Dd and Hungarian boy in her class

[GastonsPomPomWrath]

This is wwyd situation. Please be gentle with me.

It's my children's first day back at school today. Dd is 8 and has just started year 4. She's a bright child, top of the class, good in all subjects.

There's a new boy in the class. We'll call him Y. Y is Hungarian and speaks no or very very limited English at the moment.

The teacher has put my dd with Y to partner him in everything. She must work with him, talk to him, play with him at play time and lunchtime and help him during dinner in the hall. He has to copy her work exactly so he can learn to write our language. Dd didn't manage to finish her work because Y was struggling to keep up with her.

Dd told the teacher that she was having trouble understanding him and him understanding her and the teacher replied that she "hasn't got a choice" and she "must teach him how to speak and write English."

Now I do understand that the boy is probably better off being integrated in the classroom to pick up the way things are done and the language but is it totally reasonable for the teacher to carry on with her lesson whilst letting my dd teach Y? The school don't seem to have any resources or staff available to teach one to one for children who don't use English as their first language. The teaching assistant didn't offer any help (I asked Dd)

Would you be happy with this situation?

Dd came home asking me to help her figure out how she will communicate with him tomorrow.

[storminabuttercup]

Just read mathmums post and it's made me feel sick!! Ignore the child if he follows her? FFS

[Ditsy4]

A support teacher ha ha! Very funny. They don't get a support TA never mind teacher unless the school is . Prepared to use some and there isn't much in that pot. Completely agree with Hollieberrie anything you want now has to be requestedAnd turned down a lot of the time.
Koine either it is a parent who has offered to come in or your county has lots more money than ours and hollies. The have even made the advisers redundant I know because I keep in touch with one( she comes in our pub occasionally) and she has had to take a TA job. The only one left is the one at the top of the tree who is lovely but I haven't seen her over a year. We mostly have Eastern European children at the moment but have had small clusters of Chinese children too. It must be so scary being dumped in a school and not be able to converse. I have cards for toilet, drink etc so they have there needs met in the first few days. I try and match them up at playtime with another child so at least they can talk to someone in the day. The last Polish child I had was very bright and learnt quickly but sometimes they take a couple of years. The problem is worse when you have no one else speaking that language which we have on occasion due to people coming to work nearby. Just when you get them going they move again.:(

[hollieberrie]

Sorry, its English as an Additional Language.

[Kione]

I don't know what EAL is, but we don't have many kids starting with no english, that's true.

[pollymere]

Our Year 3 teacher has same situation. She's using Google Translate for things. I'd advise your DD to just be next to him and treat him like any new kid i.e. help when being asked to listen or where to go at lunch time. It is not her job to explain the work and she should just get on with hers.

[randomer]

Anything else is torture for children on both sides. er no

[Jibberoo]

Gastons what ever the situation let me say one bit of reassurance. A long time ago I was that boy and I can tell you I don't even remember what was taught in year 4 - having learnt English and integrated into society quickly thanks to the helps of school friends I have gone on to succeed in business across many countries (I'm not some big shot business person just meant I am doing well). As for the girl who sat next to me, she's doing great and we still stalk each other on fb (though obviously have gone on to make other friends). Your dd will be fine and may learn a valuable lesson for today's global world.

But I don't think yabu

[hollieberrie]

Wow that's very fortunate. Are you in a area with very low EAL?
My school is about 40% EAL. Lots of kids arriving every term with zero English. There is no funding at all for Eal staff for them. We work with the child, their parents and yes some peer support, to get the children off to the best start we can.

[Kione]

@hollieberrie my daughter is at s state school and two polish kids had a polish (fluent in english) support teacher, not every day, but enough. These kids are very popular now.

[Bobochic]

It is very hard when DC aged 6+ are thrown in at the deep end into classrooms where they don't speak the language.

While DC in the class should, collectively, be expected to be welcoming and inclusive to newcomers, no DC should be asked to buddy such a child with no English for any length of time. Being a buddy is very tiring and distracting as it is a one-way street.

