Swiss Will

Will started Swiss school.  He has been attending for two weeks and loves it! 

I agonized over sending him to an all speaking German school, I think largely because it was new and different and I wasn't sure what to expect.  But I also agonized over the fact that he wasn't in school since there was no room at the International School and wouldn't be until after the first of the year.  Plus, he wanted to make new friends and he was eager to go the local school.  We had heard very good reports on the local school and that people often move to our area simply because the school is so good.  So Rich and I went and visited the school.  The principal was a young, kind man who we thought presented us with a realistic picture of what to expect, what their school was like and the challenges for an only English speaking kid.  He assigned Will to a teacher who so far strikes me as one of the warmest, kindest, approachable, helpful and lovely people I have ever met.  She is one of those people who you believe is born to teach.  She speaks perfect English and has gone out of her way to help me.  She has a guitar in her room and sings with the kids in addition to spending one afternoon a week doing what they call "forest teaching" where they go out into the forest here (just a 5 minute walk from the school) and do their studies there, often involving nature and science.  It is really pretty neat and he is enjoying himself. 

Since Jack and Will are in different schools, I worried about them having different vacation schedules, but they actually match up really well.  Will has more vacation days during the year and gets out of school after Jack, but Will's vacation overlaps all of Jack's which means I have already started planning trips during those times!  :)

As part of school, Will has swimming once a week and he was shocked that all the kids simply get naked and change into their swimsuits. I hadn't thought about it before, but there are not many opportunities where Will has been naked in front of other kids!  Here, nudity is not much of an issue and there are pictures of naked people to be found in random places and there are opportuntities to be naked in front of other people at the sauna or even changing clothes on the beach (that's a story for another blog).

He walks to and from school every day.  That is a big thing here in Switzerland - every Swiss child is expected to walk to school on their own, even the kindergarteners.  I walked him the first couple of days and then I let him do it on his own.  It was really hard to do, but all the kids do it and he has been fine with it.  I don't worry about his safetly as that apparently is not an issue here.

Will was assigned a private German teacher at the school and he meets 4 times a week with her.  The rest he is learning through immersion which for whatever reason is not frustrating him.  He had three other kids in his class that speak English as their mother tongue and they help explain things to him and have become his good friends already. He joined the swim team and will soon sign up for soccer. 

And the really nice thing is that I wanted my kids to learn another language while here.  For Jack, he is learning German, but he rarely gets the chance to practice it as he is surrounded by English speaking people.  By the end of the school year, Will should be pretty fluent in German and in Swiss German.  Plus, he will make friends with local kids and have friends within walkign distance.  Jack's friends are spread out all over the area and are a car ride away. There are certainly advantages to Jack's school, but Will's has advantages as well and I think the school fits his personality. 

So far so good!