Looking for Good School (Instruction in Arabic) for my Kids

I am also looking for an Arabic immersion school for my child, though she will be in preschool. We will be living in Maadi. Hopefully someone can provide recommendations....

Hi Umsami and Kate! Welcome to the blog.

Well, you see, the education system in Egypt has a very profound disparity.

First of all, the Egyptian system, as in curricula and exams, is awful, and all public schools are a complete mess.

This compelled people to try to find alternatives. And unfortunately, these alternatives would HAVE to be private schools, which have to be expensive. And because of the problems in the system itself, private schools seek to implement other foreign systems, mainly British, French, Deutsche and American.

So parents will eventually have to resort to these radically different systems from day one at schools, without the Egyptian problems in every bit from education in classes to curricula to exams to even correction and results. Like the British system  offered by the BISC (British international school, Cairo), American system by the AIS (American international school), German system by the DEO (Deutsche evangelische oberschule), and the "Bac français" by LFC (Lycée français du caire). The American system is pretty much optionally present in many private schools these days, not necessarily American.

Unfortunately, all these schools' Arabic education is very little. But they provide the best education in all of Egypt. Some of them, like DEO, provide the Egyptian system but it would be pointless to pay all this money to receive this kind of education, without any sense of culture.

There is a midway solution, if you want your children to have a good deal of their education in Arabic. Which is, sending your children to a private school, but which has the Egyptian system, but i know not of ANY private schools which teach in Arabic. And to be honest i don't believe there is.

And as i tell you, public schools are a complete mess. Your child won't learn anything. Not that only, kids are of very low class and it would be a horrible experience, and the numbers: oh my god the numbers: a class with 60 children for example. It's inhuman.

Private schools which has the Egyptian system teach religion (Islam or Christianity), History and Geography and something called "National cultivation" in Arabic, besides teaching Arabic language and literature. But science (biology, chemistry, physics) and maths would be in the 1st language of the school be it English, French or German, besides of course the 1st language and literature, and a second language. In these schools, dealing and communication is in Arabic, and your child will probably be the only foreigner or in a very few group, so he will have to talk and communicate with other kids.

And unfortunately i don't know about fees in the schools, i only know about their categories: which is more expensive.

List of very good English first language schools that i can recall now:

Misr language school http://www.mls-egypt.org/
Manor house school
Alsun language school  http://als.edu.eg/eng/indexen.htm
Dar El Tarbeya

All of the above schools have an American section by the way.

French schools:

College de la sainte famille
College de La salle
Oasis da maadi http://www.oasisdemaadi.com/english/index_en.aspx

German:

DSB (Deutsche schule der borromäerinnen)

Of course there are many more, but these are the ones which popped into my mind right now.

And i don't know about your criteria: how much are you willing to pay? And what are your priorities? I tried to cover all aspects of choosing a school.

You can check this site too:
http://madaresegypt.com/Default.aspx?lang=en

Good luck with your quest It's tough even for Egyptians Have a nice day

Thanks for the great information MagnumJoe. I was really hoping to find a school where my daughter could "pick up" Arabic, if it is possible to do so But I see that perhaps a better option would be a French or German school where she would still learn a second language and also receive a high-quality preschool experience. Thanks again.

Oh damn forgot to tell you something important

DSB is girls only, DEO is mixed.

All French schools i mentioned Except Oasis de Maadi (which is mixed) are boys only, lol. Their equivalent are:

College de la mère de dieu
College du sacré cœur.

If you want my personal recommendation, it's DSB. Girls i know from there are perfect in every sense: Well educated, open minded, successful, well mannered, and know how to have fun. It's a very healthy school.

But both of the French schools are better in terms of "Arabification" They have a better sense of Egyptian Culture. So you have to decide which you want more.

And you are welcome I am glad to help

Thanks! I was actually just looking at DSB. It does look good! It is difficult to wade thru these websites in French/German/Arabic as an English speaker... thankfully my browser can do a rough translation!

