Preschools and a few more bilingualism resources

I met with the director of one preschool last week and am currently being blown off by the one I'm more interested in. Both are private bilingual preschools. Private because every regular preschool in our area of Prague is full. Bilingual because if I have to pay for a private school, why not go bilingual?

The theory is that this will help ease K's transition into Czech society and school system, being taught partly in Czech and partly in English, so she doesn't have the shock of all Czech, all the time when she doesn't understand the language very well. I also wonder if it may slow her acquisition of Czech, especially given the dynamic of Czech kids trying to learn English. However, I ALSO wonder if a gentler transition to a new language environment - avoiding trauma related to language or going to school - will make the slower rate of acquisition worth it in the end. Maybe we could then merge into a regular school next year.

I guess I'll have more information once school #2 bothers to respond to my e-mail. I called them last week while in Prague but they said they were out for the week and call back this week. This week's phone conversation:

"Hi, I called you last week about a place in your school..."
"OK, send us your CV."
"My what? You want me to send you my what?"
"Your CV."
"Whyyyyyyy....should I send you my CV??"
"So we can see what kind of experience you have."
"What does my CV have to do with my daughter attending your school? HOW EXCLUSIVE ARE YOU PEOPLE ANYWAY???"
"...so you aren't applying for a job?"
"Erm, no. Not this week."

*sigh*

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Just a couple of links I thought might be of interest:

Multilingual Mania is a fun blog I've linked to once before. The blog author is a bilingual education coordinator in California, so it's from a US and Spanish language point of view, but you've got a lot of good information and principles on bilingual education, schools, teaching, and so on.

Multilingual Living is a very nice resource by an American mom raising her kids with her non-native German (and their dad's native German), but the site covers a whole range of family and language patterns. I was particularly intrigued by bilingual homeschooling. I can't quite picture convincing the Czech authorities to go for that, but I can at least follow this advice at home.

Also, this isn't exactly related to multilingualism, but Filth Wizardry is full of absolutely amazing projects with and for preschoolers. The rocket is so wonderful it makes me cry a little. And start saving boxes.