Lagging in Spanish, year 7, what do I do?

[MuttonWasAGoose]

According to the school report, the only subject my son is underperforming in is Spanish.

I don't want him to fall behind. I'm taking him to Barcelona in February to try and inspire him to enjoy the subject, and I've been studying Spanish, myself, so we can try to understand basic things. I find it fun.

I'd like to see what he's learning in school but he has no textbook. He says they use PowerPoint presentations in class. He has an exercise book with a few pages of notes and sundry. The class meets twice a week for an hour. There's very little homework.

I have no idea what they're supposed to be learning and so I can't help him practice or even monitor what he should be doing. When I was in school and studying French I had a textbook that I brought home. My parents could have, if they'd wanted, looked at what chapter I was on, had an idea of what I was supposed to be learning.

How do I find out what the class is doing? How can I help him study? I'd like him to do a bit of practice daily. Things like vocabulary drills, etc. I'd enjoy doing it with him and he could be bribed to go along with it.

If I approached the teacher would they be able to give me an outline of the curriculum? Is there a national curriculum for Spanish? I'm not from the UK so I don't know how it works.

Have you had a parent's evening?

Have you said how you know he's doing badly? How is his progress being measured?

No not the head of year. Contact the head of languages if necessarily.

Necessary.

In my sons school I would contact the subject teacher in the first instance. I would only contact the form tutor or head of year if there was a wider problem/issue.

We are encouraged to use email.

There hasn't been a parent's evening.

The report was called an Interim Report. It was in early December. I have no idea how they do the evaluation. But it's got numbers 1-6 I think, with 6 being something like "doing much better than expected" and 3 being slightly below level expected. He has a 3c, so close to a 2.

Everything else is 4,5,&6. The school expects him to achieve 5 & 6 in every subject.

I have almost no idea what he's doing in any subject. He brings home a nearly empty rucksack. Just a few exercise books with a few scrawled bits. He doesn't seem to have much homework. If he does, he may not tell us or may do it in a hurry in the morning. I'd like to get on top of things and get him used to work. Someday a subject will be hard for him and I want him to be ready to tackle it, instead of what I did at his age.

The report names someone to contact with any questions so I'll start with her. I guess she can explain what the numbers mean in greater depth and advise on how to proceed with subject teacher.

Then I suggest emailing his form tutor asking whether there'll be a parent's evening soon. And his Spanish teacher asking for more information. Then decide what to do next based on the info you get. It could be that they are all getting that sort of mark in Spanish because it's a new subject and he will improve rapidly as he gets more used to it.

I've figured out that he's in Key Stage 3 and there are plenty of study guides for that. I'm going to have him join DuoLingo, because I can "friend" him and track his progress... Perhaps I can match the "lingots" he earns with spending money for holidays!

Why do you need to know exactly what he is doing in class. Why not just engage him in 10-20 minutes of fun Spanish a day. Any beginners Spanish would help him improve in class, irrelevant of whats in the syllabus. Drilling him on lists of words like they did 30 years ago will just put him off the subject.

I don't want to drill him on the exact words, but I'd like him to be working roughly alongside the class syllabus. It may not be all that crucial if he's practicing words for food instead of animals.... I suppose basic Spanish covers the same basics even if not in the same order.

I told him about the DuoLingo money thing and he raced upstairs to his laptop. I may have the issue sorted already.

Level 3c after a few months of a language is perfectly normal and on the face of it I cant see how you would say he is under performing. Expectations in Y7 subjects are generally set on how they performed in English and Maths which they have been studying a lot longer.

Progress is slow at the start because they know zero Spanish, but rises faster throughout Key Stage Three.

bolognese we were wondering about that ourselves. If it's how he's expected to be doing now or progress towards an eventual goal. He's certainly brand new to the subject.

I hope you are right. I'll be contacting the woman named on the report for clarification.

I'm still concerned that there's no book or anything to study at home. I have almost no idea what he does at school. There's no homework diary or anything.

Perhaps DuoLingo as a game with money rewards and the trip to Barcelona are enough to motivate him. I would love to see him take to it and excel.

Is this a school with high entry requirements and high achieving outputs, entry exams or similar?

Confusing when OP says aiming for GCSE but then that they are on USA. Do some schools in USA offer GCSE?

As it happens, I minored in Spanish (US university).

