Einschulungsuntersuchung

What a word, huh? Meaning: "School Enrollment Examination"


I know you're all always super interested in some of the "big differences" we experience here versus living in the States.  ;) And this is one of them. 


First, let's back track a bit.  You may recall that "elementary school" doesn't start until Grade 1 here.  When you're 6.  But, unlike in the States, it's the year you turn 6.  So, back home, the cutoff to begin "kindergarten" was turning 5 by mid-September/early October.  Usually.  Obviously there were exceptions district to district or even for the super advanced, or alternatively, you could choose to "hold back" your child for a year or so.  Not in Berlin.  Soooo, if your child was born anytime in 2009 (like Autumn) they will "have" to begin Grade 1 this fall.  However, rather than being one of the youngest in her class with her late August birthday like she was back home, she will be more towards the middle. 


The law has recently changed so parents used to be able to decide for themselves a little bit.  We have friends with a daughter born in late 2008 and they chose not to start her in Grade 1 until this year with Autumn.  But, this is the last year that this will be allowed in Berlin.  Unless "Berlin" decides your child is not ready.  And that's where the Einschulungsuntersuchung comes in.


All children set to start Grade 1 must visit the government's Kinder- und Jugendgesundheitsdienst (Child- and Adolescent Health Services) for a school readiness evaluation.  And yesterday was Autumn's.  I didn't tell her she'd be missing school and left it to be a happy surprise.  We spent the morning snuggling on the couch watching a little TV and I cleaned the flat for small group later in the day.  And then we headed for the amazingly beautiful Rathaus Charlottenburg (Charlottenburg Town Hall). 








The place was massive, so I decided to ask for help in locating office 43a....but, as we've found with most government "officials", they don't/won't/can't speak English.  No matter:  I can now say "43a" auf Deutsch (I couldn't when we moved here) and easily understand his "through this door, down, and left" instructions accompanied by hand motions and a whistly "down" sound effect. 


We found the office and again, found that the woman we encountered did not speak English.  I basically said Autumn's first and last name and held out the required form I'd brought along.  But she didn't understand Autumn's name till I said it again more like a German would pronounce it "Ah-toom Zetserrr" and then she was like, "Ja. Ja.  Hereinkommen." So we kommen'd in here. ;)  I handed her the form and the vaccination record from the U.S.A. and when she struggled with what she wanted to say next I told her that Autumn could speak a little German....  So she turned to Autumn and spoke very slowly and clearly and, obviously in German, said, "Hello, Autumn.  I am Frau B__.  I would like you to draw me a picture of ....." and she lost me after that.  But Autumn listened, nodded her understanding, and went and sat to draw the Bild Frau B had requested.  I know I should probably no longer be surprised with Autumn and her German skills, but I'm sorry, I'm still continually impressed by what she knows.  It is still so trippy to hear her understand something I can't understand or respond in a way I can't respond, you know?  She's 5!  I have to explain English vocab to her all the time still, but in German?  She's got us all beat and it continues to blow me away. 




While Autumn drew her picture, I was given another form to fill out. In German, of course. And guess what: my battery on my phone was nearly dead which turns off my "mobile data access"...access I need if I'm going to use my translating apps. Ack! However, I was so proud of myself that I was able to fill out almost all of it without any translating. How far I've come! When we moved here, I would have gotten through Name, Vorname, and Geburtstag (birthday) and probably not much else. But this time, I could gather so much more from context clues, even if I couldn't translate exactly word for word. So, on the health survey when they're asking me if she's had "Windpocken" (chicken pox, apparently), I might not know exactly what they'd asked, but I knew I could safely answer "nein" as she's never really had anything. I could see the word for "heart" and again, know I could assume it meant some sort of heart troubles, and I didn't know the word for brain (Gehirn) but, given the context and the Epilepsie written in parenthesis after the word...again, I was able to confidently know what I was answering "no" to. If I had seen this same form 10 months ago, it would have felt so much more overwhelming and impossible. Yay progress!

