Choosing an overseas preschool

Before we even got to Laos we thought that we would enrol Bea in some kind of school. At 2 years of age she was definitely ready for some experiences out of the home environment.

The main reason we wanted her to attend school was for her social development. Bea can be incredibly friendly around people she knows well, and the complete opposite to those who she does not know. This is her, and we love her for it. But a few encounters away from us, to see how other kids are interacting and playing together was a goal.

Finding a preschool overseas is tricky. Firstly, there is a real lack of information online, or information in general. Most of what we know about the schools here has been from work of mouth. At first glance you would think that only having a handful of schools to choose from would make the choice easier but in fact I beg to differ. Having only a few schools to choose from means that everyone we meet has a child at one of them and consequently has an opinion. Unlike in Auckland where every child was undoubtedly at a different place, this makes for more comparisons.

The other difficulty was that they all had pros and cons. Resources, language, expenses (a lot more than standard kindergartens in Australia/ NZ), quality of teachers, teaching methods etc. In Vientiane there are a handful of international schools, including Vientiane international school (VIS) but Bea is too young for any of their kindergarten classes. So that left us with essentially 3 main choices: 2 Montessori schools and a french school. All three of them had something we liked and something we didn't like. And all of them have issues with training, and certification.

In the end we enrolled Bea in the French preschool for a couple of reasons.

1. It was a pretty nurturing environment
2. Most of the kids were 2 years old (at the Montessori there were 6 year olds and we thought Bea would be a bit intimidated)
3. The main teacher speaks fluent French, English and Lao so although the bulk of group activities are in French there is someone who could explain things to Bea in English if need be.
4. The outdoor area has a lot of shade
5. Bea might just pick up a little bit of french!

Bea has now been at the school for over a month and so far so good. She can now count to ten in 4 languages (English, Spanish, French and Lao FYI) and is constantly singing songs in French (although we have no idea what she is saying so cannot correct her mumbled lyrics!) She is still shy and is often stuck to the teachers hip but she enjoys the time there and is excited when she comes home.

Would you enrol your children in a school that has a language other than your own?