I just wanted to let all the parents of little tykes out there know about a really nice Italian/Bi Lingual school in Aversa called Froebel. The school is trying to see what interest there would be for bus service from and returning to CAPO (0730-1630) Their facilities are very nice and it is extremely affordable. There are different prices for different ages, but I pay around 170 Euro for my 4 year old per month and that includes the pasta lunch. My second grader (partial Italian) has really been challenged, but the teachers are very patient and willing to work with him. Because it is a bilingual school, I feel like they value him and are willing to assist more than the Italian school that he went to before. We have been really happy with it so far, though it has only been a week. Right now the school is providing a car and driver for us since there are only 3 children going back and forth. But they have a bus and driver waiting if there is more interest. They also will provide a teacher in the bus for the little kids. I was so happy to find this school since I have pre-school aged kids, I just wanted to let others know. They advertise in the Panorama, but if you need their number it is 081-890-7746 and ask for Sara.

hi erika. im also planning to take my 5 y/o son over there but im planning to take him only in the english class in which they do it every morning but i just dont know how much its gonna cost us and how about the car they are providing how much are you paying for that? is the 170 euro morning and afternoon already and is it a bilinual class? thanks

Hi ladies,

I am not sure... Is it the best thing to do for an american child that is going back to the States? And if you go to Japan next, are you going to send him/her to a Japanees school? I do not know...Unless the family is planning to live in Italy forever or the child has an italian parent, why would I make my child's experience in school so traumatic? Teachers do not speak english at that school. I know it as a fact. The bilingual program is offered to italian preschool children that want to learn english from an english/american teacher.

Viceversa, teachers of preschool, kinder and elementary do not speak english (they speak english as much as you speak italian!). Of course, they would call an english speaking person if you call for info. But the truth is that teachers that are going to be with your child every day in class are not bilingual and do not speak english enough to assist, help and make your child's school experience enjoyable like it should be. Why do you want to cause such a stress to your child? I say you can hire a baby sitter to teach your child some italian. Or let your kid play with italian children (of course I want my child to know other cultures and languages! It is inevitable in a military family and can be fun!). But I want my son to be understood if he needs to express difficulties, needs, happiness...and I am not talking of body signs!!

Hey Erica,

Thank you for writing about this school. My husband and I have been debating about whether or not to visit this school. My daughters attend an Italian NON-bilingual school in Gricignano. Although they love the school and teachers, they don't really do any activities with the kids (arts and crafts, etc.) Do you know if this school offers arts, crafts, computers? I saw their website, but you never know what is advertised and what is actually given. Any help would be appreciated!!

~Dominique

hi dominique whats the name of the school your daughter is attending to? how much is the monthly fee and enrollment fee. do they have kindergarden? thanks a lot

The name is Instituto San Andrea. They do have a "Pre-scuola" which encompasses the ages of 3-5 and then at 6 they go into Italian 1st grade. Our daughters have been going since they were 3 and 5. My daughter who will be 7 in january is in Italian 2nd grade and is nearly fluent. We pay 300 euro a month total for both kids, but that does not include any food (lunches/snacks) there is a school bus but only within Gricignano, and as of yet they don't come to pick up at Support Site. They don't speak English, so this might be a negative to anyone who doesn't speak any Italian. They advertise in the panorama with a website that is in Italian and English. hope that helps!!

The school does advertise in the Panorama and as of last week they are offering car/bus service to Capo. They pick up at 0730 and they drop off at 1630. Mimo, is a very friendly driver and my children run to him when we meet him. The school does not charge me anything for the driver. They will supply a bus as soon as more parents request the service. In response to my children liking the school. THEY LOVE IT! I feel like we will leave here in a few years and they will have truly experience Italy. They have Italian friends and have a true appreciation of differences. They have learned to try new food and learn new songs. I don't think that learning a new language can ever be bad for a child. It is so easy for them at this age. I wish I could go to kindergarden to learn Itaian.

