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AIBU?

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Original poster

The year award for French ....

48 replies

Pickledeggsandcheese · 08/07/2017 10:13

Goes to Nicole

Whose parents are French, who's 1st language is French,
Well done year 9 teachers - you couldn't make it up

OP posts:
OhYouBadBadKitten · 08/07/2017 10:15

If it's done purely on achievement they may have found themselves in a bit of a bind.

Ifailed · 08/07/2017 10:16

Would you complain if the winner in English had English parents and spoke it as a first language?

TheFifthKey · 08/07/2017 10:16

But as an EAL student she might find that she's never going to be able to get an award in any other subject...

Okite · 08/07/2017 10:16

Well yes, if it's awarded to the pupil with the highest mark, they're a bit stuck aren't they? Our school does achievement awards and progress awards.

M00nUnit · 08/07/2017 10:17

Imagine how gutted and embarrassed Nicole would have been if she hadn't won though.

LadyinCement · 08/07/2017 10:17

Well, I expect she is the best at French!

One of dd's friends was paired on the French Exchange with an American girl whose parents had gone to live in France. Not one word of French was spoken in their household. Dd's friend felt very short-changed!

GinIsIn · 08/07/2017 10:23

Well presumably that makes her the best at French, and the prize is being awarded for, you know, being the best at French? Confused

Ohforfrenchsake · 08/07/2017 10:24

So following your logic, there is no English prize or does it only go to non-native speaker?

Pombearsandnaiceham · 08/07/2017 10:26

forfrench wouldn't the English prize be a slightly different situation? Because it would probably be for English Literature, not for English language.

cafetea · 08/07/2017 10:27

of course - she speaks the language fluently.I bet this helps all the other kids in the class to have a higher level as well

BigGreenOlives · 08/07/2017 10:27

Saying that the English prize shouldn't go to a native English speaker is silly, they are not testing three years knowledge of English in the exam. It's a pity the school hasn't let Nicole learn a different language, at my dcs school native speakers are encouraged to learn a new language.

Ohforfrenchsake · 08/07/2017 10:33

I don't know **pombear. I used English as an example because it's a language. But what if the physics prize went to X whose parents are physicists or the history prize to Y whose grandparents wrote 10 books on WW2 and it just so happens to be on this year's curriculum.
As it happens in my school there is an English lit prize and an English language prize. So I am happy to rephrase: should only a non-native speaker goes the English language prize?

Ohforfrenchsake · 08/07/2017 10:38

Also, being in year 9, has Nicole just been transferred to this school and therefore has never been given the French prize or has she received it every year since year 7? That imo is the most important. If she has received it every year then the language department could (should?) have elected to give it to second best and therefore yanbu .
If it's her first, then yabu.

HarveySchlumpfenburger · 08/07/2017 11:09

I don't think the physics or history thing works either. It's still different because it doesn't necessarily follow that your parents having an interest in something means you will be good at it.

I'm sure they could have figured a way round it if they had thought about it.

HarveySchlumpfenburger · 08/07/2017 11:13

English language still isn't the same thing as French as an MFL. It's still a course aimed at native speakers rather than one aimed at pupils learning French.

Allthebestnamesareused · 08/07/2017 11:24

Were all the prizes allocated on the basis of who scored the highest in the actual exam? If that is the criteria for winning and then assuming she got the highest mark then she meets the criteria.

I would, however, say that if the winner is selected then possibly selecting the best child who was not a native french speaker may have been appropriate.

However, again if Nicole has been over here and educated here all her life although her spoken French may be great it does not necessarily mean her written French is too.

So - for me - it would depend on the full circumstances.

nina2b · 08/07/2017 11:32

The year award for French ....17
Today 10:13 Pickledeggsandcheese

Goes to Nicole

Whose parents are French, who's 1st language is French,
Well done year 9 teachers - you couldn't make it up*

And?

nina2b · 08/07/2017 11:33

The year award for French ....17
Today 10:13 Pickledeggsandcheese

Goes to Nicole

Whose parents are French, who's 1st language is French,
Well done year 9 teachers - you couldn't make it up*

And?

deuxmoulins · 08/07/2017 11:37

So I'm guessing you have a DC who is good at French and who you feel should have won?

Argeles · 08/07/2017 11:54

It's a ridiculous situation.

I'm British and I won the French award every single year at school, except for one year when they awarded it to another student whose home language was French.

My parents and I were livid, and complained to the school. They informed us that I had the best record of achievement once again for the year, and that my behaviour had been impeccable, but that they thought they should give it to the second best student for one year, 'so that the awards evening wasn't predictable.'

I am a Teacher, and have unfortunately heard a lot of this type of bullshit being spoken about in schools.

When I was at primary school, our Headteacher used to let us keep 1 award if we won it at sports day, but if we won any others on the same day, we were made to publicly give it away to a runner up. This is one of the most outrageous things I've ever heard of in education, and meant that pupils would try really hard in their first race, and after they had won 1 award, they didn't bother pushing themselves in those thereafter, and would often do things to draw attention to themselves instead.

DownUdderer · 08/07/2017 12:00

Argeles you sound very competitive! You were livid at not getting a prize??!

deuxmoulins · 08/07/2017 12:07

I study languages, and am up against native speakers, people who grew up speaking the target languages, had relatives who they spoke to in those languages. It's part and parcel of studying a modern language at any level, I'm afraid, and year 9 is old enough to understand that. GCSE and A Level examiners won't know that Nicole is French, just as they won't know that other candidates are not. Irritating, but c'est la vie

ChocolateFrogs · 08/07/2017 12:10

Argeles Confused chill. It's just a prize. It's not the be all and end all. Do you not believe in fairness as a teacher?

Tilapia · 08/07/2017 12:12

If you gave all the other prizes to the child who is best in that subject, except the French one, that wouldn't seem fair to me.

MaryTheCanary · 08/07/2017 12:15

It's actually an interesting philosophical point which ties into the whole question of "Why do we learn foreign languages?"

I do know that universities treat a GSCE/A-level in a "home" language differently to one in a language that the student did not grow up speaking--partly because universities are often interested in MFL not so much because of what the student can do with them, but as a "marker" for academic seriousness.

If we went back to the UK I would not want my child doing a GCSE in her other language as I have heard it can send out the wrong message. And I don't think I would want her getting an award like this. It just feels a bit wrong, somehow.

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