Brave Emily

So living in our apartment is one brave little girl! Emily, Mom and I went to the school to day to enroll Emily into the Austrian school system. We met the principal and one of her English teachers. Emily (and I) were nervous! But the principal was so nice and helpful and Emily's teacher was so kind and delighted to have her, that it looks like this may work. She starts tomorrow! I don't know what I expected, but all yesterday I kept wondering if this was too much to put on a little girl. To throw her into a foreign classroom, in a school that uses a language not her own, with students who would accept her (or not) in unpredicted ways, all made me doubt our wisdom in doing this. However, her teacher, Prof. Streicher, speaks fluent English and was so kind and made Emily feel so at home I had my first inkling that this might turn out to be a very positive life changing event. The students had actually been told about Emily's joining them, and when Prof. Streicher opened the door to introduce Emily, the children, catching a glimpse of Emily through the crack in the door, began excitedly whispering and pointing and in a way that expresses excitement and novelty. She then brought Em to the front of the class and introduced her completely in English. Emily just beamed. So it begins. I expect there are many challenges ahead, and probably not a few tears, as the reality of attending a German speaking school sets in but Emily is very brave just to make the attempt. But what a fun school. They swim for two hours a week, have sports, learn to play the Guitar, and she will even take a class I woodworking. They have four hours of English a week (I'm thinking she should do pretty well in that class). It is likely this will be a very challenging experience. I'm sure it will be. We recognize, still, this may not work. And we are ready to home school Emily if this turns into a very negative and destructive experience, but we are off to a hopeful start.

Emily also is in essentially 'High School.' Meaning that unlike in the US with Middle School, it is at grade five that the students split into two tracks. One that leads to a technical track and the other, called the Gymnasium, leads to the university. At age 10 they have to make a decision of which track they take, and they must pass tests to get into the Gymnasium. At Emily's new school, one of these Gymnasium schools, she is there with students aged 10 to 18. At this age she does not go to separate classes with different students, but remains with her class the whole day, but they do have different teachers for each class period and change rooms. The Austrian schools are much more difficult that American schools. If Emily completed all 8 years here, she would at the end have learned 2 to 4 more additional languages, and mathematics at the level equivalent to the general education math expected at BYU. Also required of Catholic students is two hours a week of religious instruction. Emily got out of that because she is Mormon, but maybe a couple hours a week with nuns would really improve her German? And this is a state school. There are still things that surprise me in a state which has an official religion.