Has your DC had a teacher they can’t understand?

[Toomanyperiods]

DC finds one of her teacher’s accents really hard to understand. I’ve asked her if she knows where the accent is from so we can listen to accents from that place, but she doesn’t know. She is worried she will get into trouble for doing something wrong as the school is very strict. A child has already left the room in tears and it’s week one. I’ve told her she might get used to the accent and understand it better soon. How long do I leave it for before I say something and are there any tips I can give her in the meantime? It’s a conversation I really really don’t want to have with school as it’s embarrassing, but how long do I leave it? It’s a key subject, so she may get used to the accent faster than a once a week lesson, but also the longer it goes on, the more big chunks of lessons she’s missing.

Yes, for resit maths in college. DD has slower processing and it was impossible for her to 'translate' fast enough. (Note, she usually has subtitles on when watching TV to help processing).

She moved classes to have 2 different teachers.

I'd give it a couple of weeks. If it is causing issues then a polite note to head of department and/or tutor explaining and requesting a move of class.

Yes my DD had a teacher with a very strong Scottish accent. Now my grandparents were Scottish and I could usually understand them fine so I told DD ( also has slow processing ) not to worry and she will eventually tune in. Then we went to parent teacher evening and I could not understand a single word this man said. DD failed that GCSE as she said it was just impossible to learn from him. The parents WhatsApp group was not kind about that poor man!

Schools should not employ non understandable teachers (however desperate). Therefore if a teacher has an accent that a few pupils can't understand then those pupils should be moved.

I know some people on here think all accents are totally easy if only you try, but I disagree. Some people struggle with others accents.

@AngelsWithSilverWingsso unfair.

When I was at primary school in the 90s we had a French teacher and I could not understand her Parisian accent, nor her messy writing. It was only when I became a teenager that I started to understand her more.

I would role play some very police phrases that your child can use to seek clarification
eg hand up and ‘sorry I didn’t hear what you said , do we need to read chapter 3 and then what was next?’
‘I just wanted to double check what you said about the Roman’s’ etc

This feels incredibly difficult to navigate. My kids REALLY struggle with accents and process slowly. It means basically zero learning.
never seems ok to raise it but maybe it’s reasonable.

Sometimes people genuinely struggle to hear/comprehend particular people-if it is an ongoing issue, talk to them, being clear your child is not being impolite, but has (for example) a processing problem. They should be trained in making their lessons accessible for students with SEND, but occasionally, students might be moved into other groups.

I have often had to say on the phone that I am very sorry but I am having difficulty understanding your accent and so have to end this conversation. I don't think it is a bad thing to say . But it must be hard for kids to say it to a teacher . Especially if you are worried it could be seen as racist . But I have problems with even different accents from different regions of my country , Scottish being one that springs to mind immediately. Often can't understand Kevin Bridges the comedian.

My son had a lecturer at uni (business degree) she was Indian, and nobody could understand her, they all had to say something, before the uni took them seriously.

It was infuriating as they were essentially being accused of being racist and yet they were simply pointing out they couldn’t understand her.

Yes. My daughter when she started secondary,had a teacher with a really strong accent. Most of the classmates really struggled to understand him sadly.

We’ve got exactly this with my Y10 DD’s maths teacher - very thick accent (recently over from Hong Kong) and also hopeless at controlling behaviour. My DD (dyslexic, slow processing, working memory issues) has been in tears this week. I am going to write on Monday and request that she be moved. I don’t care if the school think it’s racist, I am NOT having my DD’s GCSE years potentially ruined by this. My eldest DD had her in year 9 and we did put up with it when really we shouldn’t have done - she had a lot of catch up in Y10 but thankfully a good teacher. This is a mix of accent exacerbated by lack of control of the class. She’s a nice lady but I’m not sacrificing DD for nice. If they won’t move her I’ll have to up the tutor sessions.