Teacher with heavy accent

[heavyaccent]

NC as controversial.........

DS has been moved up to top set maths for year 8 which is great. He claims to not be learning anything however, as he's having difficulty understanding the teacher because of her thick accent. She also apparently speaks quite quickly. When other students have asked her to repeat something she has exploded at them for not listening. He says she's very strict and not an approachable character.

I'm not sure how to advise he deals with this- he thinks asking her to speak slower or repeat details will get him in trouble. So do we just accept that he will sit there for the whole of year 8 not learning anything? He is now dreading this class every day. It was his favourite subject previously.

My only related experience is when learning to drive with the AA. I was allocated a Nigerian instructor. Very nice friendly man made me feel at ease but honestly I just nodded along with everything he said as I could barely understand a word. After 3 lessons like this I decided to switch instructor- I felt bad but I just wasn't learning anything and I couldn't afford to waste money on lessons.

So what is my AIBU- I'm not really sure. I would rather he drop back to set 2 and really understand the teacher and continue to learn. Is this a bit 'racist' of me though?

how come when I was working in Spain, there were many English Primary teachers there who did not speak Spanish

I obviously can't comment on why the Spaniards found that acceptable, but personally I think it's a disgrace. I get the value of total immersion for the pupils, but what happened when an emergency or whatever made Spanish essential, or even just staffroom chitchat was called for ... were they expected to produce an interpreter?

Sadly, we see similar in France - Brittany especially - where there are whole communities of expat Brits with barely a word of French between them. They don't seem to realise (or perhaps don't care) what they're missing, and it's hard to blame the many French who loath their attitudes

Sorry for the slight derail, but while we can't all be multi lingual we can surely learn the local way to ask "please do you speak English?". Not much, I know, but at least it suggests an effort - or even just a few basic manners

Expressedways
I had a similar experience. I had a French teacher from Newcastle.

It would be exactly the same if a dc was hard of hearing. They wouldn't learn efficiently and it erodes self-confidence.

They could easily misinterprete what had been said.

Risk losing thats days concept, and risk their exam outcomes.

Not even understand any explanation offered and feel it's pointless to ask.

Her blaming the pupil for not understanding what shes saying is horrendous!

Surely it's a minimum to enunciate as a teacher, as a role model to clear speaking as well as being easily understood to facilitate learning!! Wtf?!

French teacher from Newcastle

If they have a great french accent that all good.

Some do, no matter where they're from. Some, from all over, have spent time immersed in another culture from very young and can speak fluently.

If they can't then they shouldn't be role models as teachers, or teachers, as their teaching will prejudice results for dc.

Smotheroffive
It's not the same at all.
With students who need support hearing, we have specialist support staff trainee in hearing impairment, all staff who teach a hearing impaired child have training above our mandatory training, we have someone from the LA who comes in and works with us, the classes with a hearing impaired child are roomed accordingly to avoid rooms with terrible accoustics (in some cases ceilings have been redone), they will often have their own assistive technology, staff can seat them at a place in the room that suits the child eithe rfor proximity or to lip read, there's the option of having pen devices that are on a lanyard round the teacher's neck which pick the teacher's voice up direct to the child.

This situation is nothing like teaching a child with hearing impairment.

It's probably worth the OP talking to the head of year/head of subject, but as with many issues in schools keeping the main issue at hand the focus without bringing in false comparisons and other wider "but other students said..." is how to get a resolution

I think YABU. My maths teacher was Chinese, had a very strong accent and spoke very fast but we all managed just fine

She can’t help her accent.

There was the odd shitty kid who used her accent as a stick to beat her with and take the piss out of her, but they didn’t do very well because they refused to listen

Lola

I am talking about the effect on dc who struggle to hear, or see perfectly.

Not the teaching methods for the hard of thinking

If. You. Read. My. Words. You. Might. Understand

Still not comparable.

A situation linked to someone's SEND needs isn't the same as someone struggling to understand an accent .

It happens.

I was top in maths till I hit Yr 8 - had a teacher that year with an accent that was incredibly difficult to understand and it didn't get better as the year went on. Would often ask after class for clarification, but couldn't understand even then. The entire class dropped, actually. I can't remember if our parents mentioned it to the school, but it they did, it didn't achieve anything.

