Job Discussion Forums

[jpvanderwerf2001]

I was just wondering how expats in Mexico generally educate their children. I would expect that most EFL professionals don't have the coin to pay for international schools. Do you then place your children in public schools? Home-school them?
Insight appreciated.

[Guy Courchesne]

Mine is only 14 months old, so too soon for regular school. The plan however, is to stay at home until aged 4 split between Spanish-speaking nanny and me, then to kindergarten at mommy's international school, which provides a good discount.

We're considering IMSS pre-school (Mexican social system) for a year at age 3.

Right now, we're at gymboree 4 times a week for playgym and music.

[Enchilada Potosina]

I have my four year old in a private kindergarten, mainly for him to learn Spanish as we speak only English to him in the house. He also picks up a little French in this place too. It's quite expensive but it's the only one we found without slides and swings and stuff over concrete.

[notamiss]

When we arrived in Mexico, my 3 kids were Grade 5, 3 and K. We sent the older two to a private school that was one of those little neighbourhood private schools that you see practically on every 2nd corner. The cost (for full-time schooling) was the same as what we'd been paying back in Canada for their piano lessons, 45 minutes per week, so it didn't seem all that expensive. The little one was sent to public kindergarten. There were 45 kids in her class! The teacher was first-class; really excellent.

When she graduated to Grade 1, we sent her to the same private school as her older sibs.

As each one graduated Grade 6, we sent them to public secundaria. After that, they did prepa at the UNAM prepa, and went on to do university at the UNAM.

Currently, the oldest is doing a master�s in Canada and the other two are at the UNAM.

[mejms]

I had my son (step-son to clarify his until now lack of fluent English) in one of the more expensive colegios in the area, as I wanted to have support in teaching him English. I shelled out $15,000 pesos on materials, uniform, and enrollment and then $2,800 a month on tuition. Boy, was I disappointed. From what I experienced as a parent, the school hid behind its Trinity certifications for English and ENLACE (the standard Mexican exams for schools at all grade levels) for all the rest. But there was really little substance and the only English my kid has learned has been with me.

On top of that, it was a really snooty school. Parents regularly complained to each other about the attitudes of the teachers and administration (not greeting, speaking condescendingly), but no one wanted to rock the boat. I found that parents were especially uninvolved in the school. No PTO (Parent-Teacher Organization) or anything like that.

I got frustrated and disillusioned that such a school prides and markets itself (and has quite a reputation in the area) for its level of English, but as a native speaker, an English teacher, and a parent, I thought it fell far short while holding its head way too high.

We've changed my son to a much cheaper, small, non-bilingual school that's on every corner as the previous poster said. We've decided to cut our losses, save money and invest in more productive activities for him. I'm not going to buy into the hype for these colegios any more. Plus, he's just in kindergarten. I've found that the competition and prestige for colegios beginning with kindergarten is on par with the competition and prestige for universities in the states. I'm not counting on anyone else to teach him English but me now.

By the way, who has experience teaching little kids (5 years old)? I speak to him in English, then translate into Spanish, then back into English. But it can be a speaking marathon. Of course, if you begin when they're babies, it's a different story. He's got Spanish all day with his mom, my in-laws, school, and friends. For English he's just got me for a few hours when I get home at night and on weekends. Any advice to make more progress? I'm not going to spend on a language school or English classes for kids. I think they're all junk.

[notamiss]

[Enchilada Potosina]

[notamiss]

Another one: if possible, find opportunities to socialize with other English speakers if they are adults or young people who will be friendly with him and interact well with him, and/or children near his age that he can play with. Otherwise, it is common for children in your stepson�s position to form the idea that �Dad�s language� and his insistence on it is just a personal idiosyncrasy of his (in spite of the evidence of books and movies). One tends to disbelieve that it is a useful language of communication used by real live people who speak it naturally, not just because they are forced to.

[mejms]

Notamiss and Enchilada,

That's good advice, thanks. I guess I was looking for some other angle that hadn't occured to me, but what you both have said is what I've been doing. I definitely try to get him to the point of understanding certain English phrases without using any Spanish and he's doing very well in that respect. He even uses the expressions himself (put on your seat, look, throw this away, etc). But I do despair of him getting past just expressions and into actual conversation. He's pretty good about listening to me in English and when he hasn't heard the phrase before he says pretty patiently in his cute little voice, "Qu� es eso?" Sometimes he gets frustrated and just says, "D�me en Espa�ol."

With movies, however, it's another story. He throws a fit if I tell him to watch it in English. He just doesn't want to. And when I insist, I'm afraid that he's making those negative associations that you mention.

Boy, I wish I knew English speakers who had kids that spoke English. That would be great.

The other issue is that my wife's English very limited. I've meant to start teaching her, but it didn't work out too well. We were too informal and not disciplined about the actual classes. I'm doing much better at speaking to her in English. Now I simply don't have the time to give her a proper class or to my son, which I really wanted to do. And like Enchilada (sounds funny, huh), I don't like the idea of paying for something I can do pretty darn well. I actually paid for my wife to take classes at some local school owned by a Canadian woman. It was lousy. Completely disorganized, doing Avril Lavigne songs with adults, and jumping from grammatical concept to the next without any sequence. It was a beginner level and they were learning some of the past participles. That's just stupid, if you ask me.

[notamiss]

In the end, it�s more important to be a good father than to have him speaking excellent English.

As for finding English-speaking kids, perhaps 1)expat clubs; 2) expat forums (such as http://www.expatforum.com/expats/mexico-expat-forum-expats-living-mexico/).

[ontoit]

My kids have always attended public schools (here in the non-English speaking culture).

English is the house language, and my wife (non-native speaker) has always been a sport about using English with the kids, something I consider essential because it's the mother who spends the most time with the kids, no?

We also sent/ send the kids to my parents' home for 3 months every 18 months and enroll them in the local schools. When they hit high school age, they go for a year.

I'm happy to report that they are all solidly bi-lingual/ bi-cultural, and that they are/ have always been at the top of their respective classes both here and back home.

Success!

[mejms]

[gregd75]

I have some friends who have a couple of very young children.

The mother speaks to them in Spanish as she's Mexican and the dad speaks to them in English (cos he's Scottish)

Maybe this could work??

[Guy Courchesne]

Sounds like the perfect arrangement Greg (though I hesitate to call that Scottish accent English ).

We speak mostly English at home, but it's all Spanish with the nanny. Our friends also have children and with them it's a mix of Spanish and English.

Living in Mexico, one can almost take for granted that Spanish will be learned regardless of schooling. It's the English that's important to keep up.

[ontoit]

We've always double-teamed the kids in English, and they are fluent in both. I believe that you need to work on the minority language. The majority language would take care of itself with the kids in school and playing with their friends.

I've seen others who do the One Parent/ One Language deal, but because the English speaker is usually at work most of the time, the child loses out big when he/she is young (before heading off to school). The double whammy comes if the majority language speaker cannot speak English.

What say we hear from people who have used the OP/OL technique successfully?