Advice needed -Posted in wwyd but need some more feedback :)

[stoppinchingthedummy]

Hi all i need some advice please and would be greatful for any opinions

Ok so my ds is almost 5 and in reception. He goes to a school which is not his first language school because i would like him to be billigual.

Ok so they have had some issues with the head teacher and have had acting heads since he started,because it isnt his first language i have been in very close contact with his school to ensure he is progressing and it is not hindering his education at all ..We meet at the end of every half term for about 15 mins. He has been identified to have some concentration issues but this could be down to the language and also he has not been the best sleeper.

Ok so we had time off at easter and had a HUGE breakthrough with sleeping and when he returned to school his behaviour was superb. He has not been coming home with a reading book at all since starting and only started with letters after feb half term. He eventually got a reading book the week we went back after easter because i asked his teacher for one.

Ok so teacher has now gone off sick and we have had 3 teachers already this week in his class and its only wednesday...No one knows whether he can have the next book yet,or whether he is progressing or not he is in a class of 40 children and im worried he is going to be "left" as 90% of them are fluent in the language of the school!!!

I know i am fussing but he only has 8 weeks left of reception and these weeks pass so fast he might then begin year one not reading properly and then become frustrated (or i will)

I have an appointment at another school tomorrow and need some questions to ask ...it is still not his first language but it is a much smaller school so he might then be given more time from the teacher.

Any advice or help with questions ill be greatful (Im going out for a bit now so wont be able to read or reply for a while.)

Thank you

Hi op I grew up in Wales and was sent to a welsh medium school by my non welsh speaking parents, just wanted you to know that when I went to secondary school 2 non welsh speaking pupils joined my year (32ish per form class) and neither had welsh speaking families, they both picked up the language pretty quickly and were fluent by year 8.they did very well at exams in welsh and one went on to study welsh at uni.my dd is nowhere near school age so unable to give practical advice sorry but from my friends experience the welsh schools in our area are very supportive to children with non welsh speaking parents as they want to encourage more people to send their children to the welsh schools.

hope everything gets worked out and your dc is happy in whichever school you choose

Mrspoc you are incredibly ignorant, learning welsh is an excellent basis for learning other European languages as it is very similar grammatically for example to French. Welsh is also spoken in large communities in America, Canada and also in Europe. Perhaps you should educate yourself some more before insulting other people about their choices for their children.

If I still lived in Wales I would send my dd to a welsh medium school. As it is I moved to the north east of england for a very well paid job translating welsh!!

Mr Spoc if you are "anti" welsh as you come across then why are you answering my post ..I did not ask for other peoples biased views on the language i asked for help with a decision regarding language that i feel is important ...It does not matter if my ds does not use the welsh when he is older however if he wants to pursue a career in wales then he will have the best of both languages.

Thank you samc007 :)

just wondering OP if you yourself are learning (you may have said so earlier but I can't see it)...I was learning Welsh here in the Midlands for three years and in that time there were several aunties and grandparents learning enough to be able to count and help with very basic maths and read bedtime stories...I really hope you make a go of if, especially if he has lots of friends there

unclefester ,i was at a class learning but it was more written than spoken welsh and i struggled so i didnt continue however i am trying to pick up new words i hear in work etc and i start a converstional welsh course in september which i hope will help me help him.

Also op just to add, my parents never managed to learn the language as some of the ch and ll noises etc are quite difficult however they learned enough to help us with spelling etc and often understood what we said even though they could only reply in English. My mum went on a basic welsh speaking course that the school ran one evening a week and you can buy books which are bilingual, I have several for dd and they are the ones she always gets out.

Everyone got there before I needed to respond to MrSpoc!

Stop - I think you may need to look for a smaller school rather than give up on the bilingual education.
Kids do often lag behind to start with when they are learning bilingually but they catch up and though it may be hard at the moment your LO will be learning really important language skills which will make it much easier to learn languages in the future.

Are there any local groups that do mom and LO Welsh? often librabrys run singing/spelling groups and this will help you pick up the basics as well. The school may be able to point you in the right direction.

There are stacks of well funded groups about to support parents who want their children to learn Welsh if you can get access to them (not sure where you are in Wales)

Good Luck!

Back to your OP, I think you're worried unnecessarily about his reading. If he's now speaking Welsh fairly fluently, and knows his basic phonic sounds, then he's probably fine as he's only in reception! If he's learned to speak a whole new language this year at school, and one his parents don't speak at home, then I think he's done wonderfully well. Speak to the teacher again, but if they aren't worried, then cut that poor child some slack. He'll soon be translating complex documents for you into English.

Are you, or is the school, also teaching him to read in English?

OP, I think it is great when kids get to learn another language fluently.
My DCs are in full french immersion, and have been since jr. kindergarten. They are now in gr 8 and gr 6, and can fully speak, read and write in french (and argue in it too!)
Around here, to get a decent job, or a gov't job, you need to be bilingual.
DH and I are english as a first language, but we did french through highschool, and it is spoken in the community, so we haven't lost all of it yet