First time moving to Colorado Springs!! (Denver, Pueblo: for sale, rentals, houses)

[romy]

My husband and I will be moving soon to Colorado Springs in August this year!!!
I am French and I have never lived in the USA before! I travelled a few times in The States ( California, Texas, see my San Antonio thread ) for vacation purpose!
My husband lived in Colorado Springs for 6 years and left the city in 2003 to go to Iraq. So he knows pretty well the area and he already knows where he wanna live and buy a house.
We are currently living in Germany. My husband works in the US Army so he will be working in Fort Carson.
We have a 4 year old daughter. She is already fluent in French, English and Spanish ( from my mom side! ).
My mom is coming with us too. She is 71. My dad passed away last year and I am her only daughter. I don't want her to stay alone in Paris. She is from Spain but she spent her entire life in Paris ( France ) since she came as jeune fille au pair! Now, she doesn't speak english ( just a few words...but not enough to have a conversation ). She speaks fluent Spanish and French. I would love to find either a French or Spanish community for her to socialize and be able to speak with people who would speak either French or Spanish. It would be awesome if I could find a place where she could learn (i.e patchwork, knitting, painting activity within a Spanish and or French community in Colorado Springs.

Do you think I can find a "French or Spanish community" around Colorado Springs or even Denver? I should maybe ask both the French and Spanish consulate?

I can't wait to come in Colorado and start my experience to live in the States!! My husband showed me around the city and the surroundings through youtube! It's gorgeous!!! I am already counting down... time flies!

Thank you for reading me.

Romy

[Littlekw]

Congratulations and welcome (soon) to Colorado Springs! I hope you have a smooth, easy move to our city and I hope you love it as much as many of us do.

I don't know much about a French or Spanish Community in Colorado Springs but it is very much a military city so you may be able to make some contacts through the military. I know there is a Swiss Club in town (consisting of Swiss nationals now living in Colorado Springs) because I have dealt with them through a former job. Here are some links for other possibilities as well:

Alliance Française de Denver | The Center for all Things French in the Rocky Mountain Region (Denver)
The Colorado Springs French Language Meetup Group (Colorado Springs, CO) - Meetup (Colorado Springs)

Much of the Spanish-speaking population in Colorado is the immigrant populations from Central America. Different from Spain, of course, but Spanish is a fairly common language in the area. Your mother should be able to get along just fine.

Good luck in your exciting move!

[Mike from back east]

Romy, welcome to Colorado, you're gonna love it here.

There are thousands of people here speaking Spanish, finding such a community will be easy. Mostly it's on the south side of the region. BTW, half of Pueblo is of Spanish descent, the area south of the Arkansas River was part of Mexico until 1848 and Spanish influence is very strong here and gets stronger the further south one goes.

I'm not sure what we have here in the way of a French community, but I know of one grade school that teaches French, that being Academy International Elementary School (AIES).

You could call the school and ask to speak to their French language instructor who'd probably know about the French speaking community here. You can send her an email if you click on her name on that website. I took two years of French in middle school and flunked it, but I did get an "A" grade for my singing of "La Marseillaise."

That school is in the Academy School District, aka D20, and here's the link to the D20 site and here's the school boundaries listings. From the drop down menu pick the school's name and you'll see the streets you need to live on to be within that school's service area. There are homes for sale or rent in that area, look at the boundary listing of streets, and look at www.ppar.com for houses for sale or rent. You can check www.padmapper.com for rentals, but be careful using craigslist.com to find housing, there are many scammers on that site.

Here's a map that says these are streets that are in the service area of AIES. Not sure if it's 100% accurate, but it sure looks like it to me.

Here's a basic map of all the school districts in the area.

The meetup.com site indicates the city has a French speaking group here with over 500 members.

There may be other schools in the area that teach French, the teacher at AIES would probably know them. We have some teachers on this site who may know.

Many people assigned to Fort Carson live in the town of Fountain, which is served by Fountain-Fort Carson School District, aka D8, here's their site.

[romy]

Thank you very much for your prompt replies littlekw and Mike from back east!!! I much appreciate it !! Thank you!!!! I will read the links you attached!!! Sounds very interesting and very useful!!
If the spanish influence is important in the area, then I am sure mom will get along fine in Colorado Springs!! I will look deeper about the french community through the alliance française then!!

Regarding schools for my daughter, my husband told me that district 12 had good rated schools. Our daughter would go to Elementary school though. She will turn 5 in March. Now, I would love her to learn french as a second language even if she already speaks french fluently. Actually it's her first mother tongue. But After searching in google the schools in district 12, I didn't find any one which offer french. I might have to see other options and ask to teachers here. Thank you again for your useful information!

Romy

[calico777]

District 12 does offer French, German and Spanish as a second language starting in Junior High (7.th grade) My daughter went to D 12 and loved it.

[romy]

Thank you Calico77!! Sounds great then!! I will wait until she is in grade 7! she will start kindergarten.

[otowi]

Most districts don't start foreign language until middle school, around grade 6. There are a few that have some earlier programs if that is important to you - you'd have to call and ask around. Typically, French, German and Spanish are offered at all or most of the high schools and some of the middle schools, and some schools have other offerings like Chinese or Latin.

[romy]

Thank you for your feedback otowi! grade 6 is a good age for kids to learn a new language. Although I recall in Paris, in preschool I was 3.5/ 4 years old and they taught us english. It was very basic, like counting from 1-10, they taught us the colors. The english teachers would sing tipical english songs for kids. I am 43 today and I still have some memories of it!

[Bullitt007]

I just want to say hi and wish you safe travels ahead. Wishing you the best in your move and transition. You're gonna love Colorado Springs!

[Carrera32]

Romy - Welcome to Colorado Springs. In addition to the meet up group here in Colorado Springs that Mike suggested, there's an Alliance Francais Chapter in Denver that you might check on. Their website is Alliance Française de Denver | The Center for all Things French in the Rocky Mountain Region Denver's just north of us about 60 miles or so, and is easily reached by car. You might also inquire at Colorado College (a local private liberal arts school). They have a French House (a French language immersion student residence). Contacts there might be able to put you in touch with French students and instructors and other French speakers in town. Good luck.