Help!ba High School /st. Max.kolbe/islands/washington/bdays

[arielm]

hi! we are moving with our 6 and 2 year old in a week - and someone just told me something we had not considered. Which is that bilingual schools (english spanish) are NOT good for the native English speaker because the level of English will be so absurdly easy for young kids that they'll be bored and either deemed disruptive or turned into a teacher's helper - but in any event, not learning english at an age appropriate level for native speakers. WOW - hunh? I saw wow because we have been focusing on enrolling in all the schools you mention above- and then this expat explains the bilingual problem. Lincoln is too far away for us too (family in Belgrano) - and we feel like our sons should be submerged in BA. So, we are now rushing around trying to find non-bilingual, non-religious schools.

Let's keep in touch! Nice to meet you. Ariel

 

[expatriada]

Hello!!Thank you everybody for your answers, I´ll try to reply and to considerer your opinions.

Syngirl: Thanks for your great notes about schools and it´s a very good idea to have good references of a pediatrician. We´re looking for a good bilingual school, with native speakers. I´ve asked at the forum you´ve mentioned some days ago and I have the impression that they are good teachers with very good level of English but not native, because I´d like to live in Belgrano/Colegiales... I have no options...but that´s idea is really because I think it could be easy for our day-to-day to find pediatrician, supermarkets...hospitals and to have only a car (just for my husband to go work). Maybe anyone here can offer another idea of living in Olivos, San Vicente, Martinez...where there is S. Andrews School, or maybe in Nuñez.. Saint Mathew´s...I hope not to be wrong about schools and places...I have good references about these schools, but I don´t know if there are expats...
Tuitions at schools is not a problem because my husband´s company will pay, we suppose we´re not going to have problems with this...the problem is that sometimes this top schools goes hand by hand with a kind of family with a very high level of life that many times give importance to things that we really don´t...like those kinds of extravagant birthday´s parties...we celebrate birthdays always in family, maybe with two or three children...I understand you perfectly about the type of mums you´ve described..maybe I shoud have to ignore those mums and the birthdays, but if I could that, I´d like to have a good reason, like English is very very good and my children will improve their levels..and that there are more expats and ii could be easier for them to integrate at schools..
About Islands/Washington I´ve read in the forum you´ve told me that there are these silly parties and kind of spoiled kids, but there are also parents who wants a good education for their children..

DerAchtundzwanzig
Thank you for telling me your experience in Islands School, I´ve never heard about IB, we´re going to Buenos Aires only for 2 ages maximum so I think it´s not really important but I´m interesting about kind of education, not only level of English, so I´ll try to find more opinions about disciplinary issues and about the new Manager.
We like Buenos Aires H School because they don´t have to go out for gym that is the case for many Argentinean schools, people have good opinions of this school in planetamama, but I like to have an opinion of expats, and better if they are native speakers. Of course high level society is always a problem..I´d like to find a bilingual school with native English teachers and not kind of birthdays parties and mums...but I´m thinking this is impossible..
We considerate Lincoln and to live near also, but I haven´t good references about education, and they take out little children walking to another building just to have lunch, and I´m afraid about security problems...maybe someone here have some direct reference and can tell me anything more..
Montauk_Project
There is another route: enroll your children in a Spanish speaking school, most have half day programs. Then enroll in English activities in the afternoon. You have more less snobby options.
We have this option here: they go to a Spanish bilingual school, with some signatures in English with good non-native speaker and some extra personal native, they have personal classes in English at home. It´s perfect, they have a very good level in English, I think they are really bilingual, they don´t translate like me...they just think in English...but I´d like in Buenos Aires more playtime for them because changing their school, friends...no family around...maybe it could be enough for them..but maybe could be another option for us..to look a 'normal' school with good education and take an English teacher like here for them..

arielm

Ariel, I hope you find the best Spanish school for your kids, tell me what you´ve decided at the end, you really don´t need an English school, you are afortunate!! Let's keep in touch like you´ve said!



Thanks all of you!! Sorry about my English mistakes..it takes me more than a few minutes to write down this message!!

 

[Montauk_Project]

You are correct, at the most a bilingual school will have a few native English teachers, and maybe a few expats. The exeption is Lincoln. I don´t understand why you are worried about security: the place has more security than the embassy, it is a closed campus. Lots of secret service type guys running around. Being the most expensive school in Buenos Aires, you will find snobs there as well, a lot of embassy kids. It runs on the US calender, so you will be on a different schedule than other kids in Buenos Aires.
Personally, I would go for a school that has a good vibe and at the young age they are at forget academics. Learning to be a snob as a toddler is much worse than not having the best English education, in my opinion.
BTW, I taught at a bilingual school in Recoleta. My first day a fellow teacher told me "these are nasty children". I couldn´t believe a teacher would say such a thing, but 6 months later I agreed. Really, I was hoping for a revolution to come so those kids could be lined up against a wall and shot. I saw one slap his maid in the face.
Maybe look into Waldorf schools? They are preferred by artists here.

 

[arielm]

oh, [background=rgb(230, 230, 230)] [/background][background=rgb(230, 230, 230)]Montauk_Project please tell me which bilingual school in recoleta that was! or which to avoid. THANK YOU!!! We are going to try to find non-bilingual schools where my 6 year old will be ok coming from the US...[/background]

 

[ghost]

What criteria you described seems to me to fit BAICA quite well. They are a distance from Belgrano but they run small busses that pick up their kids and deliver them home in the afternoon. Very secure. Check them out.

 

[Montauk_Project]

I taught 9 years ago in "Las Cumbres".
But I think this could apply to many schools.
I would recommend NOT going the bilingual route if you want to avoid snobbiness, especially at the younger years. In HS it may be a necesity and you will be able to talk to them about what is going on.