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Private schools around Ajijic


cedros

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Because of the very cold winter a niece from Toronto would like to come here this fall with her two children. A boy going into grade 7 and a girl into grade 4. She wonders what good schools are available for a semester. Does anyone know the private schools and their ratings?

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Do the children already speak and read Spanish? If not, a semester here will set them back in their schooling. Our daughter decided she was going to move to Cabo until she finally spoke to the administrator of one of the private schools there who told her the same thing that I had been telling her ... which was ... expect your child to lose about 12 to 18 months while they learn Spanish and then catch up what they missed. And, she was also told that, no, even though English is spoken the children are expected to learn in Spanish. Our son and daughter-in-law found this out about 8 years ago when they decided to also move here. Their daughters have remained the 12 to 18 months behind others their age in the States. If you don't mind losing the time and believe the experience justifies it ... then great. Hopefully the children will feel the same. However, one semester is probably not recommended. You can use the search in the upper right for this forum and find discussion about this topic.

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Lots of private schools, some very high standard of education, some even let's the student take the tests home (oh the kids get good grades but eventually this catches up.) I know of one family that changed school to have their kids get higher education and their kids always received 10s, now they do not because the level is higher. It is much harder to catch up the higher grade you start at.

It all depends what kind of school they came from, their grades and desire to learn a new language. It is much easier to learn at a young age.

Not all schools are equal. Private schools locally are bilingual. Good luck in your decision

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These two kids don't speak or read Spanish but they study French. They are bright kids. Are there any schools that teach at least partly in English?

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Young folks adjust quite quickly to language something us older folks do not. I watched a kid finish all five units of Rosetta stone in two months. My wife is working on unit five after three years and she took Spanish before that. Kids are much more flexible language learning wise than we are.

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I would suggest you take a drive to the new school that was just built on the north side of the Libriamiento to talk to them there. It's called International academy. Talk to Lily. They have the IB program ( International Baccalauriat) which noone else in the area has that. Terranova on the west end of Ajijic is good as well. Talk to Mr. Joseph Blum there. I think its an excellent idea to expose your kids to life in mexico at an early age. They will pick up some spanish rapidly but in only one semester not enough to feel comfortable unless they already have another language under their belts and their brains are used to thinking in more than one language. Maybe they could be homeschooled and take a few fun classes at the school like phys ed. Cedros if you want to send me your phone number i can call you to talk more about this in about a week and a half from now.

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Yes, it is a very good idea to go to the schools and talk to the administrators directly. Be sure to let them know that this is going to only be for a semester and see what advise they give you as they are the experts. The private school that our granddaughter was going to attend did teach a portion of the day in English because the Mexican children have to take English (at least they did in this school). However, they would have separated our granddaughter from the other children for much of the day to "emerse" her in Spanish.

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We arrived here 3 yrs ago, our child was 8 when we placed him in a private all Spanish speaking school here in Chapala where we live. If they are only going to be here 6 months or so, I would suggest you put their academics on the back burner (bring plenty of interesting english books to read) and let them concentrate on soaking up the culture and language. I would recommend an all spanish school over a bilingual. A bilingual school will only hinder their learning of Spanish in my opinion. Also, you will be surprised how quickly they will pick up the language if they are surrounded by kids that only speak Spanish. In 6 months they will be getting along quite well, perhaps not fluent, but they should be understanding most things and be able to express themselves easily. When they get back to Canada, the little bit that they get behind will be balanced out by the fact that they will be on the way to being fluent in Spanish. Don't forget that kids that learn Spanish or French have much higher vocabularies in English than those of their monolingual peers.

Food for thought.

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We looked into this. The bet solution found was to enroll the kids partial day in the local school so they have friends. Activites and exposure and then hire a retired US teacher to home school them via one of the many internet schools available.

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| am curious about Terranova, if anybody has their kids attending this school, what is your opinion. I guess I really just want to know if it is worth the money. We have a child attending a private school in Chapala, he has been there now 3 years, we are basically happy with it, but feel there might be better options out there. Spelling tests and vocabulary tests seem to be nonexistent, they claim that they are pushing reading, but we are not exactly impressed. I assume part of that is due to their really poor libraries which would also include the Chapala Public Library. Wouldn't it be awesome if we could encourage enough expats to donate old or purchase new books, preferably in Spanish, to give to the public library?

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So there are at least 4 private schools-Tuhui, Loyala, Terranova, and International Academy. Are they all bilingual?

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Yes they are bilingual, some of them more than others .

Tohui-Mocel has native American teachers for their English class , I do not know about the others.

Half of the day is English and the other half is Spanish, and kids aren't taught not just the English language, but science, math and other subjects in English.

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  • 4 months later...

Can Any One Provide Me With Contact Information For Tohui and MoceL, An Terranova School.

My Family And I Are Moving To Ajijic In June Of 2015 With A 15, 12, 3, And 1 Year Old. And Are Interested In Contacting Directors At These Schools. I Have Spoken With The Director At International Institute, But Have Not Been Able To Find Direct Contact Information For Any Of The Other Schools.

Also, I Am Hoping To Work For One Of The Schools. If Anyone Has Any Information, In Regards To Teaching In The Ajijic Area, I Would Greatly Appreciate Your Feedback.

Thank you.

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Can Any One Provide Me With Contact Information For Tohui and MoceL, An Terranova School.

My Family And I Are Moving To Ajijic In June Of 2015 With A 15, 12, 3, And 1 Year Old. And Are Interested In Contacting Directors At These Schools. I Have Spoken With The Director At International Institute, But Have Not Been Able To Find Direct Contact Information For Any Of The Other Schools.

Also, I Am Hoping To Work For One Of The Schools. If Anyone Has Any Information, In Regards To Teaching In The Ajijic Area, I Would Greatly Appreciate Your Feedback.

Thank you.

http://www.tohuimocel.edu.mx/

http://www.institutoterranova.com.mx/

Easy with Google.

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Your niece might want to check out whether distance education is available from Ontario. It is for kids who are traveling- they can do their normal semester curriculum, online, and as long as they pass, will go directly back into their correct level on their return to Canada. It requires that they spend several hours a day on their schoolwork (when my daughter was on it in grade 9 it took her about 3 hours a day to complete) and the parent may have to crack the whip to ensure that their kids put that time in every day instead of running off to do something fun. I made it mandatory that she get the work done every day before she was allowed to do anything else. When my daughter did it (that was about 17 years ago now) there was no cost involved.

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Holly76, I spent a lot of time researching and trying to find information online about the bilingual choices of private schools in Ajijic. From the US I could not contact Tohui-Mocel by internet. There was never a response from them to any email address I could scare up. When I asked them in person they said they were having an administrative change. Instituto Terranova responded pretty quicky to my emails answered all my questions and even called me in the states to confirm my email address. The Terranova facebook page is better than their website that is posted here.These two schools are on the same street north of the main highway in Ajijic.

I flew to Ajijic to tour the schools in July 2014. I also visited Loyola just east of town. I did not go to the International school because we will not have a car here and it was further out. My son is now enrolled in Terranova and starts Monday.

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