Ronan's Progress in School

Whenever I speak with friends and family, everyone naturally wants to know how Ronan is doing in school. How is he getting on with learning German? Is he making friends? etc. Well, I have some positive news to report. The school principal said when we registered Ronan for school, "don't worry, he'll be speaking German in six months." I was a bit skeptical, but he was right. Ronan is, in fact, speaking quite a bit of German now, even with me and James at home. It's quite exciting.

I met with his teacher a week or so ago to see how he's progressing. She said that in January he was still primarily speaking English with her, but now he only speaks German with her. He's doing fine in math, even handling the word problems despite the langage handicap. He has one-on-one tutoring with a retired German teacher a few times a week and she says he's doing very well. He can read out loud quite well even if he doesn't understand it all and I'm actually quite amazed at his pronounciation. His German spelling isn't all that bad either. But where he does seem to have trouble is handwriting. Germans place great importance on neat handwriting. When we arrived here six months ago, he had quite a lot of catching up to do and has made excellent progress, but he still hasn't caught up to his German peers. To make things a bit more difficult is that children begin to learn how to use fountain pens in second grade. They even get a certificate of proficiency at the end of the year. The fountain pen is making it a bit harder, but his teacher is keeping him writing in pencil for now, til he makes a bit more progress. I do find this emphasis on fountain penmanship rather odd and obsolete, especially when I have yet to see a computer in the classroom.

However, what's really made the difference for Ronan is "Mittagsbetreuung". This is what we would call after-school daycare. We started sending Ronan there in December. To give James a bit more time during the day and to allow Ronan some time to get to know other kids outside the classroom. Since the German elementary school is only half-day, Mittagsbetreuung is critical for working parents and it's very inexpensive. For 2 days a week, we are paying about $14 per month. Ronan stays till about 2pm though there is an option to stay til 3:30pm. Ronan has really benefited from Mittagsbetreuung. He's bonded with other kids in his class. He also gets help with homework in the homework room, but most of all, he's had to get a handle on the language to make friends. The school also has a brand new day care room. It's big, bright, and friendly and the kids can just go wild. Ronan would go every day if he could.

So, though he still misses his US elementary school and his friends there, he is adapting very well here in Germany.