Any English speaking families on Guadeloupe?

hi

as far as i am concerned there are,  but i do not know if they members of expatblog. On my side i am an english speaker but i live in southern basse terre more precisely gourbeyre which is at extreme end to st francois. I have a 15 year old daughter currently studying at high school in the international section where they study in both english & french. i also have a 6 year old son. in basse terre there is my daughter's english teacher who is from UK & in my daughter's previous school there is a girl from UK.

we can keep in touch and if you need any advise, please let me know i would be happy to help if i can.

Thank you so much for your message, great to hear from you. Sounds like there are English speakers dotted around, do you know of an expat group we could go along to? I also have loads of questions, so hope you don't mind if I bombard you with them
We haven't decided yet in which area we would like to live, so could you tell me a bit about why you like living on Basse Terre, or where you think would be a good idea for us to live.
I also have some other questions about clothing as we need to decide what to bring with us. Should I bring cardigans? do you ever wear long-sleeved clothing? are closed toe shoes useful, or are sandals all you need?
Also, do you rent? Do you think it is better to go through an estate agent or are there lots of private landlords?
Are there activities for children like swimming lessons and ballet? If so, where would be a good place to find out about what there is?
And are there such things as playgroups where mums get together for younger pre-school children to meet and play?
I'd also like to take the children to french lessons, and I've found some french language schools in St Anne, are there any more we should contact? Or are there any private tutors you know of/ can recommend?
Thanks for helping us, it's a big step to take so any information is really useful.

A pleasure to help. I will try and answer all of your questions. I live in basse terre because my husband who is a native of Gpe is from Basse terre. When i first settled in Gpe in 2006, i did not want to be in BT because all of the main happenings (be it concerts, shows, major malls,  etc....) are on the grde terre, but i do not regret. It's a different landscape to grde terre. more mountainous, cooler, more tropical forest & more preserved. Grde terre is arid & flat. are you living in the BVI for now? . the landcape is nothing compared to BVI. GPE is vast & you are unlikely to get bored travelling. Most of the expats when i say expats, the french arriving from france tends to prefer grde terre, i mean gosier, ste anne, st francois, i guess because all the white sandy beaches are there. basse terre has black volcanic sand so attracts less of those who choose to travel for white sand. But nevertheless it is as developped in terms of infrastructure. however if you are to commute to work to jarry, pointe à pitre that's where most of the work is, so if you have a choice you will not opt for vieux habitants, bouillante, baillif or saint claude. But there are commuters from these areas. the roads in basse terre to pointe à pitre are excellent, fast lanes & in no less than 40 mins you are there during off peak hours. unlike st francois where there are no double lanes & which  is as far as basse terre. gosier , ste anne, lamentin are good locations to stay (beacuse of its proximity to jarry & pte à pitre) but traffic is terrible during peak hours.

climate wise, the weather gets really cool in dec to jan in the mornings so people do use cardigans, longs sleeves & pullovers especially if they are going out in the open air in the evenings & early mornings. In certain areas quilts are used in dec.
sandals, flipflops are frequently worn but most people especially the natives go to work quite classy.

activities for children are numerous, swimming classes, dance, sports, horse riding etc. no probs with that.

settling in,  it is adviseable to go through an estate agent to find a place to stay as soon as possible especially if you have to go for fully furnished rentals. Note that when you first arrive without payslips , with estate agents, rental may be quite difficult but fully furnished rentals with estate agents are easy when you do not have a payslip as the rental conditions are different.

how old are your kids? schools are in french so your kids will not need french classes as they will quickly swim through.Private tutors are  numerous but i do not think it will be really useful.  my son spent 1 year back in seychelles when he was 3, he did not speak a word of english, after only 3 to 4 months just watching tV & having to make himself understood, all the while being enrolled in a french school, by the the time he left he was no longer speaking french to me. In his first weeks he got back here he was having difficulty getting back to speaking french. Today he is  fluent in both eng & french.

do not hesitate if you have any other questions.

Thanks again, I really appreciate you taking the time to correspond. We have a few things to work out but your info is very useful towards making those decisions. If you'd like, I'll let you know how we get on with our plans in the future.

Hi there

I moved to Gwada 2 months ago and im so glad to find recent posts in English.

As for helping you out Rachnbar, my son flew the coop 2years ago so kids stuff are not my forte. the only thing I can add is that there is an English language group who meets each Wed at the Affirmatif restaurant and on Fridays at the Entre Ciel et Terre restaurant. Both are in le Gosier.

