Bilingual education.

[Phteven]

We are thinking of sending DS to a bilingual school if we get the opportunity to live overseas next year but were planning on speaking English at home as the native language where we hope to be will be different and the school teaches in both. So I will be interested in other people's answers.

I think you should definitely enroll him if you have the opportunity. I think our boys gain so many benefits from going to a bi-lingual school. Not just the obvious and cognitive ones but also in terms of tolerance and awareness of different cultural norms. If I could make one change to our education system it would be to make bilingual education more available.
My main problem is that I'm having trouble with the homework. If they get sent home words to fill in I sometimes have a hard time figuring out what they are meant to be especially the grammar ones that DS1 is getting now.
I started doing lessons but I had to drop out because DH is away so often and I don't have reliable baby sitter. Even with the lessons I was learning totally different stuff. They do an immersion program so while I'm learning how to order a coffee in a course aimed at tourists they're learning how to ask to go to the toilet and do sums.
Also with the home readers I have issues with pronunciation but that is getting better because I'm getting more used to it and DS1 is learning the rules himself so he can figure out all but the long words by himself now and he helps his little brother.
Lots of the other parents are fluent and some of them are native speakers and so I guess they find the homework easier than I do.


ETA - Pak, my boys are already at a bi-lingual school. Most of the students are from English speaking families and at present there isn't an English stream (although there is pressure from some parents in the enrollment area to offer one). There is no expectation that they will know the second language or speak it at home.

[Miss.September]

ETA - Pak, my boys are already at a bi-lingual school. Most of the students are from English speaking families and at present there isn't an English stream (although there is pressure from some parents in the enrollment area to offer one). There is no expectation that they will know the second language or speak it at home.

Ahh okay. I was off on my own tangent then

I know you can get CDs that teach you a language - is there such a thing as a CD that teaches it in relation to grammar? Could be a way you could teach yourself the skills now that you can't go to classes yourself.