TA speaks in a different language to some of the parents

[bunchoftulipsanddaffs]

Some of the parents at school are grumbling that the TA in our class speaks to parents in her/their first language rather than English. I am confused about why they think this is wrong (except of course everyone can understand what she is saying when she is speaking English and most of us can’t when she is not).

Could I have your thoughts please? There is talk of making a complaint and I’d like to hear views.

We live in a quite diverse area and it's normal for the teachers to sometimes switch language for the non-native English speaking parents. They're just talking about their kids, can't believe people would get het up about this.

Well your parents who are about to complain will get their arses handed to them as schools have a duty to take reasonable steps to ensure that home language and culture is celebrated and used in school as well as making sure that children receive a good education that gives them a good level of English..

That’s in law. That’s the statutory requirements.

Those parents are FOOLS and the school is doing a good job.

At my school we hired bilingual TAs specifically for this reason and they are a really valuable asset. As previous poster have said it is really helpful to have a member of staff can explain stuff to parents who are not fluent English speakers.

In addition they can help support children with an additional language in class. Especially in the early years or for recently arrived children. Of course they don’t teach in their home language but are there if needed to unpick problems and support children who are upset/ unwell.

Dear Governors, we the undersigned would like to raise a complaint that the staff are having private conversations with other parents and we cannot listen in.

Yours sincerely, Parents Who Assume Everything Is About Them And Their Little Darlings

SleepingStandingUp

😂

You can imagine the conversation with the Head

Angry parent: I want to complain because Miss P is speaking to parents in Polish/Latvian/Russian
Head: oh, can't they understand her?
Angry parent: Oh yes, they are Polish/Latvian/Russian. But I can't understand her.
Head: Sorry, does she speak to you in Polish/Latvian/Russian too?
Angry parent: Oh no, I can understand her when she talks in English to me but not when she talks to others in Polish/Latvian/Russian
Head

I remember a playgroup I worked at parent complained abput 3 parents speaking to each other in their first language apparently it is rude

Isn't MN fickle?

A while back a OP posted about how unacceptable it was that two health care workers were chatting together in their own language, in the same room as the OP but not actually interacting with her, saying stuff that might be about the OP. Or might not.

The outrage! How dare they speak forrin!

We have two TAs who between them speak four different languages. It’s fabulous!

My boyfriend took a stand at university many years ago when the group, who were largely bilingual, spoke exclusively in Spanish, excluding the only two exclusively English speakers.

N this case it appears language is being used to unclude rather than exclude. It would be different if parents evenings or class announcements were being provided in only non-English languages.

I do think we need to show non-English speaking parents some compassion. I also agree they should he att noting to learn the language of the country they have moved to (I would love to live abroad, but my language skills are to limited for non English speaking countries).

Next time someone complains to you about this issue, why don’t you ask why they think it is wrong?

@Miljah.A world of divergence between a TA using their language skills to improve the engagement and understanding of a family whose use of English is so limited it becomes a disadvantage to children in a school and two healthcare workers in a clinical area chatting over a patient in language the patient can’t understand.

Agree that those making the complaint will be known as those parents when they struggle to explain why this is any sort of issue. I can't even see how the parents who speak a third language (i.e. not English nor the TA's language) could have any grounds for complaint unless there are a similar number of people speaking the two 'other' languages in the school and the TA was hired specifically because they spoke one of them, in which case that would be unfair. But if they were just hired because they were the best applicant then it's just unlucky. What is the TA supposed to do when parents speak to them in their shared language, just ignore them?

Disagree with the several posters that have said people would only make complaints if the TA's language is, say, Urdu as everyone's ok with 'white' people speaking their own languages - my first thought for non English 2nd language in a UK primary school was polish and I can easily imagine people complaining about that.

Plus as Piglet has pointed out, this is an issue that could very easily (and has, I've seen threads on MN) be replicated in Wales, a country that's 95% white. Lots of people are just a) nosy and b) easily threatened by anything that's outside their narrow experience

Our school has a publicised list of staff members that speak different languages so that parents can speak to or through them. A vast array of languages is covered. I think it's great.

Isn't MN fickle?
There's clearly a difference between a professional talking to a customer / client /parent in a shared tongue to benefit the customer /client/ parent , and two professionals who can speak English speaking their shared tongue in front of a customer /client /patient who can't.

My hunch is that they don't want a "foreign" ta. Not sure if she's specifically and eal ta, but we had complaints at DD's primary which was basically racism. You say her English language isn't great but it must meet the threshold. The way the ta dressed seemed to be the issue here (well in playground chatter, the complaint was about spoken language)

How embarrassing to complain that you're annoyed you can't spy on private conversations

The ta sounds like a wonderful asset to the school and community

I live in an area where Welsh is a minority language (think one or two kids are Welsh first language in each class). Welsh-speaking staff speak in Welsh to Welsh-speaking parents - even when they know that over 90% of the other parents can't understand.

So yes I have considered this scenario and... I still don't get the complaint thing

Noticed OP hasn’t responded to my original post about the colour/language. Bet it’s not a Western European language.

Total utter racism. I also bet OP is the one that wants to complain.

My old school was 80% EAL, many from a refugee background. Having teachers and TAs with different languages was invaluable. We even had a parent who was deaf, so the teacher who knew fluent Auslan was incredibly valuable. We would happily jump into any parent meetings as needed to help with translating. Many of these families came from awful situations, are completely navigating a whole new world, and many have suffered incredible losses. Their child's school actually being able to talk to them in their own language must be incredibly comforting and be one less pressure they have to deal with whilst they are setting up a new life.

I now work in a school that is officially English, but also has a second local dialect that they are trying to keep alive and we try and integrate it into the school as much as possible. I talk to local parents in the local dialect, because it actually helps me build bonds with them and shows that I am dedicated to being a member of their community and have taken the time to learn it. Many of the older members of the commmunity used to be punished very harshly at school for speaking the local dialect, so it's actually very important to show that it is welcome and accepted.

That healthcare worker example is nothing like this.

I think a TA whose English is not very good can be a bit problematic. How can she help the kids with spelling and grammar?!

If her English is good, there is no problem, surely

The only justifiable concern would be if the TA was giving more information in the foreign language than the English speakers were getting in England. I've seen this is other situations- you're on a guided tour an the tour guide gives one sentence in English and ten minutes in the other language (and often there appear to be jokes in the other language!).

In your shoes Op, I’d look forward to receiving the complaints - almost as much as I’d look forward to formulating an appropriate response to them! (with translation into at least one other language of course) 😈