hi all

[happychappy]

Hi I'm part of an Enlish family living in Italy. At home we all speak English but outside Italian. I have 2 children 5 and 9. So far we haven't experienced any problems but now the th school are pushing for me to stop speaking, reading, writing with\to the children in English. They think its confusing them. Anyone have any opinion on this?

Tell them not to be so stupid. Tell them their line of thinking was discredited in the 1960s. Tell them bilingual children have more mental flexibility and are more likely to do well at school than monolingual children. Tell them you're not going to suppress your culture (as language is culture).

Have you only just arrived or have you been there a while? Did your children speak Italian from birth or is it a recent acquisition? If it is recent the school should be suggesting extra lessons and not the suppression of English. Also are either of you mother tongue Italian? If not, don't speak it to your kids.

I'm in Italy too and have had nothing but praise for the fact my daughter is being brought up bilingual.

I'll try and find you a link in Italian later on for you to print out and take to your school.

Hi no we arrived about 3 years ago my daughter was about 6/7 and my son 2/3. I had lots of praise before we started school but whenever the children start having problems or difficulties, as chidren do from time to time, they automatically blame the language. My worries are more with my son because in my family we have a history of dyslexia or really the predisposition to developing dyslexia. My son has many other signs but as this is his first year I trying to not to see more than thats there, if you get what I mean! The school are saying his struggles are not because he's the youngest in the class(6 in 2 weeks) or maybe he's just not academic but its language and their solution to stop speaking our mother tongue to him. I don't see hows that possible, I'd stupid struggled to explain somethings complicated in Italian to him when it wouldfar easier to just say it. Like walking up a hill backwards when there no reason for it.

Where about are you? Have you been a memeber long? I ask because I used to be a member some time aog but I gave up fighting with internet connections. I'm re enter the combat zone again.

The school is certainly very oldfashioned in their attitude; tell them that all modern research shows that there is nothing to support their views. There is nothing worrying in my view about a 5-yo being slow to read and write (I suspect this is what they're on about!). Lots of children (boys in particular) are not ready to learn to read until they are 7, and this bears no relationship to their later academic achievement; it's purely a question of development.

Try printing the PDF of this out and giving it to the school It's from Rai, so they should recognise it as some kind of authority.

Ir you're son is dyslexic he shouldn't have problems with the language as such but just reading and writing it. One of my cousin's DD is dyslexic and is perfectly bilingual, just like her siblings (albeit from birth). There were no "extra" problems in learning to speak eoither language.

What problems do your DCs have? Do they not understand things or only have problems getting their point across? Or is it the reading and writing? In the case of your DS he's only 6 and plenty of monolignual children are having probs finding their feet at that age. It'll probably settle down in a year of so, they're both still quite young.

Where are you? I'm in Monza. Are you out in the sticks down south by any chance? I just wondered, because of the school's views. And your internet connection.

No I'm in le Marche in Fano a little costal town. No I work in 4 different schools and generally the schools are not up to date with the current research or methodology to help senco children. I have explained I don't really think its a language difficulty but to placad them I asked a teacher friend to do some one to one every week with my son. My daughter has no real problem just the odd grammar structure problem thing (they want her to stop reading in Engish, I told them she's fine with both and don't worry about it, she gets very good marks in everything so I don't wory). Really my son does a lot of mirror writing, is a bit clumsy generally, has problems with memory generally, is not connecting sounds with letters, short attention span he has amazing visualization/drawing/making things skills (loves woodwork). However because his mother tongue is english he automatically qualifies for a teaching assistant so I half tempted to say yes he language is a terrible problem just so he gets the one to one he needs right now in school. Italian schools teacher/child ratio are opten just one teacher to a class of 25, mostly 2 though. The children are also expected from year 1 to sit and work at their desks for the whole 5 hours of school (8-1) even if you don't have any academic problems its a really hard thing to do. From my experience this is the norm all over Italy.

Ha! I know Fano, once had a mad boyfriend from there. Very pretty, but sooo glad I decided not to move there.

If I were you, I'd just nod politely, get the help you think your son needs, then do what you like at home. It's none of their business what you do in your own home and their job is to help your son and not make silly judgements based on discredited information.

Can you not source SENCO info in Italian on the web? There must be something. Try this for a start, they should at the very least be able to give you some pointers as to what help is needed and how to get it.

Thanks for your help. Where are you?

Monza, was in Milan

Are you Italian or English

Half and half, but grew up in mainly English speaking countries. How about you?

I'm english but my family are irish. What brought you to Italy?