We are planning a 1 year move to Zurich with our family, we both have visiting positions, we will probably move in January 2021. We are seeking advice on the situation for foreign children who are just starting to learn German, and how they are accommodated (if at all) within the public school system. Of course there are all the private schools but with three kids that would be very expensive, so we want to see if the public system could work for us. The kids are beginning to learn German but realistically their knowledge will be very rudimentary. In the US with kids from China and other countries, they are put in the regular classroom but also receive "English as a Second Language" lessons as part of their school day. Is it similar for foreign children in Swiss schools, or is there another way of dealing with them. I can only imagine there are many foreign children in Zurich, I am hoping not all of them go to the private schools. Any advice is welcome. Also, will there be major issues moving mid -year, and any advice on that? Finally, in the US it is very uncertain if school will be back in person, in Switzerland am I correct that it is fully in person/in school learning again in the classroom? Thanks for any ideas and feedback.
Yes they’ll provide language learning similar to what you describe. I guess your main issue if you are only here for a year, is that the children will spend the year learning the language mainly and get behind in the other subjects... also the curriculum will be different to the US system, so when you return they will be behind.... where as if you put them in a US international school, they will keep up ... but not learn the language.
I agree that it might be a good idea to consider a US international school if you'll only be living here temporarily.
But either way, I do suggest having all three of your kids begin learning normal German now or ASAP. That way, they'll at least have some basics down when they arrive in Switzerland (which will also help them play more easily with other kids in the neighborhood, etc. and won't feel so lost in school when they begin). Thankfully, kids can usually pick up new languages rather quickly. And there are probably some free online German courses geared toward kids. There is a boy in our neighborhood who moved here with his family from Brazil a couple years ago and didn't know any German when he arrived, which made it very difficult for him to play with the other kids outside. But within a few months, he had picked up on the language(s) enough to where he was playing with the other kids rather easily.
I am originally from the US and have a son who is 8 1/2 years old (but he was born here). Feel free to send me a private message if I can potentially be of help with anything.
I am all for local schools. But not if it's only for a year or if the children are older. At least not without having tought about it properly.
Two things that I would look into.
First: tell the teachers in the US your children are taking a gap year in Europe. They will go back to the class following the one they left. Meaning if they were in grade 5, they should go to year 6 once you return. Not the same class they were in before.
Look into bilingual schooling at least for the oldest one, better the older two. If they only stay for one year you will make them leave again just about when they feel comfortable, made friends and understand the language enough to do well at school. Not really nice.
In a bilingual school they will have a chance to make friends - using English - from day one.
Don't get me wrong. It's a great opportunity for them but make sure they understand the challenges. It will be very hard at the beginning for them. Not a problem if you stay longer, but given that you will only stay for a year, this is not a good plan.
Also I am not sure if the school is willing to pay for the extra German lessons given that you will leave again after a year. I know I wouldn't.
I'm afraid that just for a single year it is highly likely that your kids will struggle. Local schools do offer support, but this support is based on the fact that the kids will be there for a longer period of time.
I would do whatever I could do to get them into an International school. Can yours and/or your husband's company not support the costs? I would have thought that this would be quite common for such a short secondment.
My son was 11 when we moved here from Canada. Went straight into local schooling, with additional German lessons provided on Weds and Fridays from school. He spoke German with his dad since young, and still he struggled at school. Took him a few months to get settled, and 5 years later, he is now thriving. But do expect that your older kids will struggle; academically, socially, and emotionally. My son played competitive tennis in Canada (trained daily!) and was very active. He's now turned reclusive, not even touching his bike, nor held his tennis rackets once! Big price to pay. In the long run, it might be worth it, but in the short run?
My impression is that they are both academics, location “Brookline“ makes very likely. Neither ETH nor UniZ will be supporting the costs of private schooling, for permanent employees or visiting academics.
Yes we are academics, we wouldn't get anyone to pay for private schooling. Also, because of COVID now US schools have many materials on line, so we could try to help them keep up with what they are supposed to be learning in the US. In fact, if we wanted to they could just learn on line while they were in Zurich, but that would seem a real pity and loss of an opportunity. We are happy for them to learn German and focus only on that if it is a possibility. They are each very social and were able to thrive in Italian summer camps, over two months for three summers, with no prior Italian (but picking it up quickly). Here are a couple things I've understood from the several generous comments---thanks to everyone. If we can pay for private school for one kid, it should be the oldest (the 11 year old), because the system will be hardest on him. Is there some agreement about that? A question: I had heard there were some more "international" parts of town where the schools were more accustomed to foreign kids and more set up for them. Is that right? What areas?
Thanks so much, I had not found these links
This is encouraging! Thanks for posting, Tom. I have a feeling a lot depends on the school, the personality of the kids, the attitudes and tolerance of the teachers. But I'm glad to hear things worked out well for you!
In Zurich, attending school is compulsory, and this is very strictly monitored. Exceptions are made for homeschooling, under certain rules, one of which is that the children must attain the goals set in the Zurich school curriculum. Therefore, it would not be permissible to let the children's schooling be comprised only of learning online, while they are in Zurich.
I beleive, that if you move to the city of Zürich, your kids will spend about half the day in an integrations/deutsch course and then the rest of the day in their normal school classroom.
I know a handful of families who've sent their kids to Swiss public school upon moving to the city. In some cases, it's worked out really well. In other cases it hasn't. I think it'll depend on a lot of complicated factors like the individual teacher, the classmates, your kids etc...
My advice would be to give it a try - all the infrastructure is there so that it can be a success and then look for other solutions if it isn't working out.
Keep in the back of your mind, that the quality of life in Zürich is amazing and your one year Swiss experirement mind end up lasting a lot longer than you plan.
This link has a bunch of information from Zürich city. I am not sure if it is available in English, so perhaps you'll have to read it with google translate or copy it into deepl.
We moved to Zurich City 3 years ago. My children went to what we called an Aufnahme (Admission) school for about a year (9 month shortest stay). That was the same for a few other people I knew in the City zone at about the same time. There they did most subjects with a core focus of learning German. Class size was 8-12 pupils. Other subjects (maths/reading/...) were quite basic for them as UK schools are about 2 years ahead.
They had a great time and have done well. They met a few kids in the local area but the school may not be very close to home (1-2Km) so it can vary. One of the children in the class was on a posting for a year.
All this was sorted out (a little slowly) but Zurich school department.
A family I know in Meilen (not City, down gold coast) had their children at the local school from the start with extra German lesson during the week.