School refusing to provide translator

It's the lesser of many evils.

A year is a long time being resident in country to get your head around a language. Lots of apps out there ro assist too.

School is doing right thing.

If you put the effort in, you learn. I worked with a Polish woman in her mid 20s who was studying and working, to be an architect and had moved to London. We kept on saying to her if you don’t learn English then you won’t be able to be properly qualified etc. So she socialised with us more at work, eg lunches out and pub socials and her English speaking skills improved. Then she took proper classes to improve her written and reading English. She didn’t want to learn and had lots of Polish friends in London but realised it was better for her generally. We also had other nationalities who spoke English working in our office at the time who encouraged her.

why do you assume that they are claiming benefits?

Are these teachers who happen to speak a second language getting paid for translating or are they expected to provide this service for free on top of everything else they have to do.

Speaking as someone here who's first language is not English.

You don’t need to be fluent to have a basic understanding of a language. Perhaps the FREE English lessons, provided both in the morning or evening, might help?

If you move to another country with a different language, you should learn that language.

Here in Germany, if you come from outside the EU, continued residency is dependent upon either demonstrating sufficient language proficiency or attending an integration course (paid for by the state) to get you to that level. Of course there are exemptions for people who cannot learn the language due to a disability, for example.

Seems fair to me. Support people in learning, don’t support people in continuing not to learn.

it could. or they might have been here for one year. they might have been here for one year, after fleeing their own country because of war.

the letters are already written and saved on the system. it takes a real cunt to remove parents from the mailing list, because 'they should learn English, then'

I used to teach EFL, and once looked at volunteering to teach refugees/asylum seekers. However I never actually applied, after realising that it was all going to be one-to-one for women in their own homes, since ‘for cultural reasons’ the women didn’t want to attend classes, not even if they were women-only.
TBH I read that as probably husbands not wanting (or allowing) them to go out.

I never actually applied, since other issues aside, I didn’t like one-to-one anyway - it can be hard going. I’d always taught classes.

Since then however I have done one to one at home (gratis) with an Eritrean Muslim woman introduced privately, but not because she didn’t want to attend classes. On the contrary, she did that too, and was very keen to improve so that she could get a job. Which she since has.

This is so difficult. It must be so expensive and it is a reasonable expectation that parents will have learnt basic English within a year of being there. However, many won't (and there may be reasons for this) and the children will then suffer when it's not their fault.
Are there classes for parents to attend locally, that they can be directed to? Could classes be started in the school itself, perhaps by volunteers?
Also, google translate can really help for short phrases.

Who the hell can work in the UK and claim benefits without speaking English?

You don't need to be "fluent" to communicate. You start with basic english, and you build up.

You will never become fluent if you don't start with 5, 10, 100 words first.

Translation services are being removed after a year, not six months. This could mean the child/family has been in the UK 2, 3, 8, 10 or more years - how long do taxpayers have to continue funding adults to not integrate in the place they’ve chosen to live? Do you think any other country anywhere would provide free English translation for adults who choose to live somewhere but want that place to change and pay to accommodate them?

Just on the back of this for people saying it’s harder for foreigners to learn eg English.

My DM attended a German speaking class which had a spin off practice class.

There was a mixture of English and also Pakistani/Indian pupils. One was an older Indian English woman (second generation) who works as the local pharmacist, the other is a retired Indian English man who’s lived in London for years and worked (I think retired pharmacist). The third was a young (approx 30 years) old professional man, Pakistani origin but brought up in London. He had a girlfriend living in Germany who he visited a lot. The others had I think either relatives or intermarriage hence the reason to learn German to communicate.

If these people (their English was perfect by the way and two were both here) can try to learn eg German then so can other migrants/immigrants.

who the hell can become fluent in a language in 6 months whilst working and taking care of a family

If I was going to live in another country I would make sure I was doing everything I could to learn that language.
I think the changes are fair
it gives them a year of support while they learn the language
id be happy ,very happy with that support in a foreign country

Parents who value their children's education will make the effort to support it and will surmount the language barriers to do so. Don't confuse speaking a different language with indifference or with other cultural barriers or differences eg not valuing physical education for girls.

and poster keep saying that parents should learn English after being here for 2/3/5 years or whatever. this asshole is removing the translated letters after SIX MONTHS.

I agree with the school. What about homework, reading books sent home? Do they just not get done if the parent can't help the child?

The parents should know English. Anyone thinking of emigrating to any country should either already have a grasp of the language or be in the process of learning.

If we went to live in France I am sure the school would expect parents to be able to speak French or, if not, get someone in to help them understand

yeah, that's just him being an asshole, then. please make an issue of it as Governor

This, with big brass knobs on.

@CapturedLeprechaun can you explain why you believe it’s hugely detrimental to children, to have their parents not understand what’s going on.

But also why you think that responsibility and cost should fall solely to the school?

Where is the parents responsibility? They are showing they can’t put their child needs first? Something is hugely detrimental to their child and they aren’t doing anything about it. What does the school do?

The key for me is the amount of support already available - English classes provided by the school, apps, etc. - and that if parents choose not to utilise these it's a matter for them

TBH providing them at all can be a barrier to learning/integration, though the translators still being in place for the first year is probably sensible, and of course it creates expectations that "someone else" will pick up the pieces rather than folk taking responsibility for themselves

Overall it seems more positive than negative, and while you'll no doubt get complaints to start with it could be a real benefit to all in the end

Integration can be really hard though. My DB made a short film about Walthamstow which has a high Indian migrant population. A lot of the women featured wanted to learn English but were either scared, had integrated into their community too much, felt they couldn’t get jobs as they weren’t white etc. They did do craft classes in the area from my recollection with an English teacher which as I recall helped with their confidence in learning and practising English.