The school does advertise in the Panorama and as of last week they are offering car/bus service to Capo. They pick up at 0730 and they drop off at 1630. Mimo, is a very friendly driver and my children run to him when we meet him. The school does not charge me anything for the driver. They will supply a bus as soon as more parents request the service. In response to my children liking the school. THEY LOVE IT! I feel like we will leave here in a few years and they will have truly experience Italy. They have Italian friends and have a true appreciation of differences. They have learned to try new food and learn new songs. I don't think that learning a new language can ever be bad for a child. It is so easy for them at this age. I wish I could go to kindergarten to learn Italian.

My son does Kung Foo 2 to 3 times a week in the afternoon, my daughters do dance 2 times a week. There is no additional cost for the Kung foo or dance (ballet). While my son (age 6) did have a little bit of an adjustment to the all Italian school at a different school, he is learning Italian painlessly. He has some English Speaking friends at the school which helps too. The Math and Reading level is very high. The bilingual part is just that they take English class everyday or every other day. It gives him a break, but also works on his spelling, writing and grammar. He likes English class obviously because he feels like he is a helper. He does a lot of work during the school day, and they are teaching him some school work discipline. He writes in cursive and can read Italian, though he is still gaining vocabulary. I pay 490E for all three of mine. I think it works out to 150 for my 2nd grader, 170 for my 4 yr old, and 200 for my 3 year old, but I get a bit of a discount for having 3 there. I have been so happy with this school because they don't make you pay a ton of money up front. At the other school they wanted 1,300E just to start. My kids are young enough that they could care less that they are speaking Italian, English or Greek, they are having fun and making friends and that is all they care about at this age. My children have a beautiful accent (even my 3 year old). They have a blast playing in the pre-school room. They have a big ball pit and spongy slide. The school is colorful and clean and most of all PROFESSIONAL! The staff is friendly as well. The enrollment fee is 150E. They do arts and crafts and they have a Chocolate Lab, though I don't know how often the children participate, or what ages participate. Most of the morning 8:30-lunch is school work and in the afternoon they do activities. Please let me know if you have any other questions. The school is very willing to work with parents and I think they are really looking to attract American students.

As an educator, parent, as well as someone who has interviewed several Ital schools, I can't help but want to give a little input for those of you who are interested in preschool options. First, I checked out 9 schools in my area (Casal) as well as Froebel, tried out 2 and found that Froebel's program far exceeded the others. (Affordability and locality were the issues...)

Big helps to have a positive experience with an Italian school are to know that:

More aggressive behaviors with children interacting are usually allowed

Teachers can be much louder than what we're used to

Teaching styles are very different--sometimes lots of "wait time" and other things that are termed "developmentally inappropriate" by American standards

Kids and parents would greatly benefit from having some immersion/ability to express basic wants and needs (via hiring a lang teacher, computer games, playing with other Italian kids, etc for both lang and culture education) before taking the plunge

If your child is shy, it may take longer to get them prepared or this may not be a good move...only you know your child well enough to make that call.

Studies show that lang acquisition begins waning at around age 7. Children need to hear those sounds of other languages when they are young in order to develop them.(Rolling the r's, throat sounds, etc)

Yes, it can be very stressful on a child--and the parent. Depending on your situation, background, etc, it can be a very rewarding experience for all concerned!

As an elementary teacher I also want to caution anyone considering an Italian preschool to think about your child's english language development and early reading skills.

In the US, students in Preschool are learning letter sounds and other phonemic awareness skills. In Kindergarten and 1st grade children are learning to read by putting the letter sounds together to form words.

The biggest concern in an Italian speaking school is if these skills are being taught in English. If the school does not have an english-speaking program they are NOT being taught phonics, phonemic awareness, and other prereading/reading skills in english. By attending an Italian school your child may be able to read and speak in Italian but if you are returning to the states that won't be very helpful and will cause your child to fall behind.

My children are attending Little Learners in Teverola (5 mins from S.S). It is an English-speaking school run by Americans. They have 1/2 an hour to 1 hour of Italian everyday. My children LOVE it and they are getting the English instruction they need, with Italian supplemented, not the other way around. They have classes for 2-5 year olds.

