Here in Switzerland there is no specific preschool for kids before they enter Kindergarten. Kids here go to their first year of Kindergarten when they are 5 years old. (And they do 2 years of Kindergarten.) So, in order to prepare kids for entering school, many parents put their kids in Spielgruppen. (Playgroups) These groups usually meet a couple mornings a week and have similarly aged kids. Basically it's a chance for the kids to play together with other kids and go through a preschool-like curriculum (singing songs, crafts, free play, playground time, etc.)
I felt it was time for Brady to join a Spielgruppe to get some opportunities to play with new kids and to help teach him more about sharing, etc. We did several visits to Spielgruppen and after some thought, picked one that a woman who ran the daycare Brady attended while I was doing my German lessons told me about. She also runs this particular Spielgruppe and we really like her. (Both Brady and I). Brady's playgroup is run in Swiss German, but unlike a few other groups I checked out, the leaders do speak English. (I just wanted to have the English background in case Brady said something in English, or for my own crutch in case my German failed me.) There are several bi-lingual playgroups, but they are very far away and didn't offer what we were looking for. There are also bi-lingual daycares, but in most cases your child had to be present for a minimum of 2 full days a week or 3 half days. I didn't really feel this much time was necessary.
So, we picked our group and Brady started 3 weeks ago. The first day, I stayed with him the full time. It was a very nice group of about 8 children. Parents are very involved in the group. The parents stay for the first 15 minutes of the group and sing the welcome songs with the children. One parent a week stays and helps out until right after lunch. So, it's a great way to meet all the other kids your child is playing with and to see how the group runs. The parents are also "officers" for the group i.e. financial officer, secretary, etc.
Brady has now had 2 days in the group by himself and has done very well. He now sings the welcome songs around the house and has even started saying more German. He occasionally says, "Nein" or "Ja". He's even said, "Mommy, my noodles are heiss." (hot) I think it's been a great opportunity for both of us and I'm excited to see how the rest of the year goes.
On a related note, it's amazing to me (again) how different Swiss German and German are. (I've made comments about this before.) The group leader hands out song sheets each week for the songs we sing. I can't even pretend to pronounce the words. For example, here are the words for the song Brady likes the best, "Schiffli Fahre" (boat ride):
Schiffli fahre
ufem See
ha-n-i schöni
Sache gseh
chunnt e Wind
und
chunnt e Schturm
gheit das
schöne Schiffli
UM!
Most of these words are NOT German. And the spellings don't even amount to anything sound-wise in High German. So, it's been interesting to say the least. The other parents in the group know that I can't speak Swiss German and have been very helpful in speaking High German to me (and oftentimes very slowly!). But they seem very supportive of me and Brady...and have made us feel very welcome. I'm very excited about this new chapter and Brady has been very excited about "school" when each Tuesday rolls around.