Malta - British Expat Forum

We are moving to Gozo for a trial run - hopefully in October - for 2 months. We have 2 boys aged 10 and 8, and would like them to go to the school in Xaghra. What is it like? What are the problems with language - we have been told that subjects are taught in English, as are textbooks. Hopefully they are young enough to absorb and learn Maltise, quickly -I have enough problems pronouncing place names!

I've moved this to the "schools/education" board

ps there is a thread on pronouncing place names
http://www.britishexpat.com/expatforum/malta/viewtopic.php?t=9145

From the experience i have had whilst looking at schooling in Malta/Gozo i came to the conclusion that state schooling is generally taught in Maltese (barring mathmatics).

This is why i have decided upon private schooling for my kids as they as far as i am aware teach only in English.

This is also the reason for me not moving to gozo but going to Malta as i couldnt find any private schools in Gozo.

I couldnt bear for my 11 year old to go into a school where the primary language will be Maltese and he doesnt at present speak a word of it the upheaval from the UK will be enough stress for him to cope with let alone being the strange English boy in a new school, at least with the schools i have been looking at they have quite a large number of non Maltese Kids at them.

my 2 cents

In the village / town where we live, it is really surprising that so many local children / teenagers ( in fact parents as well ) have difficulty conversing in English. Of course this is Malta / Gozo, and Maltese is the first language, but English is supposedly the second language.
Our Gozitan friends feel that it is important that their children speak English as well, so they send their children for private English lessons.

Hi

We are looking at moving to Gozo next year and wanted to know if you have any updates to english teaching public schools there?

Hi Jackieb, and welcome to the forum

sorry can't help you with this query, but I'm sure someone will be able to help as several of our members have children at school in Gozo

Thought I would reply to this old thread rather than start a new one on the same topic.
My two children, aged 4 and 8 has recently started Xaghra school in yrs 1 and 4.
My son in year 1 has a lovely teacher who translates everything in english both written and spoken for him (and me). He seems to be doing really well, most of his friends speak Maltese and very little English, but they communicate and he still speaks to them all, he seems very settled.
My 8 yr old daughter in year 4, is having is having a different experience. Because of the level of Maltese in year 4 is higher, she now has separate maltese lessons with the 'complimentary' teacher 3 times a week. For the rest of her lessons the teacher explains it in English. Apart from religion.
It is early days,Tom is settled but I'm not altogether happy with my daughters teaching, so am playing it by ear.
I have found a couple of lessons on you tube which go through the Maltese alphabet, numbers and basic words, I get the kids to listen and repeat these daily to help them and me.
I'd be interested to hear other people's experiences in Malta state schools.

Hi Sarahc
we have just returned from Gozo and at the moment think that Xhagra would be a great place for us to settle but its early days for us and we are hoping to move there next year. Are you settled there and have you met many xpats living in Xhagra? We have an 11 year old son so have concerns about him settling in to state school there. I would be very interested to hear of your experience of Gozo life... warts and all! Hope its working out for you there. This english weather is terrible!
Jx

Hi Jay, and welcome to the forum

There are probably close to 2,000 expats living in Gozo - at a guess 10% in Xaghra

Hi Jay.
I thinkwe are all settled here in Xaghra, we are moving in a few weeks to a house in xaghra as we love living in this village and it is convenient to our lives.
6 months ago we actually changed the children's school, they now go to the state school in Victoria. Year 1 teacher was great with my son, but my 9 year old daughter was having problems in class, she has always loved school and learning but she started taking loads of reading books to school and on investigating why, it appeared that in certain lessons she was just reading her own books, whether this was down to her not trying in class or her teacher not bothering, we never conclusively found out. But on trying to tackle this issue with the schooled got nowhere, the deputy head was helpful but no one else seemed bothered, so after various meetings at the school we decided to change schools, we have friends who's kids go to Victoria and seem happy with it.
At the very first meeting with the deputy head and then the headmistress we were completely won over, they had things in place to deal with foreign children and typical problems they encounter.
On saying that we have friends who are foreign and their kids are settled at Xaghra school.
You will have no problems with meeting people once over here, there are plenty of helpful, friendly people around that are willing to help and advise where necessary. We already knew quite a few people here before we moved here so that helped and also a job to step in to so life carried on as normal just in a different country.

We all love living here and there isn't much I miss about Uk, apart from TV and grass ( but for our walking barefoot on grass fix we go to Villa Rundle in Victoria)

If you are seriously considering moving here then I would suggest you join this forum as a full member as the information is invaluable.

Just to add we currently live in an apartment but have found it very noisy and have managed to find a great house in Xaghra in a quieter area.

Hi Sarahc
Thank you so much for your thorough reply! Not sure which school youre refering to but I know there is a new secondary school in Victoria thats next to the sports centre? We have some obsticles before moving but are working towards it. I did wonder if it would be worth fully joining here, so thank you for mentioning that too. I have registered on ETC government job website and am watching Malta times vacancies section, dont know where else to look but I think most jobs are advertised on one or the other. I'm really glad the new school has worked out for your children as it can be such a worry.
Best wishes and thanks again,
Jay

What sort of work are you looking for?

thankyou Mark.
All advice is very welcome. Whilst in Gozo last week, we were told we can only take a car in that has a full service history and owned for three years... is that right please? not sure where on here I can ask this question. Also I saw a refueling socket for an electric car in Xhagra I think and would like to find out more about car availability there, if thats an option?
Thanks again
Jay

we were told we can only take a car in that has a full service history and owned for three years... is that right please? " better asked on the motoring forum, but in a word, no