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?

Do state schools get extra money for ESL kids? Do they have separate English lessons when other kids are having regular English lessons?

Is there a set way of doing this?

in the school my daughter just left they did 50/50 English and language x but when they did English or language x classes the kids were streamlined either into second language or native speaker for each language.

She has started a new school with English and a new language and she is having additional one to one classes during reading time whilst being seated with the native speakers of the new language rather than native English speakers.

just wondering no criticism 😀

So you want parents to be less open with you otherwise you’ll be less open with them? 🤔

#bekind

Teachers will naturally be more guarded if parents are aggressive and entitled. It all depends on the tone and attitude.

Well, quite.

?

Aggressive and entitled…if a parent raises a concern about their child at school?

my daughter as I said is multilingual and always offers to help other kids but if she was put in an uncomfortable position her teacher would be my first port of call- this is not entitled and aggressive- rather my role as a parent.

But I agree with previous posters I would still think a teacher should communicate with me on a professional manner to ensure the best outcome for my child.

You do not have to like me as a parent but you do need to work with me.

The pushy parent usually gets result. The quiet don’t-make-waves parent gets trod on. Fact.

Teacher here too but retired. The problem is that you know your pattern and you could explain it to concerned parents. No-one knows what's happening in OP's daughter's class and that is the worry.
Personally, I'd give it a week to allow all subjects and groups to rotate through. Then if things aren't great, I'd ask for an appointment with the teacher and/or the head. Kids can help other kids, sure. Not all the time though.

We had really great teachers mostly all of the way through for both kids. Approachable, compassionate and happy to answer questions even when they couldn’t ultimately accommodate a request. It really made the few that were hostile to parents (and unsurprisingly students too) stand out.