ds1 is sulking because I won't help him with his German homework

[roisin]

He said he doesn't need a dictionary, then proceeds to ask me the German for half a dozen English words. I decline (after the first one).

I'm happy to help by suggesting some idioms, etc; or improving on some phrasing. But basic vocab/dictionary work is up to him, I think.

(He's 14 btw, yr10)

tough, i say.

leave him to it.

if he "doesn't need a dictionary" then he doesn't need yo uto act as one.

ignore him and make yourself a

I agree with nickelbabe

I never find pupils learn anything if you just keep telling them the word, making them find it themselves is much better.

Sag ihm, er ist faul

OP Is your son normally lazy in other subjects or just in this subject? Could be he genuinely finds it too much for him.

I think you are missing a trick here.
Next time he asks, suggest a Very Rude Word in German.
Should be interesting when his homework comes back with teacher's comments on.

He doesn't sound especially lazy. I'd give him the answer sometimes, (well I would if I could speak german) depending how I was feeling/what I was doing - why not?

Dictionary training is the best thing you can give him- stand firm! It makes life so much easier later on.

tbh it wouldn't be any real skin off my nose to throw the translations at him so I would have just done that, but if it bothers you and you tell him to look them up instead, it's your business really. Don't really know what you are asking here tbh

plus - you've also got the problem (if you tell him the words) of choosing the wrong word for the context.

If he looks it up in the dictionary, it should provide him with a usage comment.

schwarzwalderkirschtorten

my best german word ever

schwarzwaelderkirschtorte (no n, and an e if you're not using an A+umlaut)

Schwarzwälderkirschtorte

danke

(es ist auch meine Lieblingswort )

google translate.

I never see the point of sulking. Let him sulk.

I would definitely get him to do it himself. Encourage him to systematically write down in German and English what he has found. A small botebook is good for that. He should also note down the gender of nouns and whether a verb is regular or not.

When he has finished I would check any spellings he has included from the dictionary. It is amazing how many students always choose the first word from any list regardless of the context. Also check that he is actually using a German words again many students write down things like pron, fem, or masc.

You can use the list of vocab in the notebook for quick tests to see if he remembers the words he has used.

And repeat:

It's your homework, not mine.

Don't use google translate. If you don't know what you are doing you can end up with complete garbage and will have learnt nothing.

wordreference.com however is brilliant for contextualising vocab.

I went upstairs to read my book ... and promptly fell asleep!
When I came back down he's done his homework :-)

It's not perfect, but I think it's good enough. And he'll learn more from the teacher correcting it than me doing so at this point.

His grammar is very good actually, but his vocab is quite narrow imo; so that's what he needs to work on.

CrosswordAddict; He isn't lazy as such, but he doesn't have a very busy/full life atm, and tends to prevaricate for hours about relatively simple homeworks, which drives me nuts. ds2 is crazily busy with activities and rattles through any homework very efficiently!

As a MFL teacher and as a parent, I would always point them in the direction of a dictionary, usually with the comment that I do not have 'Collins' stamped on my forehead nor indeed on any other part of my anatomy. Even DD (9) knows not to ask!

Tinuviel - can I bend your ear on another issue?
ds2 (in yr8), last year did a term each of 3 languages; this year he's continuing with German and French - 3 lessons a fortnight of each.

His target is higher than anyone else in the class. I can't remember what it is, but it would necessitate him using 3 different tenses. And they don't teach future tense in yr8.
The German teacher told him he will give him some extension work, so that he can learn the future tense and achieve his target.
The French teacher told him he won't learn the future tense this year, so won't achieve his target, tough.

He loves a challenge and came home and asked me if I would teach him the future tense in French because he wanted to achieve his end of year target. I explained to him that the future tense is much more straightforward in German than in French, which is why he's got the response he has ...

Now, obviously I need to contact the French teacher, but what should I say? I don't want to dampen his enthusiasm and determination, but I also don't want to offend her. Do you think I should offer to do some simple future tense work with him at home, or not?