Freshman requirements for any major at my Alma Mater (huge college you never heard of) are 2 yrs of MFL in high school, so Cs would be fine. If C at GCSE is treated as equivalent of 2 yrs high school passes. It's threshold.

Plus American kids can easily enough repeat years that they fail, because may not get high school diploma without it. College won't care if he gets A or C, as long as it's at least C. 7th & 8th grade probably as good as doing the 2 yrs in 11th & 12th grade.

I and my children are American citizens in the UK. (they're also British).

I'd like my son to aim high. He's very clever, but not a genius. We're not middle class and he's going to have to bust his hump if he's going to achieve what he claims to want (scientist/inventor.)

There are lots of ways to be successful in life. Don't shut doors by thinking that only certain narrow paths are worthwhile.

I think paths are wider if they have more options due to doing well in school.

Duolingo is great, but if you want to focus specifically on what he's doing in school then arrange to meet the teacher / email them.

Remember that Catalan is the main language in Barcelona, so he shouldn't panic if he can't read or understand things! Spanish is used too, but I think Catalan is more prevalent. He'll love the trip though and it will hopefully fuel his interest in languages generally.

Shit. I knew there were various dialects of Spanish but I didn't realise that Barcelona was a place where it's significantly different.

"There are lots of ways to be successful in life. Don't shut doors by thinking that only certain narrow paths are worthwhile."

More likely to shut doors by not doing things than by doing them!

Just email the teachers and ask what support you can offer at home and if it's not too much trouble to email you on overview of what they're covering next term. I'm a secondary teacher (not mfl) and wouldn't mind getting an email like that at all. No need to be involving head of year, tutors etc.

Talk to the teachers!

In my experience most children are "underperforming" at this stage of year 7, especially in MFL. They just don't have the vocabulary yet to score much higher. If he is given a 3c there is a chance that MFL are still using the old NC levels and this would be fine.
You cannot know if you are concerned about nothing unless you speak to the teAcher. It can also be worth finding out if he is expected a Spanish or South American accent, either can be used but most schools use one in preference.

If he does need help DuoLingo is a good starting point, followed by CGP books etc. Also listening to Spanish pop music, and maybe getting some simple children's books in Spanish.

My DC is in Y9, just looked back at his first ever interim report in Y7, he got a 3b in Spanish. Now, two years later, he is a level 7c. He was very good at Maths/English and so when he started secondary he had Very high targets. Every report he has ever had has shown him under performing in all areas, covered in red ink, and every time I asked the teachers they said "he has very high targets", but dont worry he is doing well. It was a little worrying I got used to it but turns out the teachers were right and is surpassing his targets. Makes the targets a bit silly for high achievers though.

Language progression particularly was definitely not linear, it started off slow and then picked up fast from year eight. In 2 years he has never had a text book in any subject, this year he has two, languages and science, but they dont use them all the time. Work is often done in books that usually stays in school as the teachers need to see them after almost every lesson. This can be a good thing if it means teachers are on top of how the kids are doing. Lessons are done on interactive whiteboards which are much more tailored for the school/pupil and more up to date with the curriculum (than even a year old text book), which is the the main reason why text books are not needed. Homework is done online so diaries are not needed either. I agree its hard to always know how they are doing.

By all means talk to the teachers but really dont worry so soon into year seven. Your idea about fun Spanish seems the best way forward as it might feedback to you how well you DC is actually doing (I do this with other subjects). A holiday to Spain also has the motivational ideal. I am jealous your also trying to learn it yourself, might copy that idea. But I would caution against using financial bribes, where does that end???

Only from personal experience: I found Latin really boasted his Spanish and English, enjoyment and ability. He knows where the words come from and why they are that way and without even learning lots of words he can deduce their meaning. Fun Fun Fun all the way but that's just my experience.

Regarding financial rewards: he doesn't have a set allowance. He earns money by doing dumb things around the house. I'm happy to pay him to study. I mean, I'm willing to pay for tutoring should he need it (just as many parents are willing to pay many thousands for private schools). If I can find ways to bribe him to actually willingly work, I'm all for it. If he's personally motivated to study, that's better than being dragged to a tutor.

I guess I consider Spanish a subject that should be, in American parlance, "an easy A". I expect him to do well in his mfl and I think he only needs motivation to really do well. It's maths and sciences that should require the real heavy lifting.

Oh, and while I've never studied Latin (beyond the missal) I agree that learning one Romance language facilitates another. I'm able to suss out a fair bit of Spanish from having done French.