twyntub

This week, we attended Chestnut day at school. Our two year old, youngest pupil in the primary school, saw the microphone and stood up to sing the entire Chestnut song in front of the whole school on his own!

Quan ve el temps de menjar castanyes,
la castanyera, la castanyera,
ven castanyes de la muntanya
a la plaça de la ciutat.
La camisa, li va petita
la faldilla, li fa campana
les sabates, li fan cloc-cloc,
i al ballar sempre gira així.

Even the other Spanish children in his class couldn't sing the song - I guess to him it's "just another language to learn"... totally unexpected and absolutely incredible considering we've only been here three short months!

State Spanish school has been a fantastic choice for our children. They are happier, more confident, and have loads of new friends. The teachers are so warm and friendly towards the children... nothing like the UK, at least in our experience.

We've no doubts that this is the best move we've ever made.

derek500

That's great. Out of interest is he learning Castellano as well as Valenciano?

Relampago

Hello and welcome to Spain. By the way...where do you live in Spain? (and of where are you from in UK?). Is that seems that this song it is written in valenciano

twyntub

From Cheshire originally - and living in the Hondon valley.

When we first visited the school at the beginning of 2007 when looking for property, Valenciano was taught from 8 years old, with some lessons only in Valenciano.

From this term, the school is now teaching Valenciano to all children, with many more lessons only taught in Valenciano from age five. Even the Spanish parents that aren't from this area are finding it hard! It makes homework, err, tricky! We have a huge Castellano - Valenciano dictionary - Babelfish cannot make head nor tail of it whatsoever, although my French does help a bit! How I wish I'd done Latin at school!

Combined with English that we're teaching them at night, both children will have a great start in life.

Rosemary

Well done to your little boy, bet you were proud of him. So small, so confident and so knowledgeable. Wish languages got easier with age instead of harder.

We also use a Castellano/Valensiano dictionary but find that often the dictionary fails us, especially when we get leaflets from the town hall in Valenciano and try to translate them.

Rosemary

twyntub

Thankfully, the school produce all the parent letters in both languages! If they didn't I think we'd all be in trouble...

Certainly the Spanish parents that aren't from the region were complaining at a recent parent's meeting that they couldn't understand their children any more! Blimey - neither can we half the time

Rosemary

In our town they only seem to speak in Valenciano. In fact we have found that many of the older folk do not know any Castellano at all. If it is any consellation we watch the neighbours talking in Valenciano and it looks to us as though half the time they do not understand each other!!!!!

Children learn by absorbing things so they will pick up languages so much quicker than adults but I still think that your little one is amazing and sounds so confident. So glad to read that you think that the move here is the best thing you have done.

Rosemary

derek500

There is a Catalan-Inglés online dictionary at http://www.diccionaris.net/

Catalan and Valenciano are, as far as I can see the same.

MnM

Congratulations on your child's linguistic progress twyntub!

You must be very, very proud

Martha

Rosemary

Thank you so much. Myself and my Spanish friend have been looking for a dictionary for translating from Valenciano straight into English to help her with her new job and found none, she will be so pleased.

Rosemary

Lenox

It's very useful of course - the kids soon become so bilingual that they hardly know in which language they are conversing. In our town, where there are lots of British kids actually born in Spain, some in their 'twenties', plus all the other children who have attended the Spanish school, having two (or anything up to five!) languages is a great boost and is also, perhaps, of the ideals of 'Europa'.
In our town hall, there is still nobody who speaks English and it would certainly be a great step forward if one or some of those kids were to get a job in the ayuntamiento.
One thing to watch for - most of these bilingual kids will have really bad English spelling as they are never taught it and rarely read much in that language.

Relampago

No. Valenciano is seemed to the catalan, but it is not same. Personally I find something more complicated the catalan

They know and they speak spanish, another thing is that they will only speak valenciano among them, but they know how to speak spanish

No. Valenciano is seemed to the catalan, but it is not same. Personally I find something more complicated the catalan

Rosemary

They do not all speak Spanish in my town. One of my neighbours struggles if people are speaking in Spanish and often relies on her daughter to translate for her. I go to a craft group where one of the ladies gets her friend to translate any spanish into Valenciano for her and vice versa.

My Spanish friend tells me that many of the people in our town have never spoken or listened to Spanish.

Rosemary

brisca

Wow twyntub

What a lovely story to post; and how proud you must be of your little boy
I don't suppose you happened to have a camcorder to hand, ready for his impromptu performance, did you??

It's great to know that you and your family are enjoying your new life here, and feel that it's been such a good move for you.
Long may that continue!

Carol&John

Hola!
This thread made me smile and reminded me of this rhyme. Can anyone translate?
"Mairsy dotes an dozy dotes,
an likkle lamzy divey...
A tiddly divey, too,
wouldn't you?"

Carol