applying early for English daycare

[Vesta-Minerva]

Ive been teaching English kindergarten in Espoo and Ive just finished for maternity leave.

The English kindergartens I know off do have a waiting list of around 3 years, but are worth the wait!

They also wont take the children until they are 3 and in my experinece they need to be out of nappies so you may need to wait for your youngest one anyway.

But the native speakers and their children have different status in daycare (even in English) and they will be S2 -children. (S2 is Suomi toisena kielenä, Finnish in second language)

Native speakers can put they children in daycare where the spoken language is English in 9 months old.

[Sara]

Im not sure if youre asking a question or making a statement, as there is a typo I guess.

I do not know of any English speaking kindergartens around Espoo and Helsinki that take young children. The age limit for all of them is 3, generally due to resources, insurance etc, not the language ability. Over the years Ive worked in 3 kindergartens here and have been involved with many others so I know the age limit from experience.

Finnish daycares do take younger children regardless of spoken language.

If you know of a English daycare that takes children younger than 3 please let us know as Im sure some parents would be very happy to use it

[Hank W.]

The definition of "native" is the language you curse in when you hit your thumb with a hammer.

Darn, that makes me occasionally cosmopolitan. Finnish definitely.

Or, if you think in words, it's the language you automatically think in or talk to yourself in... or argue with yourself in.

Ah, but that switches.

Outclassed by a two-year-old! He might as well have patted me on the back and told me, "Nevermind, it's a difficult language to learn!"

They start young don't they?