Ladies, id love to keep in touch!
xox

hi, my name is Fabrice and i am a french  chief ......anyway you 'll find a few people in Guadeloupe who can speak english coz in the caribeean there is people coming from all over the world and of course, the first language until you can speak french , so do not worry too much about that aspect. (Moderated: no free ad on the forum pls + register in the business directory)
                                         Respect in the pot : Fabrice Zelbin.

Hi, My name is Bryn

yes there are English speaking families here, I am part of one !.I am English and My partner is Guadeloupian so speaks French creole and English and my daughter is 6 and she speaks French and English. there seems to be a real desire for people to get their children speaking English so I am sure your children will soon make friends !,

Hi Bryn,
  i would like to organise an bbq on the beach with the english speaking people, so we can have some fun and discover each other cultures; how do you think  about it and how to set it up. In the case you are interested please do contact me on this nb:  0690 622 326.so we can hook up.

Hi ,

That sounds great but I am working/holiday back in the UK as from next Wednesday until early September but it is a great idea. start a thread with a date and time ( September is good for me !) and let people decide to come and maybe give an rsvp so we can get a number of how many English speaking families there is, even if they don't wish to come to the event,

regards


bryn

Thank you, this a gray idea and if you know a few friends would be interested please do not hesitate to give them my number and i hope we ll keep in touch.

Hi

Thanks for your reply, it's great to know we won't be total aliens.

Rachel

Hi Baliroom

How are you getting on settling into life on guadeloupe? We are arrving in August so excited to hear about how other people have found the settling in process.

Thanks
Rachel

Hi, we're a french family with two kids (11 and 3). We were in the uk for 7 years and in singapore 3 before moving to guadeloupe. Our daughter was borned in the uk so she was bilingual until we arrived here. Our youngest (a boy) doesn't speak english but will love to learn and have new playmates. We live in les Abymes and have family in st francois.
Currently we're in france on holiday and will be back home mid augut. Let us know if you want to meet. And welcome to Guadeloupe, it will be a nice home if you want to.
Natacha.

Fantastic, we are arriving next week so lots of packing and organisation happening this week. Will be in touch once we're established. Look forward to meeting up

Rachel and family

Hi

I'd love to meet up some time soon, we're busy driving all around the place trying to get a feel for somewhere we'd like to live. Any advice on places to rent would be greatly appreciated. Kids are loving swimming in the sea and are coping well with the increase in temperature. Thanks for getting in touch, maybe we can set up a play date in a few weeks?

Hi ,

I am in guadeloupe at the moment and wondered if there is a get togethern Gosier this week as it would be good to meet up with some english people ,

Cheers

Rachnbar - how did you get on? I am considering the move over - and in your chat below you make it sound wonderful  - can you let us know where you decided to live - and I would really appreciate any advice you have? what I really want is all your thoughts on renting and or buying - how do you think my 11 year old son who does not speak French would fare ? and Baliroom the same please - I am on F'book where there is an english chat group that seems to be run by a fab lady called Pauline. I can't find any information anywhere on cost of renting or buying houses etc - need a local ?

Hi

We lived between St Anne and St Francois and the children attended schools in St Anne. We rented a furnished 3 bedroom house for 1400 Euros per month which included taxes. There are lots of houses for rent on Le Bon Coin - a Guadeloupe ebay, so this would be a good place to start looking. We rented privately so we didn't have to pay agency fees for arranging the lease. We found prices in Guadeloupe pretty similar to buying or renting in the south of England, although the Euro/ pound exchange rates were increasingly favourable to us.
I liked the area where we lived, it's quite busy but not as busy as living closer to Pointe a Pitre, and the beaches in that area are good for swimming. Basse Terre is much more peaceful, but it is easy to drive around the island and reach most places for a day out so you won't miss out on experiences.
Our children survived going to school but it was difficult for them and I would only recommend doing it if you are very sure about it. The girls were speaking and understanding good French by the end of the year, but weren't bilingual.
Good luck with your plans

Thank you ! It's sounds like you are no longer there ? And that perhaps in some ways it was tough ? Prices sound reasonable and I will look at Le Bon Coin; I am not sure if anything at the moment and have been trying for a year to decide what to do or where to go !! I like the idea of the beauty of the islands and a life of less commercial 'stuff' but fear I am being 'romantic' and do worry about my son - did you find it generally safe ? I can go back to Australia which is the 'safe' option but feel I will never have 'done' the dream bit ??