School assuming things about my mixed race son

[TulipDragonfly]

DS (5) has come home today. I'm white, his dad is British born Chinese (ie, his parents came over from China, he looks Chinese but was bought up in the UK has never been to China and can't speak Chinese)

Mummy did you know I can speak chinese?

No darling, you can't

Yes I can, my teacher told me I could

But you can't sweetie!

Yes, she looked in her book and told me I could! And so I can!

She got him to speak a bit of Chinese to the whole class - hes such a little people pleaser that he said" I tried to speak Chinese" (he just made some noises mi Ka la ta do hi sa - what he thinks Chinese sounds like) and then she said 'well done'

Wibu to go into the school tomorrow and clear up that he can't speak Chinese, and I'm slightly concerned that they've just made an assumption he can because of what he looks like?

I thinkndome schools big up the number of EAL to try and get more support. I've never heard of a school including a grandparent speaking to them in another language as EAL. Mainly because in that case English isn't an additional language.

OP, did you tick ‘White - Chinese on the application ethnicity section?

I wouldn't know how the information is gathered, but currently I have 3 children who are 'EAL' but speak no other language than English.

Why would she check in a book if this if her making assumptions on what he looks like?

I have a mixed raced daughter, me /white British) and her dad (British born Chinese) he has lived in Hong Kong where his parents are from and can speak Cantonese BUT our daughter can’t and probably won’t ever be able to without tutoring as I can’t speak the language despite him trying to teach me loads lol!

We’ve had funny comments before, the latest one was ‘oh I’ll never be able to tell them apart’ said the nursery worker to me about my half Chinese daughter and the fully Pakistani girl I the same group 🤔 not racist but offensive to assume you can’t tell two very different looking children apart cause there both ‘some type of asian’ I find people seem to be far my tolerant of this kind of behaviour when it comes to Chinese people as opposed to being up in arms of this was said to people of different skin colours and ethnicity. Really winds me up!

School get extra funding for every child that doesn't have English as a first language.

I know of at least 3 children in my school who can speak a second language, ranging from 'a bit' to 'fluent' and they have this language as native on their forms.

All parents have been in and questioned it but it remains....

Definitely have a word. I had a friend who was Filipino, the Mandarin teacher at school had a go at her for not being able to speak Chinese. Not even considering that even if her parents were Chinese, she'd been born and brought up in England so wouldn't necessarily have spoken any anyway.

That is so cute that your ds tried to speak Chinese, bless him.

Bonkers.

And you need to go in. The teacher should apologise to your child and explain that s/he got it wrong and it shouldn't have happened.

Apologies are important here. Teachers and grown ups cannot expect students to apologise for their mistakes if they don't model this behaviour themselves. Insist on one.

It's ridiculous and has led to me having to prove I'm 'supporting' an EAL child, even though they only speak English!

The statistics show that EAL pupils who speak English but may have a parent or parents who don’t speak English, can be at risk from little support at home. It’s a crude method that can mean some children get ‘support’ they don’t need but if it means the wrong child doesn’t slip through the net...

Anyway, this is probably going to be a moot point as Damian Hinds wants schools to not hold EAL data anyway.

Sorry, this really made me laugh but, yes, I think you need to nip the being-able-to-speak-Chinese-thing in the bud. If you’re otherwise happy with the school don’t be too hard on them - mistakes happen.

DS has a fabulous memory to be able to remember what he said to his teacher in a made up language.

Also he sounds adorable by the way! 😍

You cannot "Sepak" Chinese.

There is no such spoken language.

Chinese script is pictographic, all Chinese can read it, but when they speak it comes out Mandarin, Cantonese, Taiwanese etc.

School get extra funding for every child that doesn't have English as a first language.

Actually I dint think that’s the case.
Or has my dcs primary school said about my two bilingual dcs. Apparently because they were born in the uk so automatically had to know how to speak English

OP I wouod check with the teacher and see what’s going on there.
But I wouod say that there is AT LEAST an element of racism/assumption made in looks if there is a mistake even though yu never said he is speaking another language at home.
Besides, even if he was speaking another la gauge at home, assuming he can speak is a big leap. A lot of children who are supposed to be bilingual actually aren’t. Because raising children bilingual is actually pretty hard work!

YANBU.

There is no way that she can just make an assumption like that!

I would be in there if I was you OP.

Bless him. Sounds like a mix up. Dds school missed a trick with dd if they get extra funding. Dh isn’t British. Or at least wasn’t until the big B 🙄

It was probably a genuine mistake if she looked in a book.
Your DS sounds like a little poppet, bless him. Had to smile picturing him.

The statistics show that EAL pupils who speak English but may have a parent or parents who don’t speak English, can be at risk from little support at home.
That’s a hell of a lot of assumption in that statement though.
All of the children that I know who are bilingual have parents who are choosing to speak their ‘original’ language butbthey still perfect English - just as good as any Brit.
EAL is also English as Another Langauge which suppose that te child first language isn’t english but their minority language. Again, liv8ng in the uk, it’s unlikely that English is a minority lanague for them.
As for the lack of support at home....

I wouod gather that this is exactkynthe sort if statistics that you need to look at carefully. Because younaill find it hide many different scenarios and that you can’t assume xxx. Not wo also insulting one or both of the parents in the process.

Is it that awful for the school to encourage this child's Chinese heritage? Maybe the teacher just asked if they knew any Chinese words they could share with the class and he gave it a try.

Sure mention it to the teacher in case there was a miscommunication but I can't see its a big deal. Do you not want him to learn the language?

that's so cute tht he thinks he now speaks Chinese!

You could always learn it yourself and teach him as he's so enthusiastic.

DS has a fabulous memory to be able to remember what he said to his teacher in a made up language

Polly I think we all know that what OP has posted as her son’s made up Chinese is just representative of the noises he made and not exact

Sorry I know it isn’t funny but I can’t help laughing at the thought of 29 other children listening attentively and the teacher nodding along approvingly whilst your ds fakes speaking Chinese! I bet she has used it for lots of convenient “learning outcomes” as well!

Don't think its a big deal really, just tell the teacher.

My cousin is half Chinese heritage Mauritian and half white british - wld like to see them work out what language he speaks!!

Firstly this was a huge assumption made by the teacher based on your child's race. This is not acceptable/funny/excusable. You need to have a conversation with the teacher to set this out.
Secondly, the teacher did not listen to your child when he knew that he didn't speak the language. Great that on this occasion he made up words but imagine if it had gone the other way - he would have been humiliated in front of the class!