Beep

With respect you are speaking as if getting through secondary school will be a doddle and university will be the difficult part.......there is no way that the poor girl would be able to just be thrown in at the deep end and hope to pick up the language enough to cope with school.......all that will happen is that there will be the fear, or worse the reality, of being 'bocciata' (sp) and having to repeat one or more years.
An International school would be the best way and then, as others have already said, she can learn the language without the pressure of having to struggle through school.

MarkRD

Blimey..what a prospect for the poor lass!

Yes she will need more than basic Italian if you are sending her to a State school, and she will probably have to start from first year even though she will be 2 or 3 years older than the others. I know a Chinese girl in a similar sitaution - she is very intelligent and has picked the language up very well but is struggling with the social aspect (admiitedly Chinese communities tend to be less "open").

She will also find a huge difference in the school system and methods - a lot of it is based on "interrogazioni" oral tests which are graded and count towards the final overall year marking. Plus you will have to decide what kind of school she goes to .. liceo or istituto professionale or whatever . .may be choose something which is strongly foreign langauge orientated . .then she'll get through well in English at least.

Good luck.

duffer

Wow, not a single word of encouragement! The Italian state system can't be that bad surely? Are all the foreign children 2-3 years behind native speakers just because they cannot speak Italian immediately?

dmu

I think that all those who have answered have had adolescents to cope with and are putting themselves in the daughter's shoes, and most of them know the Italian education system and the problems that foreign children encounter, and wouldn't want the OP to wear blinkers or rose-tinted spectacles.
If there's no International School near the OP's future domicile, then IMHO the daughter would be happier finishing her schooling in NZ, surrounded by her grandmother and friends. There's nothing to stop her learning Italian as from now, for the future.
I'm a bit confused about the family's nationalities (who's British, Asiatic, Italian, even Kiwi?) and the OP might like to be a bit clearer in this respect. We are trying to help him (from other posts, I gather that it's the father posting), by giving honest, well-founded opinions.

MarkRD

Quite possibly.
True, children (and adolescents) adopt more quickly but I think there will also be a massive culture (ie. school system) shock.

Patty

Have to agree wholeheartedly with dmu - well said.
I bought my son over here when he was 12 and he was let down by the school - he had no extra support and it was pretty awful and I will always feel guilty about this. In hindsight I wish I'd never put him through it. I think I was irresponsible (or naive) to plonk him in an italian school and think he'd just learn. The italian schools are not prepared or funded enough to help these children. Sorry to be harsh but thats the way it is. Certainly if I'd had the benefit of this forum (specially the education thread) 10 yrs ago then it would have helped - so please listen to everyones advice

Sancho

Agreed with all the above. Italian university isn't any great shakes either, on the whole.

The exception comes with early school - asilo, scuola materna, scuola elementare.

One of the main reasons, I think, is that at these very early levels teachers tend to have become teachers because they love children (so maybe Plato was right to put love at the centre of teaching), but that's a different subject.

ononno

... and well said Patty. It's the same for a lot of folks- 'if only I had known!'
ciao for now,
'o nonno

Juvefan

Are you saying your son never learned the language? and he just sat there not knowing anything and finally you pulled him out and to this day he can't speak Italian? could you tell me what happened to your son 10 years ago please?

ok I have read the replies I will answer some of the questions.

first of all. English is not my daughters first language. Korean is.,
I was placed in Korea on business for 10 years and decided why not put her in local school so she could fit in, learn a new language and feel Korean.
so we chose to speak to her in English at home and let go to school in korea with Korean kids. so she is fluent and native in Korean first.
now I felt like she needed a sense of western upbringing, feeling like a western kid, getting an experience etc. so I took her to NZ to live with my mum and go to high school there. SHE LOVES IT! of course from day one she hit the ground running, she could already speak English she has been there 2 months and she really loves it.

IN New Zealand I have my mum and my grand parents.
in Italy I have my dad, and all his family. my uncles, aunties, cousins etc..
I was born in Italy but left when I was a kid.

