8882 education, children, moving to Italy

our son was eight when we moved here and picked up italian in about 6 months and was up to speed fully within a year...it was hard work for him and us... there are annoying things not only in language but even written numbers.... and how to write letters... so cannot say its an easy job...

school here is also different and takes getting used to... teachers ...as anywhere good and bad..

if i was to generalise i would just say that for us that life here compensates for anything you think might be lacking in the school sense with the much better social skills they learn and the freedom of their life here... even better they become fluent in two languages...a thing i envy... and also in two cultures...know what a baco sandwich is but can just as well handle food from the local sagre...

as my mind is not really one that is set on the benefits of formal education in any place ... i think that its an opportunity for children to widen there background and gain... am not sure my son would agree...his favorite holidy destination is still london, black taxis,hamleys and for some reason harrods... but at least he can go to london or rome and feel at home...

I also would like to hear views on this subject.

I intend integrating my 2 kids (babies at the moment) into the Italian schooling system. I agree with Adriatica that there are great benefits in assimilating into Italian language and culture. I am against international schooling at the moment. But would be interested to hear from others on Luandem's question: private versus state. Is it worth it? What are the benefits other than strict Catholic discipline (as I hear)?

Private schools in the UK are very expensive but they seem to give your kids an added advantage when they apply for university places and also regarding job prospects. Is it the same in Italy?

Hi Luandem,
A lot of difficult decisions to make. .......Let's see if we can help a bit.
First of all, to know more about Salesian schools and education have a look at

[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salesians_of_Don_Bosco]Salesians of Don Bosco - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/url]

The Salesian Order was founded by St John Bosco, originally from Castelnuovo d'Asti in Piemonte. This could explain why his school is so popular in the area; however, I must add that Salesian schools are highly regarded in many parts of the world.

I have been educated in private Catholic schools, as it is the case with my husband and our two daughters. I think that these schools gave us a solid education, a lot of self-discipline, good morals and love and compassion for fellow human beings. Nothing is perfect and I am not saying that they are the best. There are good and bad Catholic schools but if the school is highly recommended there must be a reason for it.

Giving our children the best possible education we can afford is the best asset we can offer them for the future.

I must add that none of our two daughters is very religious, in spite of their education, but they are both highly intelligent, well educated and successful in their totally different professions and they are the first to acknowledge that their schooling has a lot to do with it.

Nevertheless, have a look at all the different options in education that your area offers. Then you can make your own mind.

Good luck and best wishes.

Private Catholic elementary schools are usually better than state elem they take more of an interest in the children my daughter went to state school and it was a disaster basicaly from start to finish . I would go with the catholic schools , my niece also went to a state elemetary school and had the best ,it all boiled down to the teacher she had who was very good

Its a choice you have to make , but if at the start of the school year a class is full and hard to get into you can guarentee the teacher /teachers will be good .

Be prepared to help them in the afternoons with there homework .
You will have to pay for books and art eqiupment paint, paper ect.

Thanks very much for your comments, all information is helpful.

Does anyone have any experience / advice regarding a child starting school within the Italian system around the age of 10 / 11 ?? (our eldest is 9, 10 in October - our preference, if we move, would be for them both to commence school this September, or as soon as possible after this.....) Do children of this age generally still manage to pick up the language / integrate as well as younger children ?

thanks

As a retired teacher of Modern Languages (not Italian) I can assure you that your children are still at an age where language transition is not a major problem. Still, I would strongly advise you to give them some Italian language tuition before your move so that they will better adapt and integrate. They should learn at least some basic vocabulary and phrases which would make them more confident. Ideally, it would be great to find an Italian teacher to teach them basic school vocabulary.
Also, help them to make new friends. Try to invite regularly some children to your home so that you can check their interaction. This is very important and will tell you if there are any problems... normally there are none.
Try to make them start their school year together with all the other Italian children.

HELP!!!!!

We are currently living in the UK but have a home in San Vito and we want to move.

The problems are:
We have a 13 year old daughter. We feel that she should go to an italian school but she wants to continue her education following the UK system - understandable (she is thinking about uni in the UK. We know that someone out there must know how she can be taught via the internet thus following the uk curriculum and doing GSCE's/ Alevels.

We know that there is a system of internet connection WITHOUT a telephone line or a mobile phone. Does anyone know anything about this, how to set it up and the monthly cost. Please help

Thanks in advance

We can only help with our experience - our triplets came out here at 4. There were 2 big changes; city to countryside and england to italy. 4 years later we are really glad we have done it. The stuff that doesn't go into the spreadsheet management systems of UK education, which has already been mentioned, are that they are bilingual and the social side is so much more developed. Here in Le Marche the social values are like the UK 20-30 years ago. Doubtless it will change.
The wierd stuff for us was that noone else invited all the classmates to birthday parties, and few people would eat the cheese balls or brownies or other foreign food at the parties we had!
We reckon to go for it, the advantages are huge, the disadvantages are part of growing up!

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[B][SIZE=5] encouragement regarding education. [/SIZE][/B]
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Our situation is we have a 13 year old who will find it difficult to intergrate into the Italian Education system due to language. We are therefore wanting her to continue UK education via the internet whilst attending an Italian school. That way she won't fall behind.
The hopes are: she will have social occasions whilst at school and make the new friends she will need, learn italian and within 18 months be able to follow both education systems. Therefore, giving her the advantages of both systems/countries and finally qualifications. In the interim period she will study mainly "uk style" via the internet.

We have researched for a number of sites that offer this and the reality is that for £40-£45 a week a child can: (1) receive a UK education via the internet (2) Each child is assessed and moved on to higher levels ASAP and (3) That is just about what it costs to send a child to a state school if you live in UK (Lunches, Bus Fares, School Trips, School Uniform etc).