From that point on, I never really caught up again. Losing a year of maths is a big deal.

I thought I was just terribly bad at maths until I had to study it at uni - turns out I am still good at maths, when I can understand the instruction!

I would give it a couple of week, to see if the 'tuning in' happens, but no more than that. Maths is a very sequential subject, you really don't want to miss out on anything at all.

The problem is that there are not enough native English speaking teachers in subjects such as Maths and Chemistry...

Oh jeez Lola

Anyone struggling to learn because of accessing difficulties is what I'm talking about.

Hearing impairment creates accessing difficulty
Visual impairment - same
Undistinguishable speech - same

They are nothing to do with SEN

Talk about pedantic, stop making it all about you, and special teaching aids for specific requirements.

Its not atall I what I said.

Read. What. I. Said.

MY DS is being taught French by a South African teacher with a very heavy accent. He's struggling a bit to understand him but I'm more interested to see if he starts speaking French with a SA twinge!

I had a philosophy lecturer with a strong South African accent. His pronunciation of Kant as Cunt enlivened the categorical imperative no end.

I had this happen to me in high school (many moons ago) Teacher has a very strong Indian accent and I really couldn't understand what he was saying. There had been some trouble in the past with this teacher being subjected to racism from pupils so with this is mind, I was too scared to mention it for fear of upsetting him or being accused of racism myself and my parents agreed at the time so I just muddled through in class and got a tutor once a week

I'm not making it about me.

I'm saying that someone finding an accent difficult at the start of a year is not comparable to SEND needs and the OP is better placed to have a chat with her DC about active listening Vs passively hearing and filling in the gaps (which we all do) and then speak to school.

A thick accent? Huh???

Oh perleeeeease.

GaudyNight
That's brilliant.
Given some of Kant's ideas it may well be apt in places.

Haha - the Kant story!

Good god Lola

You know thats not what I'm saying

Go and practice some more Kant, and maybe more apt, Vygotsky, and you will find yourself in the zone, finally, perhaps.

Any issue that is a barrier to learning really does need to be raised with the school.

And be honest.

“I feel embarrassed to raise this and so is my son but we can’t understand what Mrs X is trying to teach us as her accent is quite strong - again it’s not that her English is poor nor her qualifications are under scrutiny - he just literally can’t fathom what she’s saying. Have you a plan in place you could share to help the teacher and pupils understand each other better”?

YANBU
YANBXenophobic
YABRightly concerned about your son’s education.

He wants to learn, she wants to teach. The school needs to make that seamless.

@LolaSmiles and @NoTheresa, I should probably gloss this by saying that I was only sitting in on that philosophy lecture because I was in love with someone who was actually studying philosophy, so my take on the Ding an Sich is a bit fuzzy, as I was staring at the back of his head rather than properly listening. However, I ended up with a double first in my own subject and married the man in question, so a win!

GaudyNight
That worked out well for you in the end.

I did the same sitting in on a talk/lecture to accompany someone I was seeing and some friends who were interested in the subject, but fell asleep to the sweet tones of monotone and nobody thought to wake me, they just laughed later.

It's difficult to judge on an accent without hearing. Overall, it is good for people to hear a language in different accents (whether their own or other languages they are learning,) but it can take time to tune in to an unfamiliar one.

I disagree that people can't help their accents - we all have the capability to modify our voices to some extent. I work with a lot of people whose first language isn't English, and while I speak everything with a hint of a Dorset accent, I make an effort to avoid dialect words and I don't think my accent is as thick as when I'm on the phone to my sister. The point is for people to understand me, so sometimes, there needs to be compromise.

I would be more concerned about the teacher's response to people asking her to repeat things. Sometimes, people don't hear first time round, even when they are concentrating. They might need something rephrasing to understand it properly. Standing in front of a board/screen is not helpful, either. A good teacher should be checking in to make sure people are following, especially with key points. If she's really refusing to repeat anything, I would bring that up.

But - you do need to be sure it's not just hearsay, that it's not someone in the class stirring things up. It's clear something isn't right, though, so I would probably request a discussion about your concerns, but saying you're not sure where the issues really lie, whether it's the teacher, the class as a whole, or your child - I am not saying it is your child, but you should approach it with an open mind rather than lay blame, because that would probably result in a defensive attitude which won't get anything sorted.