immortalbeast

Hi,

Ive got 2 young children (3 and under 1) and me and my partner are really fed up of the UK and its crime and government.

Has anybody moved to fuerteventura or any other canary island? , could you share your experience with me please.

The good and the bad.

Im hoping to move out there and buy a property. Then try and start a cafe or restaurant to earna living.

Regards

Matt

mikelincs

We were intending to move there, but changed our minds and moved to mainland Spain because of the cost of flights, lenght of flights, and the slightly higher cost of living in the Islands.

immortalbeast

Hi,

Well, we would consider moving to mainland spain if the opportunity was right.

Our main priorities (in order) are :

1: Kids School (english speaking school)
1: Safe place to live
3: Affordable to buy a property
4: Plenty of jobs or the option to start a business
5: Weather


Matt

SueG

Some comments

1. If you want English speaking you will have to pay - why come to Spain to educate the children?
2. Haven't really heard of any unsafe places.
3. Depends on what you call affordable?
4. Bloody difficult
5. Wonderful most of the time

mikelincs

Same comments will apply to the Canaries.

immortalbeast

In response to Sues answer of q1 , my children are 3 and under 1. Im hardly going to wait till they have left school , or leavew them here on there own, so dont understand that reply

I call affordable 100k and think a safer place like that would be better for the children in the long run than the uk education system (which i think is a shamble anyway)

Matt

meauxna

Matt, my family moved to Spain when I was 7 & my sister just barely 5. We were put straight into a Spanish school & started speaking Spanish from Day One.

Why would an English school be #1 priority for your move? Your kids would already be bilingual by the time they go to school anyway!

SueG

You will only get something small for 100K and as far as your children are concerned if you send them to an English speaking school it will still follow the National Curriculum as far as I am aware - what I was trying to say if you come to Spain and send the children to the local school they will speak Spanish a lot quicker. Search through the threads and you will see what people with children have to say about the schools and the International schools.

immortalbeast

Hi,

Thanks for the reply again.

I have nothing at all against them going to a spanish school. Just part of me feels i would be putting the kids under too much pressure. With school curriculum, learning a totally new language, plus becoming fluent in english.

Just worry thats all. I would love the kids to be able to do that , just dont know if it would be too much for them.

Matt

meauxna

That's what I'm trying to tell you.. kids don't 'learn' a second (or more) language the same way that adults do.

immortalbeast

What , so they just pick it up with ease?

Matt

meauxna

There's a long boring version about the way the brain learns language and music and how all that changes at puberty but the short version is: yes!

My personal experience is that the words simply make sense. As my vocabulary expanded, I'd ask a teacher to give me an alternate, simpler word that I knew (just like kids do in English).. but otherwise, it just *works*.

Children aren't always very good at *translating* btw. I've had this experience lots of times with bilingual children. You can be yakking away with them in English and then ask 'How do you say 'cat' in Chinese?'. Little Morgan looked at me and said 'I don't know'. Well I knew he was going for Chinese language tutoring and spoke fluently with his teacher, but as with other bilinguals I've met, that was simply the way he talked with that person.
IOW, it's situation specific.
A little girl we knew in Greece, same thing. She went to school from Day One with the Greek kids, monstered around in the streets with them and chattered away in Greek all day long. Until you asked her in English 'how do you say..' or you'd ask her 'do you speak Greek?' "No!"
To her, Greek was how you speak to Greek people & English to English people.

In Spain, I used to translate for my mom at the markets etc all the time. The best part is, when you learn a language as a child, not only is it 1000% easier to absorb, it sticks with you. Years later and without using my Spanish regularly, I can jump into it very easily.. inside of 36 hours of immersion (like when traveling) and the words just come out.. I don't have to stop and translate it in my head first. Very handy, and makes learning other languages that much easier too.
(I always laugh that I didn't learn the parts of speech in English until I took a Spanish class and realized there are all these other 'tenses' and grammer stuff!)

immortalbeast

Thanks for putting my mind at rest.

meauxna

lol, you don't look convinced!

Now, want to hear about owning your own cafe?
That was my first real business. About our success, I can say that while we did not get rich, we never did starve!

My mom explained it to me best: You didn't buy a business, M, you bought a JOB.
It did keep me off the streets temporarily though.

mikelincs

You just need to read the story about the lost dogs on here to understand just how quickly kids wioll pick up the language. We have friends who's young lad started school about a year ago knowing no Spainsh, he is now translating for his parents Kids pick up things so much easier, and yours are the ideal ages to quickly learn a second language.