DS Yr7 been told he has negative attitude towards subject

tbh I would be hesitant to advise the teacher on how to do her job. She does seem to be rather passing the buck and expecting you to sort this out which is difficult as you are obviously not in the classroom when this is going on.

It does sound as if she is not a particularly gifted teacher but the problem is we rarely get to pick and choose our teachers at school, your ds just has to find a way of making good progress, whatever teachers he gets IYSWIM.

What I would do is tell her that you are surprised about the problem because your ds is doing well in his other subjects and there has never been a problem like this brought up before. You know that he likes Spanish but he has told you that he dislikes all the writing down from the board and when he has a lot to copy down, that is when he tends to feel bored and get distracted and you think that is probably when he starts talking. YOu've spoken to him about the importance of not distracting the rest of the class who are still concentrating on getting things down correctly and you think he took that in. I think I would mention too that he has been doing some Spanish at home as well (whatever it was you did with him) and that he enjoys, in particular he really enjoys X (songs, conversation, learning about dc in Spain, whatever it is) it so you really think it is a problem that can be solved. He is definitely open to learning Spanish.

If she twigs from that and livens up her lessons a bit , ok but if not, I don't know if it would go down well tbh if you told her how to do her job, even in the form of polite suggestions. You'd need to speak to someone above her about that (Head of foreign languages perhaps) and if her superior observed some lessons and maybe gave her some advice, it might be a good solution. It would, I think, have to come from that quarter. At this point though, I wouldn't take that step.

So, the kids who are slower to copy take even longer because the fast ones should be allowed to chat and mess about and disrupt?

Sounds perfect, Chloe.

If you want your children educated in large classes of mixed ability, they need to learn respect for others, teachers and pupils alike.

He can't manage a few minutes here and there without chatting? Shame.

Chloe I think your attitude doesn't help children, long term.

Children are at school to learn. Ideally, the environment is entertaining and stimulating, but even if it isn't, even if it's dull but useful, they must learn to be quiet during lesson time and to concentrate and apply their minds to the job they've been asked to do. Otherwise the little darlings will develop a sense of endless entitlement to the world being like some fun fair and they won't learn the essential art of concentration for its own sake.

The West is being outstripped by Asian cultures which value respect and diligence. We are so child-centred these days that children are not acquiring essential life skills and degrees of maturity which are necessary to thrive in the adult world.

He's right though, that does sound boring.

I don't quite agree with several posts. If DS is doing well in all other areas I would say its not his behavior. Is he managing to actually copy all the work off the board and then talking? I would ask the teacher what they have done to earn the respect of their pupils and what the plan is to differentiate the lessons so all pupils are engaged and challenged in class.

Its very last century to say a child should sit in silence and be bored out of his mind because a teacher is to lazy or inept to produce a good/outstanding lesson. Perhaps you could speak to the head about how the teacher is performing and progressing. If the school is converting to an academy it should make it easier to get rid of under performing teachers.

And it is definitely not ok for the teacher to be constantly shouting at the children to shut up. It might be ok in Spanish culture to do this but we are bringing up our children in the English culture and for a teacher to do this is appalling behavior. Doesn't surprise me to hear kids are talking sometime if the teacher acts like this. It might be old fashioned but 'teachers should lead by example'.

Hmm. Not sure of your idea of expecting the teacher to change her lesson plans to entertain a disruptive pupil. I think it might be time to explain to your son that lessons aren't there to entertain him but to teach him. That it doesn't matter if they are boring, so long as he can learn from them.

Give him a challenge. Ask him to sit at the front, really focus, concentrate on what he's copying from the board, and think about how he could use and apply what he's learning. Ask him to do that for the next six lessons then to review, for himself, whether it's as dull as it was when he mucked about.

She doesn't sound like an inspired teacher, but children have to learn to be respectful and self disciplined. It shouldn't be a case of: I won't co-operate unless conditions are ideal, as set down in my own terms.

Copying from the board is a bit boring, but there is vocab to learn for a language and a fair amount of getting it down in exercise books is inevitable. The teacher taking the time to contact you is a good sign -- she cares about what goes on in her class. If I were you, I would e-mail back saying that you are sorry your son has been disruptive and you have spoken to him about it. Point out that he is interested in the subject. Say that hopefully his attitude in the class will improve, but would she please let you know if the problem persists and then you will come in and discuss it. In the meantime ask if there any strategies is she implementing in class for dealing effectively with him that won't cause him to start actively disliking Spanish classes? Ultimately, your talking to him is not likely to be as effective as good classroom management.

Callate just means "quiet yourself". Not rude imho. Callarse = to quiet oneself. When you learn a language you learn a culture*, too, and it isn't rude in Spanish to be so direct.

Rude thing to say would be "Callete la boca" which is literally "Quiet yourself the mouth" or English equivalent, "Shut up."

Look on the bright side, at least he's learnt something.

*Not that the English appear capable of understanding much about conventions in other cultures & languages (Luis Suarez affair)

Would you feel able to meet with the teacher and explain why he was talking and not paying attention? If the class is boring and they really do just copy things from the board then I'm not surprised that his attention wanders.

If he doesn't want to be in trouble, then he may need to learn how to be bored quietly, but it's not ideal, specially if he likes the subject and would like to learn it.

I don't know to what extent a teacher automatically "deserves" respect if they are not much good at teaching, but at the very least he should respect the wishes of others in the class to not be disrupted if they are trying to learn.

I think you will have to go in and listen to what she has to say really.

If he's generally well-behaved I'd be tempted to say it's up to the teacher to deal with the behaviour. Bad attitude in a single class is more likely down to the teacher than the student, IMHO.

I think in these situations I end up telling DC that I expect them to always show respect to the teacher. They don't have to like the subject and I don't have it in me to insist they always try their hardest at it. But respect first and foremost, yes.

So that principle would frame whatever strategy I came up with to work on this.

He is so lucky to be studying Spanish!! Only offered at A-level in local state-schools.