I agree 100%.

I am glad to hear that you found a school that works for your children. Having home-schooled my children until last January, my son was already reading English when he started Italian school. Surprisingly he has been able to easily distinguish between the differences of the two languages. I agree it is not for every child, but I think that parents sometimes place their own fears onto their children. If the environment is safe friendly and fun, my children are excited to participate. The teachers are attentive to their needs and to mine as well. They make the extra effort to send notes home to me in English. While I can get by with my broken Italian, this is a big help to me. I continue to work with my children in English workbooks to supplement any deficiencies. However, I would do this at any school, Italian or English, so that I have hands on knowledge of how my children are progressing. Since they speak English to us, their friends and siblings, watch English cartoons, etc., there is plenty of exposure to English during off school hours. I don’t know what gets taught to three year olds in the States since I never sent my kids to school there, but at least here my three year old will have a second language under her belt by the time we leave in two years. I have seen first hand the language capacity of young children. They do it painlessly. Learning Italian should make it easier for her to learn French and Spanish later on as well. I just can not see how that can be a negative. I think that selecting a school is a big decision and that parents should participate in a child’s education. I want to be involved and have an ongoing rapport with the teacher and school. I find that I am able to do this at Froebel and that is why I like it so much.

Hello there ~

Do you have an e-mail address or a website for the Little Learners school in Teverola?

Thank you in advance!

Email for Little Learners

littlelearners@inbox.com

We will be moving to Naples in January and Froebel sounds perfect for my daughter. My son attended Japanese Yochien (Kindergarten) when we were stationed in Japan and it was a great experience for us all. :)

Emily, please let me know if you need any information about the school, I will gladly send you some. I have been very happy with Froebel as you have read above. I did find out more info when I dropped in on the school a few days ago. They have three English teachers, two part time English (British) teachers that are there in the mornings and a third full time teacher who is Italian but fluent in English. I just thought that might be helpful if you were concerned about your children being able to communicate problems. I also found that many of the teachers speak "kid" English. They don't really have the confidence to speak to parents, but they know enough vocabulary that they can help students through any road blocks. I asked my 2nd grade son if he understands what he is learning in class and he said that if he does not know, the teacher just tells him in English. He happened to be sick today and when I picked him up he said that his teacher had held him in her lap because he felt badly. He did not ask her to, she just saw that he was feeling poorly and was in need of a little mothering. After speaking with his teachers (he has 2) they agreed to put a packet together to help him develop his vocabulary and give us additional material to study at home. The pre-school class has anywhere from 2-5 teachers at a time. I was very happy with the lack of yelling (teachers or students) that I heard and the obedience level of the children. I have visited and substituted at various schools and I can tell you that is NOT the case in many that I have seen. Good Luck in your move!

Thank you very much for the e-mail for Little Learners.

Erika, I am sure I will have lots of questions when we arrive! Is there a way to send pm's here?

I tried to send you my email, but it will not post. You can always phone me when you get here, 081-568-8188 is my work number. Or for anyone else that has any questions about the school or its arrangements. The cooking lab for the little kids is pretty cool. My daughters brought home this little cookie-size pizzas that they had made that day. I don't think the older kids do the cooking lab, my 2nd grader did not bring anything home. Good luck in your move.

E

Erika, hi, we're new onboard and just read your post about the Froebel school. Since it's now been several weeks, are you still happy with the school? How far from the support site is it? Do You know if they still have space available for preschool?

Thanks so much!

i just wanted to share with you a really nice italian/bilingual school, because im taking my son in an italian school too his in kindergarden at La Favola just minutes to support site and its bilungual, italian in the morning and english in the afternoon but for my son they are teaching him to write in the morning and an english class in the afternoon. im only paying 60 euro a month and his class is from 8am - 345pm. so far he is already a month over there and im really happy about it because my son is always excited to go to school everyday, he is learning a lot and aside from that the teachers are really nice as in super nice.this school is also posted in panorama. if you have more question just ask me. thanks

Well, we decided to give the Froebel school a try. It's been about a week and a half and so far my son really likes it. He's in the bilingual class, so in the mornings they do English and in the afternoon they do Italian. The school says they think he'll be able to move over to the full-day Italian in the spring. My son has been very happy with all the activities and crafts. They have made him feel very welcome and have been very helpful and respectful to giving him a chance to settle in. This week they are having their Christmas celebration with the parents and then are taking part in a celebration in Aversa this weekend.

