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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

Original poster

to think ds's teacher should have

22 replies

stoppinchingthedummy · 26/01/2011 19:17

written a report about a meeting we had in both languages?

My ds is 5 and goes to a welsh school - dp nor I speak welsh fluently. i can speak a little and understand a little bit more than i speakhowever we want our dc to be able to speak the language of the country we live in :o

So ds has taken a little while to settle into school , he is a very energetic 5 year old and very boistress. Before xmas i was having meetings with the teacher every 3 weeks to discuss his behaviour and concentration and we decided that he was just settling down ,trying to learn a new language and make friends at the same time ...

Sooooo now she has written a report up about the meetings BUT its all in welsh she caught me at the end of school today and asked me to sign it so i just did then after that i thought a bit more and realised she probably should have at least written it in english for me to have a copy aibu to think this??

OP posts:

activate · 26/01/2011 19:18

contact the school and say you want an English translation and you will sign that but you felt pressured to sign something you couldn't adequately understand so would like the Welsh version scrapped please

activate · 26/01/2011 19:19

when I say school I mean teacher (tomorrow?)

and when I say pressured - flustered might be better

LaurieFairyonthetreeEatsCake · 26/01/2011 19:19

Er maybe she assumed you spoke it

You are actually in Wales I assume?

Would you go to France and expect without asking a report in English?

Just ask for it in english

PutOnThePan · 26/01/2011 19:20

DS is going to welsh school and all reports and letters are bilingual - ask for this - YANBU

piprabbit · 26/01/2011 19:20

Presumably you were signing to say it's a fair an accurate summary of what was discussed, or that you agree with the recommendations or something similar?

I don't think YABU to expect to understand documents you are being asked to sign.

Original poster

stoppinchingthedummy · 26/01/2011 19:24

Lauriefairy she know i dont speak it and that dp doesnt the meetings highlighted this as i thought ds was perhaps struggling to concentrate due to a lack of understanding.

I will ask her - i didnt ask after i initially thought about it because i feel like a whining mother who's son has only been in full time school one term and has already been in about 8 times

OP posts:

LaurieFairyonthetreeEatsCake · 26/01/2011 19:26

If she knew that seems like a slight. I agree you should have it recorded that you should have bi lingual everything.

ILoveItWhenYouCallMeBoo · 26/01/2011 19:30

"Would you go to France and expect without asking a report in English?"

dont be ridiculous. this isn't france it is the UK. i live in northern ireland. do you think all school reports here are in irish?

OP yanbu

ds goes to an irish medium primary and all reports/letters/newsletters etc are in both irish and english. not all the parents (me included) are fluent in speaking or understanding written irish.

just ask for the english copy.

ilovesooty · 26/01/2011 19:39

YANBU to ask for an English version.

YABU to have signed something without fully understanding it.

LaurieFairyonthetreeEatsCake · 26/01/2011 19:40

Boo - the key phrase that you quoted of mine was 'without asking'.

And then you told her she had to ask which is exactly what I said.

Sometimes things aren't always produced bi lingually and you have to ask.

ILoveItWhenYouCallMeBoo · 26/01/2011 19:40

i would still expect it without asking. i only advised her to ask because it had not already been provided. common sense, no?

LaurieFairyonthetreeEatsCake · 26/01/2011 19:42

Er yes, that's why I said it too.

EvilTwins · 26/01/2011 19:43

When you say "welsh school", I presume you mean a school which teaches in welsh, not just a school in Wales? It may well be that that's the "normal" procedure - I'd check it out.

I don't think YABU though - not too much to ask that you're given a translation at all.

ILoveItWhenYouCallMeBoo · 26/01/2011 19:45

er no laurie you implied she was UR to expect it to be provided in english as a matter of course in a predominantly english speaking country.

LaurieFairyonthetreeEatsCake · 26/01/2011 19:48

I did not imply she was unreasonable, that's your interpretation.
I only said that given that the teacher might assume she spoke it she may have to actually ask.

ILoveItWhenYouCallMeBoo · 26/01/2011 19:52

"You are actually in Wales I assume?

Would you go to France and expect without asking a report in English?"

in other words, OP should not have expected a report in english because she was in wales?

my point is that wales is a predominantley english speaking country and so teh report should be in english aswell as welsh.

if she were in france the predominant language is french so of course she wouldn't expect a report in english, it would be necessary to ask for it in france but not in wales.

LaurieFairyonthetreeEatsCake · 26/01/2011 19:56

Not true. It's not as simple as 'country wide'.

Some parts of Wales are predominantly welsh speaking. English is, in some parts, the second language. So you may have to ask.

undercovamutha · 26/01/2011 19:58

Most of the people I know who send their DCs to welsh (speaking) school don't speak Welsh themselves (certainly not fluently anyway).

So providing you don't live in one of the few areas of Wales where the predominant language is Welsh, then I think the school ABU to expect that you will not need correspondence bilingually.

However, I would have thought that this is something you would have discussed with them before your DS started.

Takver · 26/01/2011 20:02

I don't think it would cause any problem at all to ask for a version in English - I suspect the teacher just overestimated how well you spoke Welsh.

DD is in welsh medium schooling, most letters etc home are either bilingual or (if specific to the child) they are in either English or Welsh depending on home language.

In KS1 DD's targets were sent home in Welsh, because they are intended for the child, IYSWIM, and they are only learning to read in Welsh at that stage. But we were always told to just ask for a translation if we wanted one. I'm pretty sure that where the teacher knew that neither parent spoke Welsh she automatically sent home an English version.

Once your ds gets into KS2 you may find - we certainly did - that a lot more stuff comes home in English as they are working in the two languages all the time.

Original poster

stoppinchingthedummy · 26/01/2011 20:37

He is taught in a fully welsh medium school ,no english is spoken at all throught their time there- If the converse in welsh at school they are told off let them tell my ds off for speaking english ill have em!
Also i do get all letter etc in english as they do know i dont speak or understand enough welsh, his teacher did run through what it said however i am now going to ask for an english copy so i can have it at home.

OP posts:

Takver · 26/01/2011 20:49

Just checked the info from our county - they say this about Welsh medium schools:

"Welsh is language of communication with pupils and the language of day to day business of school. The school communicates with parents in both languages."

I'm pretty sure you'll find they do use English in KS2 - here they expect that pupils:

"by the end of KS2 will have reached equivalent standard in English to that reached by pupils in predominantly English medium schools."

In practice that seems to mean the majority of teaching still through the medium of Welsh, but increasing use of English - otherwise they wouldn't know the English for things like multiplication, division etc . . .

Original poster

stoppinchingthedummy · 26/01/2011 21:28

ah ok maybe they do - i suppose maths is maths no matter what language i will check this out though and like i said ask for the report in english tomorrow -

Sooty i already explained i signed it because i didnt really have time to think about it i was flustered she caught me un aware otherwise i wouldnt have.

OP posts:

Flip