Help! Mum & 18 month old moved to Berlin and don't know anyone!

[Lora1178]

Hi,

My husbands just got a new job in Berlin, we've been living here for a couple of months and are struggling to settle and find good English speaking play groups, mother & baby groups and toddler activities. I'm currently leaning German but only managing one evening lesson a week, so progress is slow, hense the need for English speaking!

Any suggestions would be very greatfully recieved.

Laura & EB

Hi Laura.

I live in Germany, although not near Berlin I'm afraid.

I'm sure that you would meet German mums with good English if you went to 'normal' groups as well, though I understand you will start to feel more setled if you make some English friends asap. One thing I would say is that Germans tend to be a bit slower to make friends with, so persevere and keep going back to the same groups.

Try googling "Krabbelgruppe" or "Familienzentrum" plus the part of Berlin you are in. You could also check out your local Volkshochschule as they sometimes have music classes, etc for parents and chikdren.

You could also come and post on our Life in Germany and Austria thread. We're a very friendly bunch and there may well be someone on there who has lived in Berlin in the past and knows more than me .

where do you live Lora, which Bezirk?

St George's Anglican church in Westend (west Charlottenburg) will have a groupj, the various American churches do, as do regular German churches (Mutter-Kind-Gruppe, Krabbelgruppe). There are a lot of things like that in English, in German. Then there are state run centres such as Familienbildungsstätten or Haus der Familie. Depends whether they are convenient to you really. No end of possiblilites in Berlin I'd say. Maybe go on toytown.de, I think they mention them on there too. There are also commerical companies which cater specifically for English speaking children of this age group and older, such as The Centre (Center?) in Prenzlauer Berg or Mitte I think it is.

Check out www.toytowngermany.com it's for English speakers in DE - there's bound to be some meet ups in Berlin for English chat!

I'm in NRW so too far from Berlin, but use toytown quite a bit!

Wilkommen in Deutschland!