DD and her Spanish teacher. GRRRR!!!!

[drivinmecrazy]

DD speaks (almost) fluent spanish (Murcia). she's in yr7 and her Spanish teacher seems to really dislike her. We (her & I) accept that her accent is regional but everyone else in her class is learning Spanish from scratch. Rather than praise DD for what she does know, teacher is forever putting DD1 down for her accent (knows the right words and verbs but tends to drop her sounds because of the regional accent she has developed). DD has won her school entry for the national Spanish spelling Bee but teacher still will not give her any credit.

When, in class, they have certain exercises the teacher will constantly make DD repeat and repeat her sentences til she sounds out every sound whereas another student can stumble through with (really bad) annunciation and get loads of praise.

Is this a case of the teacher pushing DD or does she really dislike her for her already formed accents and idea (as in practical rather than text book spanish)

DD started this school 3 weeks into term, and as soon as the teacher knew DD knew some spanish she seemed to immediately challenge her

[Summersbee]

"¡Bueno, aquí estoy mirándoles!"

Going back to the original thread ...
From personal experience I would recommend switching to another language in school in order to be appropriately challenged and develop good learning skills.
Longterm I would strongly encourage DD to take up Spanish again before she leaves school - she might feel scared to if she has left it for a few years, but it will come back in a flash, and she will need to study it again to turn it into a really good skill for life.
To cheer DD up, and help her with her accent, she might like to look at 'Hola, me llamo Billy' online ...

[JenaiMorris]

YES! A multi-lingual bunfight!

[tribpot]

Fierce and yet - so far - conducted entirely in English. C'mon ladies, we can use Google Translate to keep up if you wanna slug it out multilingually.

[Bonsoir]

You certainly rose to the bait

[LoopsInHoops]

she started it!

[JenaiMorris]

snigger at the battle of the MFL giants. Fierce

[Bonsoir]

If you were doing a serious PhD, you wouldn't have made that clanger about the silly baby research project to assess methods. You would know all about the research.

[LoopsInHoops]

ha ha! told

[LoopsInHoops]

7 MFL studied
Current HoMFL in international school, previous HoMFL in UK school, plus years of other MFL teaching experience - primary and secondary, UK and abroad.

Undertaking PhD researching modern MFL teaching methods

So, basically, you learned some languages and know some others who have, and think that qualifies you to talk with authority on teaching methods?

[Bonsoir]

Then tell me!

[LoopsInHoops]

ah, xposts.

"100% certain that my experience of MFL teaching methods across countries and generations is a lot greater than yours"

Not from the sound of it. :)

[LoopsInHoops]

Come on Bonsoir, still waiting for your credentials. I'm intrigued!

[Bonsoir]

Learned 5 MFL, all of which I studied in several countries and school or university, both with native speakers in their own countries and outside. Family full of multilingual people. Currently board member of association in MFL field. Loads of stuff. Don't want to out myself.

[Biscuitsneeded]

I teach MFL and have one or two children who are bilingual, or more or less bilingual. I wouldn't dream of correcting their pronunciation, and in fact when they are confident and happy to do so I use them as a sort of unofficial language assistant within the classroom. However, it is often the case that although they SPEAK the language very well they do not write it nearly as well as they imagine they do - they write down the words and sounds they hear in their head but with very little regard for grammatical accuracy! Those children sometimes need to work harder than other naturally able children to get the written side of things right. So it may be that the teacher feels threatened and is bullying your daughter, or it may be that the teacher sees both the potential and the disadvantages in your daughter's situation and is trying to get the very best out of her. However, forcing her to repeat the same phrase over and over in front of her classmates doesn't sound good unless she is modelling good pronunciation and your daughter has misunderstood her intentions? I would email the teacher, be very positive and say how pleased you are the DD can learn Spanish with a native speaker, ask if there are specific sounds she needs to focus on, and depending on the response you get you should be able to determine whether you are dealing with someone with high standards and expectations or someone with regional prejudice and an attitude problem...

[LoopsInHoops]

Yes, you're right. Care to find something that proves one of your points? My point about comparing a specific UK school with a French one was to highlight that you were comparing two entirely different things, not to actually create a 'baby' you are in a bit of a mood, aren't you?! experiments. Clearly you're struggling to understand.

And yes, actually I am dying to know about your international MFL teaching/learning experience. I did a quick search and can only find you wittering about your DD's experiences. Pray, tell us of your wealth of experience.

[Bonsoir]

Contrary to what you wrote in your second to last post, there is an awful lot of research out there comparing MFL teaching methods and outcomes. You don't have to invent your own baby experiment you know!

[LoopsInHoops]

What on earth has that got to do with anything? Feel free to enlighten us on your stunning MFL teaching CV, but it doesn't really add to this thread at all.

[Bonsoir]

I'm not missing the point at all and I am 100% certain that my experience of MFL teaching methods across countries and generations is a lot greater than yours

[LoopsInHoops]

Bonsoir, you are very stubbornly missing the point. We can only compare modern teaching methods with traditional if we have all other factors the same. Probably the best way of doing this would be to find a private school in the UK that prioritises MFL but insists on modern teaching methods, then we can compare it with students at a collège or a lycée in France. Do you have that data to hand? No?

[Bonsoir]

libellule - it is not really very useful to compare the English the generation above you learned in France with what the French English children are learning in England today...

I know an awful lot of French children at lycée now...

[ninani]

OP, I think admission gave you the best advice that you need. Directly to the point!!!! Picking her out is discriminating and humiliating. Also if you ask the teacher for "advice" she will feel justified in what she already does and might even intensify it. In her eyes your daughter is already "wrong" and deserves such treatement just because she has a regional accent. Don't feed her methods.

[libelulle]

Well not really bonsoir. You can't compare the efficacy of 'traditional' and 'modern' ways of learning languages if one system teaches traditional ways for 12 years and 6 hours a week and the other modern ways for 5 years and 2 hours!

I'm with you that France teaches Spanish well. English? Well I have a zillion aunts, uncles and cousins and they all studied English at school. Only one of them can actually speak more than a few words, and that's because he's a businessman and learnt it as an adult.

[LoopsInHoops]

What results with what results? gibberish

[IShallWearMidnight]

tribpot - DD1 was taught French by a Spaniard with a degree from Glasgow - her accent was "interesting" .

[LadyMargolotta]

Good post whiteflame. You are probably right.