Asalamu Alaykom,

I am a teacher from America living and working in Egypt.  My son came to Egypt at age 4 with very little Arabic.  He is now bi-lingual.  He went to an International School---in fact one which you listed, Joe. 

Moving from overseas is very traumatic.  While grown-ups think of the fun adventure, children are very lost for at least two months.  The literally are cocooning and do not transition into outgoing normal kids again until they feel safe.  In my opinion, Umsami, your older children, at grade 2 and 3, are not going to do as well as your KG child (and USAKate's Pre-K kid).  NOTE:  ages 4 are KG1 while age 5 is KG2. 

They will have difficulties with the written Arabic for sure.  Unless you have a VERY dedicated Arabic-literate family member at home, you will have to get a tutor for their homework everyday...and there is A LOT of Arabic homework.

As a teacher, I don't see any benefit to taking them to a foreign country where people speak Arabic and putting them in a French or German school.  That's THREE languages and a complete overload---since theyr'e dealing with culture shock too. 

I recommend an American school like MLS where the main language is English (their comfort zone).  Don't kid yourself, the other children will speak Arabic every chance they get.  The nannies and lower-paid staff will speak it exclusively.  The Egyptian teachers will say Arabic often.  Plus, they'll get Arabic as a subject (where they'll learn PROPER Arabic---not the kid's Egyptian street Arabic). 

Please be careful with how you proceed.  MOST SERIOUSLY, if you do not treat these change in the children's lives as the focus of your life during the next school year, you will have severe problems...and not just in the short term but in the long term. 

I teach immersion English and it's a tricky deal.  Very few teachers know how to teach foreign language effectively to small children.  This is DOUBLY true for Egyptian teachers who tend to be authoritative lecturers rather than guiding co-learners . You will have to do a lot at home (books, games, conversation, TV and that tutor) to pad their learning.

I wish you the best.

I would whole heartedly agree with the comments above.
Don't even think of a 'local' school - it is a no-go area!
Also I would ahve said that even an EGyptian system school would be very difficult - again for the reason mentioned above - but also the curriculum is very very different and is not so global.
It is tricky coming to a new country - and you have to remember everything has changed for the children so you need to make the transition easier and to be honest they spend alot of time at school and they need to be happy.
My children go to an international school here - and the all speak Arabic now - their friends speak arabic to them - so in 12 months they are pretty fluent!

It is one thing speaking Arabic - but having to try and read / write in Arabic could put them back along way.  ANd the style of teaching here is very authoritarian, learning by rote, learning by repitition.  Also the standard of teaching isn't good - the teaxchers are lowly paid and make up their salaries by tutoring outsdie the class - so they teach less in the class.

ANother thing to consider is that unless you are going to spend the rest of your and your childrens life here - then you may go home at some point, or if the jobs dictates be an expat in another country - so sticking to the curriculum that is taught in your home country or at least one similar is by far the best option.  Your children can then at least go home and slot back into the system there with no problems becuase they will be on the same level and have the learnt the same things grade by grade, and also if you move countries again - the integration / slotting into an american school for example will be easier.

Hi Everyone! my daughter was just accepted at Oasis de Maadi, however, after that, we were told that they apply a 10% yearly increase, which is fine now, but would not be fine in a couple of years!! We want a very good education for our child but still without having to pay all this amount of money, life is not only about education. We were advised by friends that Sacre Coeur (Heliopolis/Ghamra) is one of the best among French schools. I don't know the curriculum there, and I don't know which is better: International OR National school with a possibility of BAC Francais instead of the Thanaweya amma.
Can you help?

thank you Bob Harmony... yes some people did recommend Lycee Francais.... But I heard it needs a LOT of recommendations for them to accept my daughter, and they do not teach Arabic or Religion... and is almost as expensive as Oasis....
My only concern about Sacre Coeur is that children are requested to do A LOT of studying at a very young age... which seems to be unfair...but typical for our Egyptian system of education... which is why, I sometimes feel that International schools would be better.... am sorry I sound so confusing!

hi, i would like to know the exact address for DSB kinder garden in maadi, can you please help me ?

Have a look here

http://www.dsbkairo.de/page.php?id=38