# Need Help! Moving to Spain with Kiddos



## gskrupa (Jan 28, 2019)

This site came recommended to me to help with getting some basic information about moving to Spain. I'm looking to move my wife and kids to Spain for a 1 to 2 year span next year. I have some general questions and hope the experts here can point me in the right direction! 

1) We are thinking about Seville or Valencia.
2) The goal is for the children to come out speaking Spanish fluently and to know the culture.
3) We'd like to live as close to a city center as possible.
4) We are looking at dual language schools/programs.

If anyone has some great tips or links for schools, we would greatly appreciate it!

Thanks so much!
Greg


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

gskrupa said:


> This site came recommended to me to help with getting some basic information about moving to Spain. I'm looking to move my wife and kids to Spain for a 1 to 2 year span next year. I have some general questions and hope the experts here can point me in the right direction!
> 
> 1) We are thinking about Seville or Valencia.
> 2) The goal is for the children to come out speaking Spanish fluently and to know the culture.
> ...


Hi there,
It would be useful to know the ages of your children


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## kalohi (May 6, 2012)

Be aware that in Valencia they speak Valenciano - along with Spanish - and in many (all?) of the schools that's the language used. Hopefully someone who lives in the area can comment on this and clarify the situation.

If you are thinking of putting your kids into public school, you will be assigned a school depending on where you live and the availability of space. You can request a school outside of your district but again, your kids will only get in if there is space available. 

Semi private schools (concertados) in the center of Seville are almost always full so it would be difficult to get your kids in. But you never know, you might be lucky. You'd have to get in touch with them to see if they have slots available once you've moved over. 

There are lots of "bilingual" schools out there, but in those programs only a few of the subjects each day are taught in English - and very watered down English at that. They are designed to help Spanish children learn English. 

As long as your children are younger than about 10, they should be OK in a regular Spanish classroom. The first few months will be a challenge but they'll pick up the language quickly and be fine. Much older than 10 and they'll have a hard time keeping up with the demanding pace of the classes. 

HTH!


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## kaipa (Aug 3, 2013)

I suppose you are aware that Brexit could impact on your decision if you are all UK nationals

You do need to state ages of children over 11 and you might have a problem getting them to settle in with the language. If at secondary school then I'm afraid a public school will be too much for them to be active in the curriculum unless they already have a fairly good level and you too. Homework and testing makes up a lot of the actual school content and you will need to provide some kind of support. Bilingual is your best bet but I don't think they are state funded

If primary school age then it will be fine and they will pick up the language reasonably quickly although they won't be fluent in two years but will be able to interact well with there classmates.

As far as culture goes that depends on you and where you live. The centre of a big city will be great but remember for young children culture means nada and in fact like all kids you will find Xbox and PlayStation is what really matters. Still it is a nice idea for a family to do


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## Relyat (Sep 29, 2013)

kalohi said:


> Be aware that in Valencia they speak Valenciano - along with Spanish - and in many (all?) of the schools that's the language used.
> 
> HTH!


TRue, a friend has to drive his children 20km to a school that teaches in Castellano, passing three that teach in Valenciano, including one that they attended up to 2017 when they also changed from Castellano to Valenciano. Extra 200km a week in fuel cost soon adds up !


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

Relyat said:


> TRue, a friend has to drive his children 20km to a school that teaches in Castellano, passing three that teach in Valenciano, including one that they attended up to 2017 when they also changed from Castellano to Valenciano. Extra 200km a week in fuel cost soon adds up !


Having brought up three children in the province of Valencia (state and concertado schools), I can confirm that around here ALL schools teach in both Spanish and Valencian. Some subjects in Valencian (Social studies for example) and some in Spanish.

PE was also taught in English when they attended their concertado school.


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## kaipa (Aug 3, 2013)

My kid gets valenciano but he has a dispensation for his notas. It is expecting a lot from kids who are still having to learn castellano and yet pass their exams to then have to learn a second language. Also depending on where you live in Valencia the language has no value other than you need it to be a government official who more than not never utter a single word of it once they have done the oposiciones!!!