[hollieberrie]

Hahaha at people suggesting the school provide a support teacher for him. Wake up to the real world - we don't even have enough money for paper and pencils. Ain't no way EAL kids get their own adult.

[Thatsmeinthecorner2016]

Talk to the teacher. Your DD is not responsible for other child's integration and it's not her duty to teach the child English.
It should be between the child's parents and the school. I honestly believe that with little English, no child should be sitting in a classroom but undergo some sort of a prep class before that. Anything else is torture for children on both sides.

[Barksdale]

I think this is pathetic really.

All OP's child was worried about was "how to communicate with him tomorrow". OP could have got out Google translate and taught her daughter how to say "hello, my name is" or something in Hungarian and made it fun.

Instead of allaying her daughter's anxieties and seeing how things were the next day, she went charging into school about it. Of course, things were not at all as OP worried they would be. But we knew that would be the case.

Sounds like everyone needs a cup of Calm the Fuck Down and Have Some Common Sense.

[IceRoadDucker]

mathsmum314 I hope you wouldn't really encourage an 8-year-old child to ignore another and pretend he didn't exist when he was reaching out for help and friendship.

[randomer]

OK tongue was firmly in cheek. I am not anti foreign. I think 2 things are sad, one that Primary education seems to be less and less about collaboration and more and more about competition.
The teacher probably asked the lovely daughter to keep an eye on the new boy for a day or two.

The second thing I feel sad about is the absolute mess immigration is in. That is a massive topic though.

btw there are specific rescources available for EAL kids.

[Caipora]

I would not use baby books for a 9 year old. The school librarian tried to encourage my son to take out the baby books. He was humiliated. They can read books, it takes longer and they might need a dictionary but reading books they like really helps children to learn quickly.

randomer why are you trying to turn this into a sarcastic anti foreign rant. The OP has not come from that angle and nor has anyone else. It's making you look a bit silly.

[randomer]

the kid should immediately run away from Johnny Foreigner and not speak to him. For Gods sake do not allow him to copy your work.

[smallfox2002]

Do people actually read threads?

The OPs kid was left with the new child for the day, and she wasn't told that she had to teach him to write and speak English, although the teacher admitted it might have come across in the wrong way.

Not getting two sides of the story before going off your rocker is a MN specialty..

[Ninasimoneinthemorning]

Yes gold I really want my child to go to school, to struggle and for it to be classed as 'problem solving'

[Kione]

I'd check with the teacher. He should have a support teacher, it is absolutely not your daughters job unless all kids are taking turns doing this, like a one "helper" each day. Still, he should have a support teacher.

[GoldFishFingerz]

Your DD is getting something out of it too in a roundabout way. She's great academically but is now problem solving in a new way and having to use a different level of social skills. I don't think she should be solely responsible though and maybe you could ask for it to be shared. You could also ask your DD to work out Hungarian words or sentences for fun. Education is much much wider then the national curriculum.

[SandyY2K]

The teacher was backtracking from saying "she worded it badly at the time*.

[t4nut]

A note to all those shouting 'go to the governors'.

It gets said or threatened a lot, however rarely followed up. When governors do get a rare complaint they ask the head if they have seen it/had chance to address. If not it gets passed to the head. The head then asks if the class teacher/HOY have had chance to address/deal with it, if not it gets passed to class teacher/HOY.

The moral of the story is go through the proper chain.

[Feminazi]

Whilst we are accepting large numbers of migrants, we need to improve our resources as we do so. If not, we cause community tensions because other resources tighten. This is a good example of this.

Op, do you have any old alphabet/baby books from when your dad was younger? If so, maybe you could donate them to the boy to help him learn English at a lower level?

[SukeyTakeItOffAgain]

Why has the school not got a more proactive plan? There have been eastern European children in our schools for years now. Children can learn other languages extremely quickly - it shouldn't be difficult.