Moving abroad-tips

[McGill]

Hi there don't know if this is the best section to put this in! We are moving to France with my husband's work at Xmas time-we have 3 kids-9,7 and 6. They will be going to a French primary school that has a strong English speaking section, so although they will be taught in French, there are many kids in the school whose first language is English, and most teachers are bilingual-figured that would be a slightly softer landing for them as it'll be a tough first few months -new school, new country, new language! My 7 yr old daughter is mildly anxious by nature and is worrying a lot about the new school-she makes friends v easily so in the long run I'm sure it'll be fine, but she can internalise a lot of her worries then it comes out in convincing herself she feels sick/unwell, then can get really upset and physically v worked up. I'm trying to think of ways to prepare her, and normalise these anxious feelings as it's inevitable all 3 will find the process at the start quite stressful. Any tips?

Does she respond well to feeling prepared?

Could you sit down at a pad/phone/computer and get started on something like DuoLingo together, so she feels like she's going to be at least ready with the basics? Can you get any of the text books they'll be using so she can get a bit familiar with them?

I take it you've been out to visit? One of the things that helped my Dses (although moving to an international school, so language not a problem) was that we'd visited the school before we moved, so we could talk about it and get him used to the idea.

The things DS found the hardest were actually small things - like that they do PE in their normal clothes, they don't change, and that they have very short lunchtimes to eat here - somehow getting her used to the idea that there will definitely be some differences will help.

Sounds to me like the school will be your best ally here as they already have lots of experience. Have you asked them what they suggest? Also, at your kids' ages, they'll all be speaking fluently within months, you'll be amazed.