Yr10 dd hysterical that she's going to fail German. Too late to change options??

[WhoTheFuckIsSimon]

She wants me to ring the HoY and beg if she can change to something else. Though I seem to remember so many option choices had timetable clashes im not sure she'd be able to even if allowed.

She claims she's trying really hard but not getting anywhere and that being dyslexic she should never have tried a foreign language. In year 9 she was doing french and German and was on track for a B in both and enjoyed both.

She has a different teacher this year and is in a class of 30, previously was always in a class of 10. She's now getting Ds in tests. She says the teacher is vile......obviously this is dds opinion and im not going to complain about the teacher at all. Ive tried explaining to dd that different teachers have different methods of encouraging kids. Some may well bollock a kid who's getting Ds all the time and be shouty as this teacher is. Others may be more positive in their methods. Dd isn't responding well though to this teacher and says she hates German, hates this teacher, doesn't care if she fails, but is just sick of the teacher upsetting her.

Ive offered dd to get a tutor in but she says no way. So this annoys me that she isn't prepared to pull her finger out and take this opportunity. She has a test next week which counts to her GCse grade and ive offered to sit down and help her practice writing sentences out but she said no, just cried and said she keeps practising but thag she just can't remember it all.

She would ideally like to drop it and do anything else, art, triple science rather than double, even french I think.

Other option I raised with her is asking to go down from top set to bottom set. Dd says there is a nicer teacher and those kids even though they're getting Ds and Es is nicer to the kids about it. But if those kids are getting Ds and Es would this just be writing Dd off when she should be able to pull her finger out and get a C? But maybe if it's gone up a gear her dyslexia is making it difficult?

[TheSecondOfHerName]

I had similar concerns about DS1 in Y9 and Y10. In fact, I posted about his difficulties with German on here a couple of times (under previous usernames).

Now in Y11, he is doing better in German than expected. He somehow managed to get nearly full marks in both writing controlled assessments, by working very hard on them and then spending hours memorising them. Using similar techniques, he got A/B in the speaking assessments. The reading and listening exams are mostly multiple choice, so he got a B in the mock.

She still has a year to go. If the assessment coming up is a writing one, what helped DS1 was printing his sentences out on flashcards with images to trigger his memory.

[MrsPigling]

I think it's far too late to swap now :( dd1 had a bit of a crisis with French at GCSE in year 10. I think she just had a personality clash with the teacher and teaching style.

We ended up getting a tutor for her as the panic it was causing was having a knock on effect on other subjects. She ended up going from a D/E to a B in her final exam :)

[MrsPigling]

swap to a different subject sorry! swapping to the other class might be an option. I'd contact the Head of Department and tell them there is a problem and what can they suggest.

I hope she's happier soon :)

[WhoTheFuckIsSimon]

Thanks both of you. My gut feeling is that it's also too late to change.

She has the controlled assessment next week and is currently chatting on Skype to her friends. So I am cross that she isn't putting the effort in but when I try and say she needs to revise more she just cries and says she's been doing lots of work and that it isn't helping. She certainly doesn't seem to be spending hours memorising stuff.

I will ask her if putting images in will help her learn. Thanks.

[TeenAndTween]

Have PMed you.

To add to what I PMed, DD couldn't learn her CAs when left to her own devices at all, but could make fantastic progress in just 20mins with me.

[clary]

Has she tried recording it onto her MP3 player? I know it is a writing one but it can really help.

YY to flashcards with pars and sentences to look at all the time - at tea time, on way to school, in the bath etc.

Yes can you help her - I agree that going through it with another person can really help.

sorry but I cannot imagine any school letting a year 10 student change now, all subjects will have done some CA or at least prep for it; you may be allowed to drop the subject altogether?

Sorry she is not enjoying it :( 30 is a very big GCSE class. My year 11 class is 12, my yr 10 one is 17; even higher sets at my school are only about 24-25. The lower set might be better for her - she could still get a C even if others are getting Ds. Good luck to her.

