# new member looking for information about Javea



## MyPlan (Apr 15, 2013)

Hi everyone at expatforum,

I discovered this great forum while trying to find information about English speaking people living in Javea, and thought that you may help me.

Let me put you in the picture.
We’re a Spanish family with two, 10 and 2 year-old kids. Although I’m not bilingual, I’ve talking in English to my 10 year old son since he was 6 month old. It worked great for both, him and me, but far better for him. We have Cbeebies and CBBC at home, and he’s used to watching TV and movies in English the whole time, and for sure understands far more than I’ll ever do.
From a couple of years to now, we find that we don’t know what to do to keep him improving, mainly his speaking. His level is above the average level at school. We had a native person a couple of hours per week last year, but it turned out to be boring for him. Currently he’s attending ‘extraescolares’ with native teachers. He’s in a group with people 4 years older than him, and still above the average level. We think it’s a pity not to keep the work done so far.

We’ve been thinking about living abroad for some time, but I have a stable work here so this option has been discarded.
Suddenly we remembered of someone saying about the high number of British people living in Javea, so we thought this may be an option. And that’s how I discovered this forum.

We’re trying to find out which is the public school I Javea with a higher number of British kids, so that at least, the English level in class will be a bit higher than in a school with 95% of Spanish students.
Also the possibility of talking in English out of class with his new friends. Our son is an outgoing and sociable kid, and I think this won’t be a problem. He speaks both Valenciano and Spanish, studies music, and loves sport.

What I would need from you is to know how right/wrong I am in this hypothesis. This means knowing the approx. amount of English students, if the English is common language at school, etc, etc.
I’d love to know what you think about this idea.
Thank you in advance and sorry for my English. 

If there’s anything I can help you with, please let me know.
S.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

MyPlan said:


> Hi everyone at expatforum,
> 
> I discovered this great forum while trying to find information about English speaking people living in Javea, and thought that you may help me.
> 
> ...


:welcome:

I'm British & I've lived in Jávea with my children for nearly 10 years now

yes, there are a lot of British people living in Jávea - though perhaps not as many as you might think

I'd say that CP L'Arenal probably has the highest percentage of British kids, both my daughters went there - but they are 13 & 17 now, so they left there some years ago

I can ask some people I know who have younger children what sort of % of British children there are in classes & let you know - but again, I doubt it would be as high as you might be expecting - there are less British families with children here every year - well, every month actually.

regardless of the numbers though, when my daughters were in primary the language(s) of the classroom & the playground were Castellano & Valenciano - very few of the children would speak English to any great extent once through the school gates


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

OK.........

I've been in touch with parents of children in a couple of the primary schools - it seems that I was right, in that CP L'Arenal does have more English children than the others, % wise

at that school, on average there are about 4 or 5 English kids per class of around 20 - that's speaking to parents with children in infants right up to Y6 - one class has about 8 though out of 22

all of the parents who answered said that their children mostly mix with Spanish children & that as far as they know, English isn't spoken much, not even in the playground


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## MyPlan (Apr 15, 2013)

xabiachica said:


> OK.........
> 
> I've been in touch with parents of children in a couple of the primary schools - it seems that I was right, in that CP L'Arenal does have more English children than the others, % wise
> 
> ...


Thank you very much for your quick responses, they've been really helpful.
As you said, we thought the number would be higher, so don`t know if it will be worth the effort.
We'll have a thought and come back to you if we have some other question.

I guess we'll have to go for our 3th option, which is spending a whole month somewhere in the UK in summer, and get them immersed in the English language at least for that period, so time to look for information in another section of the forum 

I'm very glad to hear that you achieved what we're looking for, our two children to be bilingual Spanish-English. Your daughters will be thankful forever.

Thank you and regards,
S.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

MyPlan said:


> Thank you very much for your quick responses, they've been really helpful.
> As you said, we thought the number would be higher, so don`t know if it will be worth the effort.
> We'll have a thought and come back to you if we have some other question.
> 
> ...


you're very welcome

yes, that's exactly what my daughters have achieved bi - or even tri-lingualism, if you count Valenciano

my older daughter can also 'defend herself' in German - is studying Latin, & plans to do Greek next year

& we were hoping to start Italian lessons together, but we're struggling to find classes !

have you thought about something like this for the older child? The child stays with an English family for up to 3 weeks & goes to summer school where everything is in English - a couple of hours a day of English lessons, but lots of sport & other activities, too

Cursos, campamentos y campus de fútbol en ingles para verano

I'm a 'host mum' myself, for this company


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## NCF (Sep 25, 2008)

Hi

My daughter (6yrs) goes to Spanish school in the Old Town, she speaks fluent Spanish, and when at school only speaks Spanish. There are only a handful of English children in her class, all speaking Spanish. She loves it! Hope this helps!


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## MyPlan (Apr 15, 2013)

xabiachica said:


> you're very welcome
> 
> yes, that's exactly what my daughters have achieved bi - or even tri-lingualism, if you count Valenciano
> 
> ...


That's great Xabiachica, congratulations!!



xabiachica said:


> have you thought about something like this for the older child? The child stays with an English family for up to 3 weeks & goes to summer school where everything is in English - a couple of hours a day of English lessons, but lots of sport & other activities, too
> 
> Cursos, campamentos y campus de fútbol en ingles para verano
> 
> I'm a 'host mum' myself, for this company


I have doubts and a not very good experience regarding English summer camps.

May be in the case when the child stays with an English family, the result is more productive (also depending on the family), but in the camps full of Spanish children, the only ones speaking English are the teachers. Children often speak Spanish and the English level of the group is not very high. Often, the ones who speak English don’t go to this kind of camps since they don’t need it. At least this is what we’ve seen so far.

they may be great for children with average level given in Spanish public school, but it's not exactly what we have in mind.

In any case, I’ll have a look at the company you recommend.

Thank you very much again!


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## MyPlan (Apr 15, 2013)

NCF said:


> Hi
> 
> My daughter (6yrs) goes to Spanish school in the Old Town, she speaks fluent Spanish, and when at school only speaks Spanish. There are only a handful of English children in her class, all speaking Spanish. She loves it! Hope this helps!


Thank you for your answer NCF.
Again, your words are bad news for us but we prefer to be disappointed now than later, once we’re on site.

Congratulations to you too!

S.


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