Schooling in Brussels - Part two - settling in

How do children manage going into a complete language immersion setting? I must admit, I hadn't given it all that much thought apart from thinking of it as such a fantastic opportunity.  I had also been through the same thing when I was very young (of which I do not recall anything traumatic) and again when I was much older at the end of high school (when I had quite a bit of the basic language already). 

But my older two are 9 and 7. A bit older than I would have liked for an easy transition. The little two are 3 and 4 and I had few concerns about them as they pick up language so much easier at that age. I was mostly concerned about how hard it would be to leave good friends behind in Australia and for them to make new friends, as well as the fact that by this age, the work becomes quite academic.  

I was happy that the school did not hold them back a year, as I had been told may happen when children start with zero french. The way the birthdays fall could not have been better organised and they were put in the year levels that I would have wanted for them.  My second child, an overachiever who worries a lot, had been very anxious prior to arriving about how well she would do on tests if she didn't understand anything, and would she have to do "show and tells"?  I ameliorated some of her concerns by explaining that both her and her sister would absolutely win the top prize in English class, and in fact may be better even than the english teachers.  I was somewhat dismayed to arrive and find out that they DID NOT DO english as the second language. Nope, in fact my poor wee cherubs were going to be learning Flemish (translated from french). In her first couple of weeks, C showed some confusion when I asked her about her flemish classes. She hadn't realised that she was in fact supposed to be learning a third language, and had thought that the flemish was in fact french. Buuuuttt, it seems to be going ok - she got 22/25 in her first flemish test! I think this involved translating the flemish words into french (written), the mind boggles really how they cope! We are very fortunate as well as both of them are getting private or small group (2-3) french lessons several times a week provided by the school.   I was somewhat surprised that they appear to be the ONLY anglophones in the whole school including the kindi.  This is a massive school with 4 classes each year level. In the eastern suburbs of Brussels,popular with the expat/EU crowd, there would be several anglophones in every class. I think it will be an advantage in the long term as their french will improve at a faster rate.  All of their teachers speak a smattering of english, about the same level as my french back then probably.

The settling in was actually less traumatic than I had expected.  Both older girls had a lot of instant new friends, all of whom wanted to try out the 5 english words that they knew. On the whole, they finish the school days happy and cheerful, although by the time they get home, the strain of the day is showing up in their behaviour. O, my overachiever, decided that she would not speak any french at all for the first 4-5 weeks. She's a stubborn wee thing. Now she has realised that she can get rid of some kids that follow them around begging for english lessons, that if she only speaks french to them, they will leave her alone!! Hahaha she is not stupid, that one. 

The little two spent much of the first 6 weeks with tears and dramatic wailing which would start as soon as we got off the tram/bus. S (4yrs old) is a drama queen and her teacher tells me that she switches off the tears as soon as I leave, she has a zillion little friends, and is completely integrated into the class. They had a dress up day for Carnaval celebration week, so of course she went as a princess (despite declaring at home she would not dress up and hated kindi). We arrive and she is immediately swamped by 10 other princesses all hugging and kissing her, and she is in her element, barely noticing me leave. She seems to be picking up french I think, although the first month or so, she was convinced that they were all speaking Spanish at school. 

The little dude, D, had the toughest time adjusting. Admittedly he is the youngest and the smallest in his class because of when his birthday is which is not at all ideal. Also, he is only just toilet trained and only for wees, and they do not do nappies, or manage well with this kind of thing :(.  For many weeks, he refused to participate in anything at all, even eating at times.  The other week, he proudly pointed out the artwork that all his class had done, and when I asked where his one was, he told me he had refused to do it. Sigh... he's also a wee stubborn one. Peer pressure, schmeer pressure. Pfft, he laughs in the face of peer pressure. At one point we had a very telling conversation. He was telling me how he hated kindi:

Me: Why do you hate kindi?

Him: Because of my friends

Me feeling a bit anxious that maybe he is being picked on: Oh, what are your friends doing?

Him: They are trying to talk to me.

Me (trying not to giggle and feeling relieved): oh no, and you can't understand them, is that right?

Him (sadly): yes

Happily, the last couple of weeks have been much improved and he is actually playing with the other kids now.  There are no more tears at drop off these days, and I am feeling rather smug as there are still lots of other (French) kids who are crying when dropped off. It is very helpful that there are two of them together, like Batgirl and Robin ready to take on this brave new world, and they can sit on the side of the dropoff area which overlooks the primary school courtyard and wave to their big sisters down below. 

The next BIG EVENT is that C is going on a school trip for a week. EEEK!  She's never even stayed anywhere overnight by herself before and now she's going to the seaside with her year for a week! Us, as the parents of course are the most stressed by this. But a few things I have taken into consideration:
1) this is entirely normal for belgian/french children from quite young really. In our school the 3rd maternelle class (5 year olds) go on a trip for 3 days. By themselves. No parents. It's a brand new concept for us from Aus/NZ.  I had already heard of this so I was semi prepared mentally.
2) We must make sure we don't wrap her in cotton wool
3) If she doesn't go, she will be the ONLY child in year 4 to stay behind and will miss out on a huge bonding experience with friends.  It would be hard to recover from this I suspect.
4) It will be ah-mazing for her language. 24/7 French for 5 days will do more for her language learning than the last 2 months.
5) If she is left behind she would have to sit in on a year 3 class and do nothing for a week.
So, really, there is nothing to debate. She will go. She is nervous. I am quietly nervous. But I want her to have this experience and she will have fun with her new friends.  Will keep you updated - she leave sin 2 weeks- eeeeekkkkk.

So overall, the school french immersion experiment all seems to be going well. We have moved now so the school run is only 3 stops on the tram, or 2 stops on the bus. We still have arguments about who gets to push the button, sit by the button, sit by the window, look out the window, hold the bar etc but the bus is less crowded in this direction and occasionally we do get a choice of seats. I now only carry 3 bags but put one inside the other, so it is really only one backpack and my handbag. It feels manageable.

Now if only we can get the kids into the school that is directly across the road from our apartment! Now that would luxurious.... We will find out sometime between end of June (when the summer break starts) and the first day of the new year in September. If they don't get in, it is not the end of the world, as this 7 minute school commute is bearable :)