I will list the websites that offer this in another posting.

However, doesn't this raise another question? Seeing that each individual child is extented towards their max potential, given further coaching if they don't understand something, learning time is maximised as there are no distractions or disruptive influences, 12 hours teaching time per week, 7 hours homework, and 15 -20 per class and it costs the same as a uk state school. All that is missing is the social life. So why do we send our kids to a real school !!???:veryconfused: Sorry about that just having a sound off, but it does beg the question.

Feel free if you wish to comment on this subject (or any other for that matter) and I will be more than happy get into dialogue with you. Best wishes to all. Zoe

I'm really looking forward to seeing the sites on internet schooling as it is the one area where we are running out of ideas.
We have set the children additional homework in the long, long summer holidays.
Until now (8) we have imported Phonic books from the U.S. but now they need more, so we look forward to seeing where and what else there is.
For us the weakness is primarily the English language as we feel they are getting a good background in maths, geography, science, etc and English history is covered by the Dangerous Book for Boys and Horrible Histories!

The reason we send them to school is for their social side and a chance for us to do some work to pay the bills!

[quote=bucket woman;90310]HELP!!!!!

We are currently living in the UK but have a home in San Vito and we want to move.

The problems are:
We have a 13 year old daughter. We feel that she should go to an italian school but she wants to continue her education following the UK system - understandable (she is thinking about uni in the UK. We know that someone out there must know how she can be taught via the internet thus following the uk curriculum and doing GSCE's/ Alevels.

We know that there is a system of internet connection WITHOUT a telephone line or a mobile phone. Does anyone know anything about this, how to set it up and the monthly cost. Please help

Thanks in advance[/quote]
Hi

We are in San Vito permanently, so if you feel like a chat any time PM me. Can't help with the education I'm afraid, we early retired here, but I am sure "The Smiths in Puglia" would be able to give you more information on their experience of the schools here. Their daughters are a similar age to yours.

I like the idea of following the UK system via the internet, just wonder if asking her to do both education systems may be a bit too much. Just my thoughts though, you obviously know your daughters abilities, and want what is best for her.

Incidentally, if you want to get in touch with more people down here in Puglia, have a look at [url]www.pugliaposse.co.uk/forums/index[/url] (tried to add a link but couldn't get it to work)

Just wondering what the "success" rates for these internet learning centres are? With schools - both UK and abroad - you can visit and assess the teaching and how the pupils interact etc, and also here in the UK there are the dreaded league tables which do at least give you some idea of the standarads achieved by pupils. Are there similar independant assesments of on line learning institutions?

Jackie

Hi there
I live in San Michele Salentino, Puglia, and i relocated here with 2 children, at the time they were 5 and 7. I shall say there 1st day at school was mixed, and the reactions i recieved from them when they came out of school surprised me. The local italian school has done wonders for them, and i wouldn't like to pull them out of the system here. The language teachers support them well both in Itaian and English. They work at their level, so they do not miss out on either language. My chilren out of choice wouldn't go back to a uk school

I know of other children older than mine which currently are now 10 and 8. They seem to find it hard at first, which anyone who has relocated will sympathise with. But they soon fall into a pattern, and pick up the language quickly. But this is all dependent on the child and the support they recieve both at school and home.

I have just come across the postings for internet schooling, i find this a bit strange. I thought that one reason for children going to school was for them to interact with other children of the same age so they develop. Surely if they are on an internet site, learning they miss out on this.

And surely moving to another country, means to embrace all it's good and bad faults, not still to live as you would in the country of your birth. So why move. I understand education is a vauable tool for everyone, but to me children need other children to develop to become well rounded individuals.

Absolutely agree, if you put them in an Italian school they will have a new best friend within the week, and be fluent in Italian in 6 months.
My 3 children were 6, 9 and 10 when we arrived, all 3 settled and adapted no tears or tantrams, and never once suggested going back.
I would try to get some Italian lessons before you leave uk so they know the basics and then they can interact with other kids straight away.

This is just an example from several I could offer. A friend with 3 daughters, here in Umbria educated all 3 girls at schools in Perugia. They then went on to University in England. 2 to Sussex and 1 to Norwich. Two stayed in England to do Doctorates the third wanted to do her Doctorate here but her English degree was not accepted and she has had to do a "shortened" degree course again at Perugia Univ. So I conclude that it isn't difficult to study in an Italian school and obtain an English degree.

Speaking from experience my parents moved to Versailles in France just before my 13th birthday and I was put into the local French school with no knowledge of French whatsoever. I even wrote "wee" indicating yes on a form on the first day thinking I was being helpful!!!

The first week is still in my mind. Not only was the language totallly alien but so were the school hours, ie 9 to 12 lessons, lunch for 2 hours then lessons again until 5pm. Wednesday afternoons off (Great!!) but back to school on Saturday morning.

It was hard and I remember the worries I went through those first few months but I was given extra tuition in French language and within a few months I was fine.

I found leaving my friends in England the hardest thing but those were the days when you couldn't just pick up the phone and chat to your friends. It was a totally break from them except by letter.

I went on to go to university in the UK and my French has been more than useful throughout my working career so I am glad my parents moved to France.

I have a friend from Ireland who lives near me in Picinisco and four years ago, she and her husband came to Italy with their four children, aged from 8years to 16. All have learned Italian and chat to each other in Italian now, going from English to Italian and back again like naturals. They all say they are happy to have learned Italian. The two eldest tell me it was hard work to catch up on other subjects which they had to put on back burner whilst they learned the language, but they have caught up now.

If I had my time again, I would do it all again.
maralyn