Aileen, thanks for your last last post. Unfortunately, I didn't see it in time because we were offline for a while, but thanks for posting the info.

Hello Amy,

I just found out that the dance and Kung Fu class cost aprox E40 per month, that covers 8-12 classes per month depending on which one you do. Hope that helps. Did you go to the Chocolate Fest?

I too send my 3 year old to Froebel and we LOVE it! He is not in the bi-lingual program because they had not started it when we first got here and he was so happy in the Italian program that we decided to keep him there. I was scared at first because he had never gone to daycare or preschool and he HATED the CDC (drop in) but he loved Froebel from the first day. I highly recomend the school and if anyone has any questions feel free to contact me.

Chrissy

Kristen, do you have a number or coordinates for Little Learners?

Erica,

I can get the coordinates and post them later. The phone number is 348-855-3322. Try to call after 2:30. That's when school lets out and they will have more time to talk.

Thank you Kristin. I appreciate the fast response. I'm trying to find a daycare for my toddler within the next week, before I go into labor. So all information is appreciated.

can somebody please tell me all the contact information(tel #) for La Favola, Froebel or any other daycae center outside the base..thanks!

hello i would like to know if forebel does all day m-f for kids age 4. little learners doesn't and i am hoping to hear back about at job at the bookstore soon so i would be needing her to be at a place that is 5 days a week

My name is William A.Carter. My wife and  l felt encouraged to write a few lines regarding our British experience at th Froebel Aversa. We are extremely excited about the way our son(aged7) and daughter(aged5) have settled in at the school. Our first impression of the school was very positive as it was very difficult to find English speaking staff at many of the schools we visited in the area. We found the staff helpful and very flexible. School fees were discounted due to our Military status and the fact we were enrolling two children was also taken into consideration. The two British teachers on staff  worked closely with the American/British families by sending them updates on the child's progress and behaviour via e-mail or at the end of the day.The school encouraged families to get involved in their weekly activities like their Chocolate Factory and cooking classes. The most exciting thing was their open door policy which allowed us to participate in our kids classes. It was an excellent experience and very useful to the family especially when dealing with the many changes the children were experiencing.

The school even offered us a free trial period to try out the school which was very difficult to find at other places.

The best thing about my children's experience is that they have had the opportunity to get involved in the Italian way of life. During the school year my kids are invited to their classmates birthday celebrations. This has given us as a family to experience Italian hospitality.

The children have made a lot of progress with their Italian skills. They are very confident when it comes to meeting new Italian children and helping us out to communicate.

During the year the school organises coffee meetings with parents to discuss on a one to one bases their child's progress and to meet other parents.

I would like to thank all the staff for their hard work, but Mr James and Deborah for their dedication,patience and communication skills. 

Happy parents

Mr Carter, I'm glad to hear your experience at Froebel has been so positive.  I was also very glad to hear that they allowed you a trial period.  This is a major positive step.  We tried Froebel last fall with my son (just turned 5yrs) and had to pull him out after a couple months because he was so unhappy.  It was really a mixture of my son's personality and too many cultural differences.  There were also many misunderstandings between the staff and myself about what to expect. We had done all of our initial interaction with the Italian staff (this is where the misunderstandings happened).  Mr James and Ms Debra were always very straightforward with us, but we didn't start talking to them until my son was already attending class. I think our experience may have been different if we had spoken with them from the beginning.  Even though the school were willing to refund unused tuition, we were not able to be refunded the registration fee (which isn't terribly cheap and kept us from being able to enroll my son in another preschool). We just worked with him at home to finish out the school year. This wasn't a problem academically (it was just preschool), but was yet another change in rotuine for him and he missed out on being able to attend a school setting with friends daily.  I'm still glad we tried a local school, otheriwse I would have always regretted not having at least given it a try on our tour here; but my son was simply not game for all the challenges. The trial period would have been greatly appreciated and working directly with Ms Debra or Mr James from the first meeting would have also been beneficial.

