Kindergarten and has a teacher who can speak English, he hasn't had any extra help and has struggled. I actually do think it would be better if his teacher didn't speak English to him! Do not be under any illusions that it will be easy as it will not but it will certainly be worthwhile. We all try and speak a little German around the dinner table and it is amazing how quickly they pick things up - they are like sponges! I hope this has helped. Good Luck.

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I absolutely agree. My daughter (now 4) has been going to a kinderkrippe twice a week for just over a year, and, to start off with, German was just something she happened to hear and then speak there, and she didn't think of it as a separate language. She's starting to think about it a lot more now, asking mummy and daddy what different words are in German (not that we can tell her half the time!) and playing around with the language.

I think kids adapt so quickly, and in the meantime they find ways to communicate with each other. If only it was as easy for us adults!

We're going back to Australia for a visit soon for the first time since she was 6 months old, and when I told her that everyone speaks English there and no German she thought that was hilarious.

Kate

Thanks for all your advice!

I now feel brave enough to enrol him in the local school system.

My son and I settled down to watch ben-10 once but I had accidentally downloaded it in Spanish - my son thought it was hilarious! I hope he doesn't spend the first couple of months laughing at everyone for speaking differently!!!

Thanks again everyone!

I think when you register or apply for residence permit for your son then you can ask them (counter where u submit information, forms)where should you kid go. They will provide you or guide you with relevant material. I think the system is centralized in basel and state (partially) pays for the kindergarten when a child is 4 or above (based on household income). They will tell you that this kindergarten which is near ur home has a free place and ur kid can go there. local kindergartens are german speaking. Where my son goes is german speaking but they hav spanish speaking children and some care givers speak english. But in 3-4 months my son understands every single word and communicates in german. (He has picked up few spanish words as well). Its a natural process and the purpose of the centralized system is to integrate the kids as much as possible so that when they start school at 6-7 they know the language.

Another piece of info.

Check this link as well. It is very useful. If you dont speak german then use google web page translation tool. I use it all the time. It will translate it for you.

http://www.ed-bs.ch/kontakte

My message is neutral. I just wanted to say that language is not the first relevent concept at this age. Priority is to find a place with a clear identity, so that the child knows right away what to deal with. It works with english kindergardens too :-)

This is fantastic as to be honest, I haven't a clue where to start... I'm sure it will all become clear when the paperwork starts coming through.

Are the kindergarten hours generally open office working hours i.e. till 5/6pm or would I have to find a childminder to collect him if working till 5pm each day? A couple that I've looked at want you to pick your child up by 4pm...

Actually I think I'll begin a new thread with the above question...

Well, the kindergarten hours are generally from 7:30 - 6:30 in most cases. I drop my kids at 8:30 and pick them up at 5:30. So it works well

You can call them to get more information

Daniele Agnolazza
Education Coordinator: educational planning, educational statistics, communication



Tel 061 267 88 75
E-mail daniele.agnolazza @ bs.ch

Ammann Sabine Fachstelle day, planning and supervision of subsidized day-care centers, day families, mothers and fathers advice
Tel 061 267 67 01
E-mail sabine.ammann @ bs.ch

Hi again NWClass. I can only echo what the others have said.

Just enrol your five year old in the Kindergarten. None of the teachers at my boys' school spoke any English and both boys attended german langauge classes. They are like sponges at that age and you'll be amazed at how much and how fast they will pick it up.

Good luck.