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Thread: How to make busy 11 y.o. child in christmas holidays

  1. #1
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    Question How to make busy 11 y.o. child in christmas holidays

    Dear All,
    We are going to move to NZ in the beginning of December 2012. Our elder daughter is 11 and we are really concerned about her adaptation because her English is not good (actually - bad). As I understand children of her age have christmas holidays from 20 December 2012 to 28 January 2013. Could you please suggest an idea how we can make her busy at this time. It would be better if she interact with english-speaking children to improve her English (something like children camp or summer school).

    Thank you in advance for you attention to this matter!

  2. #2
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    Are you signing her up for school in December when you get there? And where are you going to be?

    We have done stuff with these people (we are in Auckland, but I think kidactive is in Palmerston North as well, and OSCAR should be everywhere)

    www.Kidactive.co.nz and
    http://www.parnell.org.nz/Parnell-Tr...mmes-Intro.htm

    There's also OSCAR, which does both after school and holiday sessions. They will operate at a local primary school, so it may be worth asking at the closest one to where you will live.

    Good luck,

    Daniela

  3. #3
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    Daniela, thank you very much for your answer!*
    We will be in Auckland at 6th of December but we are not sure that we should enroll her to school immediately. Probably it would be better to do this at the end of January. In this case she will have minimum vocabulary when she starts studying.*
    What do you think? Should we send her to school immediately or from the next term?

  4. #4
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    In your place I would enrol your daughter in school as soon as you can. She would have those two weeks to meet people living nearby, and for you adults to see the parents of those children. This way you would all have some local contacts already by the time the holidays start. Some of the parents might suggest local activities, and might invite your daughter to join in with their children - parties to go swimming or visit places of interest, play-dates, etc.. At the very least, she would see familiar faces when out and about in the streets near your new home, and this is a big encouragement to start talking English. When I was a teacher, I saw migrant children begin to learn English from zero, and I'm convinced that contact with children their own age is a very important factor, to be encouraged as much as possible.

  5. #5
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    Yes, second the enrolment right away. If you know where you will be living, I'd start her in school right away, for all the reasons JandM lists.

    I think other children and a shared interest are the best way to get her to learn. With children (especially pre puberty), I have found language learning to work very well when it is not the primary purpose of an activity (i.e. not a language class as such, but a situation where communication is required and wanted). She will get more structured English classes in school, but the informal communication can help lots.

    Daniela

  6. #6
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    Definitely enrol as soon as you can! I moved here in mid-October five years ago and though my and my daughter's first language is English, she spent the first six years of her life in the USA, so she had massive problems understanding her fellow students, even though everyone could understand her. Good luck!

  7. #7
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    one thing we did with my 7 yr old was send him on a YMCA camp/ holiday scheme they are relatively cheap for a week at a time its a great way to mix and get to know others but also enjoy lots of activites, depending where you are the residential camps in Auckland are wairewa, Shakesphere Park and camp Adair especially if you do not put in school straight away

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Janey View Post
    one thing we did with my 7 yr old was send him on a YMCA camp/ holiday scheme they are relatively cheap for a week at a time its a great way to mix and get to know others but also enjoy lots of activites, depending where you are the residential camps in Auckland are wairewa, Shakesphere Park and camp Adair especially if you do not put in school straight away
    Thank you very much for the suggestion!

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by JandM View Post
    In your place I would enrol your daughter in school as soon as you can. She would have those two weeks to meet people living nearby, and for you adults to see the parents of those children.
    As I understand we can't enroll her at school until we find an appropriate accommodation. I am not sure we will find it within two weeks.

  10. #10
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    Just to note our Ds breaks up on 14th December and goes back abot 31st Jan (28th Jan is Auckland Anniversy a public holiday)

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