Dear Mary Jane

I am sorry things didn't work out for your son's bi-lingual course at Froebel. I do know lots of things have changed over the past 12 months since Mr James has taken direct control over the courses and is directly involved with American/British families.

I will mention your comments to him because l know he is always willing to listen to parents negative/positive views. The school has also set up a feed back system via e-mail to get questions and situations answered/resolved more quickly. This has been very helpful considering our work timetable and busy family schedule.

I know l sound very biased, but l have really seen a lot of positive changes in our children's language progress and that of other Americans at Froebel. Our children have always been out going and extrovert and this has helped them a lot to get on at an Italian school like Froebel.

William Elizabeth Carter-Forbes

I am glad to hear that the communication issues have gotten better.  I thought the school was very nice looking, and my son's teacher was GREAT, the limited space for play and the schools insistance that children should not go outside if the temperture is not 70-80 degrees, made us change schools.  The staff was nice, but I don't really see their program as bi-lingual.  My son was able to thrive because his teacher spoke enough English to assist him when he came to a language hurtle.  She was willing to look words up that she did not know so that she could help him.  Unfortunately, not all the teachers have that capability and English teachers are only there on a limited basis.  The uniforms were expensive also. 

I'm looking to find out more information about the Froebel School. Could a parent please tell me about how far from SS the school is.....also do they close down in August?

They have a website with a map and gps coordinates:

http://www.froebel.it/default.aspx?lang=EN

Hi everyone, my son was born on 6 SEP 2006, and at our current duty station, the date cutoff was later than 1 SEP, so he'd be going to Kindergarten if we were staying.  But we're coming to Naples where I understand the date cutoff is a (no wiggle room) 1 SEP deadline.

The cutoff is sept 1st.I had the same issu with my son born on sept.11

You have another option since you are both active duty.

Sure start program offered at the school and it is free.Contact the scool for info or cheack the website.

Fey

I just wanted to add that for the Sure Start program dual active duty status is not a guarantee of acceptance, as I believe rank has priority over that.  Two senior enlisted or two officers, for example, would not qualify (or at least should not).  The program is designed for E-4s and below, with possible exceptions granted to E-5s.

Best of luck! :)

Yes, Sure Start does give priority to E-4's below- that is their 1st Category, however my child atend Sire Start, and my husband is an E-6, I also know of a student last year that attended, and her father was an E-7.  Bottome line, still sign your children up...if you are an O-1 and above, your chances are not too good.  This program is amazing, and my child has learned so much, something she would have never recieved from the CDC.  You also have schools in JFC, I am not familiar with their cirriculum, but just take your time finding the right school for your child.  Good Luck!!!

Yes, by all means, do apply for Sure Start.  However, I wanted to clarify that the 'rules' (whatever they may be) state that even if there were empty spots, they cannot be given to anyone over the rank of E-6 (E-5s and E-6s are considered if there aren't enough E-4s).  I know there have been senior enlisted and officers' children in Sure Start, but I was explained by one of the teachers that those criteria are supposed to be followed even if there aren't enough participants and there are, indeed, empty spots.  Not sure if this is still the case, but this is what I was told.  Regardless, do apply and good luck! :)

Sorry  but...the things you have both said about sure start are wrong. the best thing to do is call the school and speak to the teachers. get the information from people who know -  Mrs. Rodriquez answered all my questions at the parent meeting last tuesday night - my friend can't get to the meeting and she met with her after school one day to explain how to get in....we don't need more rumors....

Sure Start is a wonderful program and much of what has been said in the previous posts is either incorrect or misinforming . 

K ~ I was told the information I reported here by one of the previous teachers, Ms. Boyd, so it wasn't a rumor (at least I would expect the truth coming from one of the Sure Start teachers).