It asked about both her mother and Vater's levels of education, whether we work part or "whole" time or why I don't work, siblings first names and birth years, if anyone in the house smoked, how much TV or video games she was exposed to each day, whether "mein Kind" has it's own television (Gar nicht!!), how long she's been at a Kindergarten and which one...and I did it! I did it, people!!! :D

Meanwhile, there's Autumn just carrying on entire conversations and following instructions over in the other part of the room with Frau B. But she can't read any of it...I've got her there. ;)

She was asked to remove her shoes and sweater so they could do her height and weight. She was told she could put them back on and asked if she wanted help with her buttons (I understood all that!). She checked her hearing and did some eye stuff.


When she was checking for color blindness, she was showing her pictures to see if Autumn could see the object within all the dots, right? And she'd be all over there in German responding, "a flower (eine Blume), a car (ein Auto), a dog (ein Hund), a bunny (ein Häschen), a turtle (??), a butterfly (ein Schmetterling)..." and then one she didn't answer. And I knew it wasn't because she suddenly couldn't see the image, it's because she didn't know how to say "crab" in German. So, while I mostly tried to stay out of it like I'm sure I was supposed to, I just had to be all, "Was ist es in Englisch, Autumn?" and "Crab" is indeed quite close to "Krabbe" so Frau B could give her "exactly" (Genau!) response with a smile.

Shortly after that, a side door opened and--surprisingly--another person took us over in to the next room. For whatever reason, though, Autumn had a much harder time communicating with this woman. Luckily, this woman--presumably a doctor/psychologist of some sort--had decent enough English and she explained to me she was asking Autumn if she was ill. And I gave her a look like, "What?" and added, "She's healthy. She is not ill." And she was like, "So is her voice always like this? It is unusual." Huh. Really?! I was like, "Well, she is suddenly being a little shy (she was talking sort of babyish) but yeah, that is how her voice sounds. She is healthy today." Ha! She also looked at the "6 months" answer I wrote for how long she'd been in a Kindergarten and went, "Well that explains much" (of how suddenly "bad" Autumn got at German). She showed Autumn some logic sorts of puzzles and Autumn was being a complete (and obvious) goob with them and not paying any attention at all. She was asked to copy a few images with a pencil and paper (she did so-so, she'd much rather draw her own creations, she's got nothing to prove--all our kids are like this. Why?! Little Kwiti was such a show off. :D). She was asked to quickly count some objects on flash cards (she did well) and a few other similar activities. Then the doctor-type demonstrated a two-footed jump back and forth over a line and asked Autumn to do it while she timed her. She had Autumn undress to check her heart and tummy and ears and teeth and spine. Autumn said, "Well this is inappropriate" (about taking off her clothes, ha ha ha). After Autumn re-dressed the doctor said, "I am going to say some fantasy words and you say them back" and Autumn was all, "I don't know any fantasy words" and so I explained, "Autumn, I think she is going say some made-up words like 'flibberty gibbit' and you repeat what she says" and the doctor was like, "Make-up??? Fantasy words: words that do not exist? 'Made up'?" and I explained yes, that's how you would say it to a child in English, versus "fantasy words". And at that point, Autumn was sort of done with all this boringness and sort of half-arsed her way through repeating after the doctor. But the doctor could see she was bright enough and just getting bored and said, "Even though she is small and being a little shy, I think she will be ready for school. We will give the results to this school" and sent us on our way.

I had planned to make the rest of Autumn's day off sort of special. I miss hanging out with just her (or just any one of my kids, really) so we went to get some lunch at a restaurant. My mom used to do this with us sometimes, like if we had an orthodontist appointment during the school day or something, she'd take just the one of us to Burger King or something first. Anyway, I had packed her some stuff to eat and we went to a Spätzle place for me. So yum.


I told her I had a surprise when we finished our lunch and she knew I had some sort of "treat" in mind and indeed I did: it was to go get a couple of churros next door, like we'd had in Spain.


Then we headed home and made cookies together as that's something she really loves to do with me, but doesn't often get the chance anymore. We made some of those no-bake chocolate oatmeal cookies to share with our small group that night:


She was so excited about "two treats?!" as most days we don't even get one big dose of sugar like that. :D

Not too much later we headed off on my bike to get her brothers from school. A school we now have confirmation she is "ready" to attend in a few short months.