Olena, our two started at a local school in Austria with almost no German, and a few things made a real difference. We visited the school together before the first day, walked the route, found the toilets and the classroom, so nothing on day one was completely new. We gave the teacher a single page with a few words about each child: what they like, what makes them anxious, and one or two phrases in Italian that calm them down. And we taught them five sentences: I need the toilet, I don't understand, can you show me, I'm hungry, I don't feel well. That was enough to get through the first week.
Olena Kravchenko ⭐ Helpful member
11 Aug 2026, 17:54
Sofiia, my daughter, is eight. She starts at a local primary school in Cork at the end of the month. She has some English from school in Ukraine, but it's classroom English, and she is very quiet with people she doesn't know.
The school has been kind, and they have an extra language support teacher. But I am worried about the first week: lunch, the playground, not understanding the teacher, other children. She says she's fine, which is what she always says.
For parents who put a child into a school where they didn't speak the language well: what helped in the first week? Is there anything I should prepare with her now, or anything I should ask the school before the first day?