# Germany or France with family?



## merrytraveller (Nov 29, 2015)

We are moving to Europe in June next year. Tickets are booked (via UK to see family). But we can't decide where to move! We want the kids to be bilingual and have narrowed it down to Germany (Freiburg), or France (not sure where yet). We don't speak either French or German yet, but are all keen to learn! (My husband and I know a few other languages so we're optimistic we'll get there with the language). We are fortunate that we have the freedom to choose where we go, as we have British passports and my husband works remotely from home, but this does make the decision harder!

Our main priority is happy children! They are 3, 6 and 7 so two of them will be starting in a local school, (not an international school). I've been rather put off moving to France by some of the things I've read about the school system on the French forum. The school they go to in Australia is quite similar to the Montessori system as I understand it. Learning incidentally through play, and no one ever gets yelled at. I'm not sure how they'll cope with the disciplined French system. The German school system seems a little more progressive than in France. I've also read that some schools have extra tutoring for non-native speakers to get them up to speed. Does anyone know if this is true and how I can find which schools may be more receptive to non-German speaking children? Any advice on German schools is welcome. 

Also important to us is being a part of a community. I like to be out, spend time with lots of interesting people and be involved in everything. I would hope that we will have both expat and local friends in time. I genuinely like and get along with most people. I wonder if Freiburg, with it's reputation for being 'green' and proximity to the Black Forest attracts environmentally conscious, outdoorsy types, and they may be more open to being friends with a family like this from Australia?

Other things to consider:
- Opportunity for active family weekends in local surrounds, hiking, bike rides, etc. 
- Transport links to the UK. Good train links are essential. Access to a budget airport would be a bonus. 
- Affordable accomodation. We need at least 3 bedrooms, hopefully near the centre of town but also near some green space for the kids, for under 1,600Euro a month. (For this reason we have ruled out medium and large cities, as we don't want to be in the burbs). 

We are currently drawn to Freiburg in Germany, for the proximity to the Black Forest for adventure, and, (from what I've read in forums) it seems friendlier. However, it is a more difficult to get back to the UK and rent seems very expensive! 

I'd love some opinions from those who've gone before us! Suggestions of other cities in Germany to look at that may be more affordable, on an East/West train line and equally beautiful are also welcome. 

(Moderator, I have posted a version of this in the French forum as well, please delete if I'm not allowed to do this). 

Thanks! MerryTraveller


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

A couple of thoughts here:

Freiburg is a lovely town - and very much influenced by the presence of the university there. Another (big) advantage is that you are right next to the French border, so can see quite a bit of France as well as Germany with regular weekend outings.

The airport situation for Freiburg is kind of "interesting" - technically the airport at Mulhouse (in France) serves Mulhouse, Basel and Freiburg though it's a bit of a drive from Freiburg and unless something has changed in recent years, there isn't much in the way of public transport from Freiburg to the airport.

As far as trains are concerned, Freiburg is on a major north-south route, and you can connect at Karlsruhe for east-west connections. For going to France, you'll do better to catch the French trains in Mulhouse. (Though now that they have the TGV to Strasbourg, you may be able to make connections there for Paris.)

The Germans are, in general, very environmentally focused and there are lots of outdoor activities in the area, from hiking to cross country skiing. There weren't (when I was there, quite some time ago) many "expat" groups - possibly because most "expats" are there in connection with the university. But Freiburg has a very good Volkshochschule (for continuing education classes at low cost) and there are lots of things going on at the university that are open to the public.
Cheers,
Bev


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## Nononymous (Jul 12, 2011)

I don't know if this would be severe enough to impact your children - though that would of course depend on where you live - but the German school system is going to be under a fair bit of strain over the next few years due to migration. It was never brilliant at dealing with non-German speakers, and I don't think the current crisis will make it better in the short run. 

However, your children are young enough that they should pick up the language and adapt with relatively little stress - though certainly some. The fact that the parents don't speak German will be more of a challenge, since not all teachers in the public system will be happy to communicate in English. 

Our daughter spend a couple of half-years in German public schools (grades 4 and 8) on sabbatical. The grade 4 class didn't seem radically different from her school in Canada, in general. There was zero extra help for her with German, but I expect that was partly due to their knowing that she was leaving partway through the year, so not worth expending scarce resources. The grade 8 experience was different, a more structured environment and less student-teacher friendliness, but she coped fine.

In general, the plan to up and move to a smaller city with no language background and remote work (i.e. less human contact outside the home) has some positives and negatives. The positive is you won't immediately fall into and English-only expat ghetto, as you might in Berlin. The negative is that you'll have a lot of work to do building up a social life, which is where you'll develop language fluency. Having kids who are active in various sports and activities will certainly help.


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