There is the British International School in Lodz. Don't know too much about it but I know they have a web site as my friend looked into it before his job went to warsaw rather than Lodz
sorry, the topic should have been called "Elementary school thought imostly in English in Lodz?" I I wrote "Kids in Lodz", originally planning to ask about kidz' life in general . Is that hard to live with kids in Poland? (They know no word in Polish) What to expect?
Some of the local kids will have a laugh at your 4 year old because they won't understand him/her. It will be a form of bullying and it might affect your child. Watch out for it.
The ten year old should be better able to deal with it. But, again, look out for the signs.
I have a 5 and a 3 year old. There are some kids here in kindergarten that don't speak english, they speak Vietnamese and nobody laughs at them. They are accepted as they are, kids don't make judgements based on race, language or looks.
Your kids will be fine. I was 8 when I went to Poland. Knew very little Polish, my brother was 6, older sister 10 and nobody laughed at us. We were really cool kids. Had lots of friends. The only hard part were the teachers. They were very strict, they never smiled and some made me feel uncomfortable because I didn't speak Polish well enough.
That's Ok Wroclaw. I'm not picking on your answer, it was a very good reply, because some kids will do that. I'm just saying my experiences and my observations. When my oldest brother was 12, 13 we lived in the US and the kids were really mean to him because he spoke Polish and they called him Polak and made fun out of him.
But younger kids usually are too young to be so mean.
I've had a think. You are right. It would be the older kids who cause the problems.
There was a story somewhere, which was about a kid in Scotland. The teacher had a Polish day with food and stuff. The result, more understanding on both sides.
I would think that if anamak finds an English speaking school his/her kids will find plenty of friends. And of course it depends on the neighbourhood one lives in.
I would not be overly concerned about the language barrier kids pick up languages very quickly. mabye total immersion in the language will be daunting but the best for the child. if they go to an English speaking elemtary school (if they exist), this will delay them picking up the language.
When i was leaning Dutch, the buggers kept speaking English to me it was a nightmare... it was great amusement for them to listen to my pronounciation, but my Dutch girlfriends daughter picked up English off me very quickly. Kids are fast learners.
do kids go to school and extra curricular activities and come back by themselves or it's expected that parents drive/walk them in and out like it is in the US?
The law states that you should collect them up to age eleven. [I think] But it doesn't happen. It depends how close to home they live. I've seen kids age eight make their own way home. [but only a short distance]
No.No. Not the international school. I'm British and spent many years living in Lodz, married to someone in education. My kids went to local podstawowki - ie primary schools and thrived there. Yes, teaching and teachers are far more formal than in the UK. But in part this is because children are well socialized at home befroe they school, and so don't need to be taught such skills formally. Also formal education starts later. Note that you'd be hard pressed to find anyone working in education sending their child to a private school. I think that you need to get there and ask around. My two youngsters are thriving educationally having been brought up in both Pol. and English education systems. Good luck