[WhoTheFuckIsSimon]

Spoke to her german teacher today and as I thought it's too late to drop it.

Teacher acknowledges that dd is struggling, hopes she will get a C but isn't positive. Acknowledges that dd is trying but her dyslexia is making it tough. Says a year later she wouldn't have had to worry about these Controlled Assessments which is what she seems to struggle with but it is what it is.

She says that after half term if dd wants to have a trial lesson in the lower group she can do and if she doesn't like it can come back. Teacher says academically it's maybe more her level but she thinks dd wouldn't be a good fit for the group and wouldn't like it.....reading between the lines I think it's maybe a more disruptive class.

Anyway I bribed dd with cookies this afternoon and she sat down and we did the first paragraph of her CA. She spent a few minutes reading it, then copied it out, then wrote it out without looking....and did it perfectly!!!

So the plan is a paragraph an evening and then maybe the whole thing in the couple of days before and maybe she will be ok!

[TeenAndTween]

[WhoTheFuckIsSimon]

Well after doing that one paragraph (Max ten mins revision) she wouldn't do anything on Friday or Saturday. Did ten mins last night and that's it. Won't do anything tonight.

She deserves to fail it. I feel im banging my head against a brick wall. She now says she's not bothered if she fails and it's obviously her intention to just not bother.

I just give up. Am I a bad parent for washing my hands of the situation? I can't make her revise!!

[cupcakesandwine]

TBH my (possibly minority) view is that if your child is dead set against the subject then let her fail as long as she is fully engaged on everything else. At this age you cannot make them work if they don't want to. One fail is not critical and if it is the only D against a Bunch of As and Bs that tells its own story. Better for her to put her effort into the other subjects.

[WhoTheFuckIsSimon]

That's what I'm beginning to think Cupcakes. Thanks.

[Namechange02]

When I was in sixth form doing A level German I started informally tutoring a girl in what would now be year 9 in German. She was good at French but less good at German but wanted to do both for GCSE. So once a week I helped her (I really just went through what she'd done in class that week and looked ahead to what she was going to do the following week) and by the end of the year she was getting As.

Would that be an option for you?

[KleineDracheKokosnuss]

She sounds really stressed. I used to do this - id work myself up about something and then be 'unable' to sit down and do it. Can you remove the distractions (Skype)? I also agree with letting her fail - but make it clear beforehand that you have decided it's her responsibility to do the work, so she will have to own the consequences (and stick to that line if she does fail as I guarantee you'll hear many 'you should have made me' complaints ).

Stay strong

[KleineDracheKokosnuss]

Also. I recommend German TV generally to assist with learning and comprehension. Kika.de has lots of videos accessible from the UK.

[WhoTheFuckIsSimon]

Well the exam was today and she didn't do it.

She refuses to talk about it or say why. Just said she didn't do it, screamed at me to fuck off and is now shut in her room.

I'm guessing she just refused to do it so no idea what happens now.

[TeenAndTween]

No suggestions I'm afraid. Try to work out a plan over half term I guess.

[WhoTheFuckIsSimon]

Think I will have to wait till school reopens and find out what actually happened.

[TeenAndTween]

The thing is, the school won't want to set a precedent.

She is one quarter of the way through the course which is really too late to change to something else. Far too much to catch up on.

But if they let her drop it so early in the course, what is she going to do with the time? How will she be supervised when not in lessons? What if it opens the floodgates to others requesting to drop things they are finding a bit hard?

And also, if she seems to be otherwise able, they may think it is good for her to persevere with a subject she finds hard (will be good practice for persevering at A level in general).

There is nothing in the rules (as far as I am aware) to stop her redoing the CA. But she might need to be set a different topic to prepare.

On the other hand if she is going to refuse to try the teacher won't want her in the lessons.

Moving sets would be OK if your DD is amenable.

[Postchildrenpregranny]

You have a Year 10 child who tells you to fuck off? I'd be more worried about that than the German .