arrving to Singapore in January - Would like some advice

[Jenwren]

Hello All,
I will be moving to Singapore in January and would like some advice on what I can do in advance to make the move a bit easier for my Children. I have a 5 year old and a 2.5 year old. We from England but have been living in France for the last 4 years. I will be looking for a International School and someone to help my children keep there French up. Any advice or help on this would be fab.
Also I am interested in finding Swimming, Dance and some sort of Musical lessons for both of the Children.

Thank you for any help or tips you can offer.

[BillyB]

Hello All,
I will be moving to Singapore in January and would like some advice on what I can do in advance to make the move a bit easier for my Children. I have a 5 year old and a 2.5 year old. We from England but have been living in France for the last 4 years. I will be looking for a International School and someone to help my children keep there French up. Any advice or help on this would be fab.
Also I am interested in finding Swimming, Dance and some sort of Musical lessons for both of the Children.

Thank you for any help or tips you can offer.

Stop abusing your children by making them continue to learn French!

[nutnut]

Hello All,
I will be moving to Singapore in January and would like some advice on what I can do in advance to make the move a bit easier for my Children. I have a 5 year old and a 2.5 year old. We from England but have been living in France for the last 4 years. I will be looking for a International School and someone to help my children keep there French up. Any advice or help on this would be fab.
Also I am interested in finding Swimming, Dance and some sort of Musical lessons for both of the Children.

Thank you for any help or tips you can offer.

Stop abusing your children by making them continue to learn French!

+1

Also, if you intend on living in this part of the world for a while, it's of absolutely zero use and it makes them sounds daft.

Options for those who insist on giving their children French, there is a French international school.

[Pink girl]

Hi

We are also moving injanuary. Originally from the uk, we have been in Australia for the last 3 years. Depending on how long you are going to be in singapore for, it definitely makes more sense (if not planning on returning to Europe), to give up the French and concentrate on mandarin.

I have a 5 year old dd and a 20m old ds, so I know the stresses you are facing. Have a look at the schools websites- that will give you an idea of the languages taught. I have dd name down for tanglin trust school- a British curriculum based school that does teach French if that's what you are interested in. However, they have told me that they probably won't be able to accept my dd until 2014.

Please feel free to pm me if you want to talk about things.
Good luck x

[SCinSG]

Hi Jenwren,

There is a very active Alliance Francaise in Singapore. That will be a good place to start in terms of finding ways for your kids to keep up their French.

You could also consider the Lycee Francaise, which runs a French curriculum, but also offers a bilingual stream in which teaching is 50-50 French and English. This is currently offered for Kindergarten to around Grade 5.

There is no shortage of places your kids can go for things like swimming, dance, etc. Expat Living magazine is a decent directory of sorts for this kind of thing (not sure how much of their content they put on their website, but might be worth a look).

Not sure about all these people telling you to drop the French. If your kids have four years of exposure already, it's certainly worth keeping that up!

A little food for thought: this article (http://moreintelligentlife.com/node/4256) makes an interesting argument for French, and against Chinese.

[SorrentoSunset]

I think Avondale offers French if that's an option?