I am now being relocated to Italy for work and I have a 2year old son who I am not worrying about for his language as I will put him straight into Italian school , but my daughter is the problem. First of all, I asked her if she wanted to come. of course she said HELL YES!
I said calm down a second and think about this. my first idea was for her to stay in NZ and on vacations come to Italy and stay with us. she was ok with that.
but my father and mother both said, no you should just take her to Italy with you and put her straight into school there, will be rocky for the first year but she will learn compared to international school where she will not really learn Italian at all.
My father said, many Chinese, blacks, morrocans, albanians do this with their kids, and they learn Italian quick.. also in NZ we have kids in our schools who come from the islands or abroad who can't speak English, even exchange students or international boarders who come. they don't speak a lick of English at first but after a couple years they do..
In Korea its very common for Korean kids to go abroad to study English at western schools, they don't know the language at first but they pick it up.
they study hard, they show an interest and they learn, doesn't take to long to start speaking, especially as a child. 6 months, 12 months you are talking, 24 months you are pretty much an advanced speaker. so maybe she might not graduate Italian high school because of her grades, well I will also be home schooling her so she can sit her high school certificate that way too.
then university is a different matter.

I told my mum that my daughter changing schools so much she will be left behind academically and wont learn as much .. then my mum said, but she will be fluent in 3 languages! and she will still learn math! and that is a skill not many people have!
also when she goes to UNI she could easily study in NZ,or Korea or she might be able to get a degree from Italy because her Italian will be good enough by then, compared to if I wait 5 years and then bring her to Italy.
that's what I mean by the broad picture.
also by putting her in Italian school it's bring her closer to being a native kid, at least later on in life she can say, she went to high school for 4 years in Italy she was in the trenches she will learn all the street slang, have an Italian boy friend, have some Italian girl friends really get a sense of teenage life as an Italian would, of course not fully as she will be a foreigner but she will be in the game!

socially, it might be a problem, but hey, some kids might love her, they may think she is cool wow a girl who speaks Korean, English, has traveled, is funny, is down to earth, loves music, and drama, is pretty, and fun!
why would all kids isolate her? language? yes.. so that's why she will be learning very hard, 24/7 to get her up to conversational ability asap.
and then when she enters UNI she has a 4 year history of high school behind her, things to talk about with new friends, she has 4 years of being 100% engrossed int he society she as a story to tell!

BUT, I am actually thinking leaving her in NZ. for one more year,
let me get settled in, as I haven't lived in Italy since I was a kid and then bring her for a vacation, and then let her decide. but you know children, they don't really understand the reality they just think, YEAH COOL! so... will see..

too bad there were no positive replies...
for now, I think stay in NZ and bring her to Italy for 2 months over the holidays and take her to the schools and show her around. let her decide!

ononno

.....a great deal may well depend on where in Italy you are being relocated to, and where your Italian family live. In a Northern metropolis things will be easier than say in a Southern mountain top village.

Juvefan

we will be in Torino. where my father and I were born and all my fathers family are. then we might move to Alassio.

I think Torino is probably one of the more open cities culturally, so that might help a little bit.

Sancho

Yes, that sounds very wise.

I haven't been inside one, but I have a feeling your daughter may find plenty of Italian kids in international schools in Italy, especially French lycées - e.g. the Lycée Chateaubriand in Rome - http://www.lycee-chateaubriand.eu

Others listed here - http://www.ambafrance-it.org/spip.ph...e_delle_scuole with something about the French system generally.

Sancho

Here's the French Lycée in Turin - http://www.lyceegionoturin.it

If you click on the Union Jack thing at the top the site's all in English.

MissSP

I'm sorry you feel we are being negative, but you came on here to ask people's advice, and for better or worse that's what you've got! I think the age of your daughter makes a huge difference and reading everyone's responses should give you a feel for that. Bringing a 2 year old is very different to a teenager. Your daughter sounds very mature for her age and she may well be up for coming to Italy, but without realising how difficult it will be. You've said yourself, it's a long time since you've lived in Italy. In my view, things have changed here in recent years and the economic/financial crisis does make a difference to people's attitudes to foreigners. In the north I have found a very different attitude to the south. People are closed and not the least bit curious about me, my background or culture! Not through choice, all but one of my friends is ex-pat.

I think your idea of moving here first and checking it out is a sensible one. That gives you a chance to get settled and make an informed decision. Good luck with the move!

dmu

Wow!
Now that you've given her life history, your daughter sounds more adaptable than your average adolescent.
All the best to you all!