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

kaipa said:


> My kid gets valenciano but he has a dispensation for his notas. It is expecting a lot from kids who are still having to learn castellano and yet pass their exams to then have to learn a second language. Also depending on where you live in Valencia the language has no value other than you need it to be a government official who more than not never utter a single word of it once they have done the oposiciones!!!


Interestingly, I have been told that non-nationals can NOT take oposiciones!

I agree about Valencian being pretty useless but all three of mine managed to learn Spanish, Valencian and English at the same time. they started at 7, 7 and 10


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## gskrupa (Jan 28, 2019)

Thanks for the tips! We are US nationals, and they will have EU citizenship. So we should be set there. As for their ages, they would be 6 and 8 at that time.

Thanks,
Greg


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

gskrupa said:


> Thanks for the tips! We are US nationals, and they will have EU citizenship. So we should be set there. As for their ages, they would be 6 and 8 at that time.
> 
> Thanks,
> Greg


Great ages to go into a state school - they should learn Spanish very quickly plus any subsidiary language (Valencian, Catalan). And, of course, English although some schools do teach American


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## KG5 (Mar 21, 2016)

snikpoh said:


> Great ages to go into a state school - they should learn Spanish very quickly plus any subsidiary language (Valencian, Catalan). And, of course, English although some schools do teach American


Agree - appreciate not all kids are the same but if they are reasonably confident and can find some common ground on things like sports/interests with their new friends then after the initial scary few weeks kids of that age can really flourish.


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## Chancerz (Feb 12, 2017)

Hi,

We moved to Valencia last year with young children (under 5). The schools here are great and there are lots of options from private, state and semi private. Our eldest attends an international school which teaches in mainly English in the younger years. His teacher is an expat so speaks perfect English and they also have a Spanish teacher in the class at the same time to translate to the Spanish kids. There are lots of good schools that follow the British and international curriculum around. If you're only looking to stay for a couple of years and want your kids to be fluent in Spanish it might be worth asking the schools you visit what percentage of the lessons are in Spanish. As others have also mentioned, once they start making friends they will soon soak up the language.

Most of the people here I have come across speak Spanish however I do know people that prefer to speak Valencian within their communities.

Have you visited both Seville and Valencia? If not you need to and decide which one feels right for your family.


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## gskrupa (Jan 28, 2019)

Thanks for the advice. We are looking for a 1-2 year stay and the goal is language fluency. I've lived in Seville and will be visiting Valencia and Seville this summer with the family.


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## fortrose52 (Nov 29, 2018)

If you can afford it, it might be an idea to either stay a while with a family who is willing to teach/immerse. These can be officially organised. Or take part in an immersion holiday language programme in one of the cities just to get a feel for it.


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## Chancerz (Feb 12, 2017)

gskrupa said:


> Thanks for the advice. We are looking for a 1-2 year stay and the goal is language fluency. I've lived in Seville and will be visiting Valencia and Seville this summer with the family.


If that's the goal then a state Spanish school is the way to go. If you're not fluent yourself then you may need the aid of google translate to communicate with the teachers etc...


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## silaeu (Jul 2, 2016)

With kids, I will choose Valencia for sure!


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

silaeu said:


> With kids, I will choose Valencia for sure!


Just remember that your children will have to learn both Spanish (Castellano) and Valencian (Valenciano) and subjects will be in either language.


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## IvyVo (Dec 3, 2020)

gskrupa said:


> This site came recommended to me to help with getting some basic information about moving to Spain. I'm looking to move my wife and kids to Spain for a 1 to 2 year span next year. I have some general questions and hope the experts here can point me in the right direction!
> 
> 1) We are thinking about Seville or Valencia.
> 2) The goal is for the children to come out speaking Spanish fluently and to know the culture.
> ...


Hi Greg,
Did you guys end up making the move? We almost did it last year but covid had other plans :/ would love to hear about your experience if you don’t mind sharing. Our kids are 5 and 10 and are in a bilingual program in the US. However, I believe true immersion is the best way to truly become one with the language and the culture (speaking from personal experience with moving to the US as a child and having to learn English). Pls post an update or DM if you have a moment. Thanks!
Irene


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