Moving overseas can be a wonderful adventure, or a nightmare – depending on how everything goes. After all, it can be a huge adjustment moving to a foreign country, especially if you don’t have any friends or family there and don’t speak the language. There are a few things you can do to ensure that your move is as smooth as possible. Here are three tips for moving overseas with children:
1. Think About Their Education
Depending on your children’s age, you might make considerably different choices in terms of what to do about their education. If your children are young, let’s say under the age of 10, then they’re much more likely to adapt to being in a foreign country where there’s a foreign language. Obviously if you move to another country that speaks the same language, then the easiest way for them to adapt and make new friends, is to get them into a local school. However if your children are older, they may find it a lot harder to learn a new language. If this is the case for your family, then you might want to consider either homeschooling montreal or enrolling them in an international school with English based syllabus. While living overseas can offer your children a world of benefits, you do need to keep their education in mind when planning a move overseas.
2. Visit Before you Move
If I have one piece of advice, it is to visit before you move! Make sure where you’re headed really meets your expectations. You might have fallen in love with somewhere by viewing photographs or hearing what other people think about it, but the reality can be quite different. Planning an extended visit is a great way to get an idea of the realities of living somewhere, as well as getting a good grasp on what areas you might like to live in as well. I also suggest finding support groups in Facebook, such as “Expats in whatever City” to ask questions about the logistics about moving and living in a new city or country.
3. Learn Some of the Language First
If you’re planning to move somewhere where you don’t speak the language, then knowing at least some phrases will make everything so much easier. Learning a language often takes a lot longer than we would estimate – for example it’s taken me about two years to get a good grasp of Spanish, while I expected to be conversational in a matter of weeks. Learning some things before you go will make the transition much easier. Whether you learn via an app such as Duolingo, or pay for private classes, you’ll be so glad when you show up and can get by even if it’s with a few basic words. For more tips on moving overseas check out these companies. Don’t forget to include your children in the language learning – getting an au pair from the country you’re considering can be a great way for them to learn a lot before moving!
