Originally Posted by Maya001

Hola, my children are all at school in Coin. They started here in September 2004 aged 12, 8 and 5. We expected it to be most difficult on our 12 year old daughter but it was actually our 5 year old that struggled the most - he was scared he'd forget English and just wouldn't speak Spanish at all even though he mastered understanding it quite quickly.

All 3 are now settled in really well, love it and are doing really well. My daughter (now aged 14) had trouble from other English kids at the 'upper' school when she first started because most of them didn't want to be in Spain. They couldn't understand why she hung around with Spanish kids or why she enjoyed speaking Spanish. Most of those kids moved on long ago and the 'new' English kids have no idea that she's English and she prefers to keep it that way.

Our middle son (now aged 10) had no problems whatsoever right from the start and just threw himself into learning Spanish and making friends.

I think it helps because we live in town rather than campo and they get to meet up with all their friends after school and at weekends. I've met lots of English ppl here who live in the campo and their kids feel a bit isolated and don't pick up the language as quick because they only get to hear it/speak it whilst at school.

Originally Posted by Bopsy

Hi there, glad to hear your kids have fitted in well generally, do you as adults have any regrets? Bye for now