Primary child sat only with non-English speaking children

[evilharpy]

I don't know if IABU so grateful for any opinions.

Daughter is in second to last year of primary and has just gone back to school (we are in Ireland, before anyone says it's too early) and they've been allocated to their table groups. The class is maybe 1/4 ESL children, 3/4 native speakers. She is on one long table with only children who have fairly recently moved here and don't speak much English sitting beside or really anywhere near her, certainly not close enough to talk to or pair up with for activities. Several of them are from the same country so speak each other's language.

Now I have no problem at all with ESL children being sat with or paired up with native speakers, how else are they supposed to learn, and I know the purpose of lessons is not to sit chatting to your friends, but she is worried she will be isolated and that she will end up spending more time helping them than doing her own work. She is very academic, if that's relevant, but is not at all prone to drama or moaning so the fact that she has told me she's worried about it has made me concerned.

WIBU to raise this with the teacher and ask if the tables could be mixed up a bit? Has anyone had a similar experience and it's worked out ok for the child?

Your child is not there simple to facilitate learning English for others.

It would be fair to sit her next to one English speaker and one child who does not speak English as yet.

This is what I would ask for

Agree she is not there to help others learn - do you think it’s random allocation or would teacher have put her there as she’s known for including everyone, being helpful etc?

I’d ask if tables can be shuffled around come October break.

I think YABU. They aren’t glued to their seats all day in Y5. She can speak to other friends at break, lunch, PE, groupwork, sharpening her pencil, etc.

The ESOL children will pick up English soon enough. Has she tried chatting to any of them? Some of them might be quite fluent already, but just shy. She could have a best friend there.

Of course if it does turn into a problem later, you can talk to the teacher. But it feels premature to do so now.

I agree.
She's there primarily to learn, not as a learning aid for others.

I think it would be great if another 1 or 2 English speaking children were sat with them, it would be great for learning on both sides then.

If it is bothering her have a conversation with the teacher.
Some children blossom as mentors and some don't.
Some just need a break now and then.

I think you need to wait until you actually have an issue to raise. So if DD is being asked to support the other DC at the expense of her learning, or if she does end up isolated as they are speaking all day in their own language, then is the time to take these specific problems to the teacher. Ask to move now on the basis of what you think might happen and I think you may recieve less than a sympathetic hearing. I imagine you will just be told 'no, no that won't happen' at best, and at worst recieve a little talk on inclusively.

This happened to my child - fairly academic allocated a 'friend' which she had to sit next to because the friend was a non English speaker. Her school even went as far as giving my daughter a folder full of English words to show her at lunch time to help her learn the words. It affected her learning and I should have spoken up at the time but was afraid the school would think I was unreasonable.

I have hardly been able to wait for all the moaning school threads!
Another case of parents butting their nose in without knowing the facts or class dynamics!
My class have their set place. They move around numerous and I mean numerous times a day, sitting next to other children. They work individually, in pairs in threes, age related to that subject, mixed ability, next to a friend, beside people they haven’t worked with before. There are multiple reasons on how children are seated.
I’d love to tell you all how to do your jobs with my zero experience. I just know that I would be able to tell you all what you need to do.

More native speakers of English need to be added to the mix.

I’m a retired Head of English/ESOL/ Mod Lang - Scotland.

it’s deemed to be good practice for ESOL pupils to be able to discuss concepts with one another in their native language, so having more than one in the same group wouldn’t be unusual, but OP’s daughter shouldn’t be the only native speaker of English in the group.

Why not let the teacher do her job and decide where it is best to sit everyone?

I’d be complaining about this straight away OP. Why should your daughter not have people on her table who can speak her language, while others do? It’s not fair.

The thread is about OP's child. It is not about you. Why so much hostility. You are replying like you're her child's teacher and taking personal offence.

"Another case of parents butting their nose in without knowing the facts or class dynamics!"

Unless you are her child's teacher, you're doing the same thing.

Teachers can't possibly do what's best for every single pupil though - sometimes parents do need to speak up.

It's not ideal but I'd tell her to just focus on her own schoolwork. She shouldn't need to be mentoring her classmates.

'Academic and not prone to moaning'....she sounds a lovely student. Thats why she has been sat where she is - so she can help the other kids. If she was disruptive the teacher would have moved her elsewhere.

What a daft response.

I’d raise it (politely) and ask. Had an issue when DD was sat just with a load of naughty boys (who she found distracting and upsetting) and her teacher told me it was because she was a “civilising influence”. Sadly well behaved kids, often girls, frequently have their own needs overlooked because they are not the one causing problems.

I agree with @Werweisswohin - she's not there for other children's benefit re language , so talk to teacher about it.

Ireland poster here also.

Unless there’s something unusual going on the tables will be mixed up after Halloween so I wouldn’t be stressing right now. If that didn’t happen I’d go in and speak to the teacher then.

I'm not sure me asking "I'm not sure whether this is something to be concerned about but it's worrying my child, please can anyone share similar experiences" equates with "you have no idea how to do your job and I am going to kick off about it"?

Thankfully the teachers in our school are lovely and not at all hostile.

I haven't read what everyone else has said, but I would honestly let her stay where she is. The esl kids will pick up English very quickly, and she'll expand her social group and get to know kids from different backgrounds. I don't think this is necessarily about her being a teacher's aid, more of a learning experience for your dd.

Would depend on the dynamics for me - but if it was making her unhappy, I'd be talking to school about it. It kind of happened to DD2 last year - she ended up on a table with 3/5 of the kids on there being Cantonese speakers. It worked out OK because 2 of the kids palled up (kind of natural if there's someone there who speaks the same first language as you and nothing against the kids), but the other kids did still interact with DD, and I had confidence in the class teacher that she was keeping an eye on the dynamic in that corner.

Is it your DD or yourself that is worried that they may be isolated or end up helping the other kids at her table ??

Chances are the kids will be all moved around again around half-term or there will be students swapped around when the teacher realises some need kids to be separated, etc.

And your DD has lunchtimes, etc to catch up with her friends.

I literally said "she has told me she is worried". The only reason I'm even aware of it is because she has come and told me she is worried.