letter from the school. daughters grades. am i wrong?

[TwiceOver]

In my high school we were required 1 semester of foreign language and 1 of art none of physical education :roll:. I thought both were stupid requirements. But now that we are basically handing our country over to Spanish speaking illegals, might be a good time to push her on better Spanish grades.

 

[_Rick_]

I have had almost a dozen language teachers in my school career. All but one of them sucked.
Talk to the spanish teacher and see if she cannot try to make the subject more entertaining. After all, in theory, as a language teacher, you have unlimited freedom of how you teach the language. For many teachers this means, they use the least effort and stick to the book. For a good teacher, it means going out of their way to make language fun, and applied to real world situations.

You can have pen pals, which lead to exchanges even during the first year, with students learnig your mother language in other countries. You can do skits in the foreign language, from first year. You can do all kind of activities, that relate to the current vocabulary.

The thing is, most teachers teach a living language, as though it was Latin. "Read these books, repeat this vocabulary, learn these grammar rules". That's bullshit. The only way to teach a language, is to show what that language gives access to. The Spanish-speaking world is immense, so it should be trivially easy to teach that class in a way that 5th graders don't feel stupid.

On the other hand, OP should help with learning vocabulary, when at home. A language is a social thing, and learning vocabulary by yourself is awfully trite. That way you can learn the language as well, if you don't speak it yet. Win-win.

 

[Wreckem]

In my high school we were required 1 semester of foreign language and 1 of art none of physical education :roll:. I thought both were stupid requirements. But now that we are basically handing our country over to Spanish speaking illegals, might be a good time to push her on better Spanish grades.

They make foreign language a requirement because public schools are focused on trying to prep students for college. If that is a worthwhile focus is up for debate.

Most college degrees require 2-4 semesters of foreign language. Those requiring 2 semesters, usually don't require you to take them if you took 2 years in high school. Those requiring 4, make you take all 4(3 if they cram 1 and 2 into 1 class), unless you did AP or CLEPed out.

 

[Wreckem]

I have had almost a dozen language teachers in my school career. All but one of them sucked.
Talk to the spanish teacher and see if she cannot try to make the subject more entertaining. After all, in theory, as a language teacher, you have unlimited freedom of how you teach the language. For many teachers this means, they use the least effort and stick to the book. For a good teacher, it means going out of their way to make language fun, and applied to real world situations.

You can have pen pals, which lead to exchanges even during the first year, with students learnig your mother language in other countries. You can do skits in the foreign language, from first year. You can do all kind of activities, that relate to the current vocabulary.

The thing is, most teachers teach a living language, as though it was Latin. "Read these books, repeat this vocabulary, learn these grammar rules". That's bullshit. The only way to teach a language, is to show what that language gives access to. The Spanish-speaking world is immense, so it should be trivially easy to teach that class in a way that 5th graders don't feel stupid.

On the other hand, OP should help with learning vocabulary, when at home. A language is a social thing, and learning vocabulary by yourself is awfully trite. That way you can learn the language as well, if you don't speak it yet. Win-win.

They teach foreign languages like they teach English.

Teachers also don't have much say in how they teach.

 

[SheHateMe]

She is 10 in the 5th grade.

I did kinda chew her out for the fact a D is going to make it harder to get into college (and yes she really wants to go). so she did promise to try to get it higher but nearly end of year.

She's in the 5th grade. Why would getting a D in Spanish in the 5th grade make it harder for her to get into College?

 

[Kreon]

I have had almost a dozen language teachers in my school career. All but one of them sucked.
Talk to the spanish teacher and see if she cannot try to make the subject more entertaining. After all, in theory, as a language teacher, you have unlimited freedom of how you teach the language. For many teachers this means, they use the least effort and stick to the book. For a good teacher, it means going out of their way to make language fun, and applied to real world situations.

You can have pen pals, which lead to exchanges even during the first year, with students learnig your mother language in other countries. You can do skits in the foreign language, from first year. You can do all kind of activities, that relate to the current vocabulary.

The thing is, most teachers teach a living language, as though it was Latin. "Read these books, repeat this vocabulary, learn these grammar rules". That's bullshit. The only way to teach a language, is to show what that language gives access to. The Spanish-speaking world is immense, so it should be trivially easy to teach that class in a way that 5th graders don't feel stupid.

On the other hand, OP should help with learning vocabulary, when at home. A language is a social thing, and learning vocabulary by yourself is awfully trite. That way you can learn the language as well, if you don't speak it yet. Win-win.

When I took Spanish I had a horrible teacher. In high school, which required 2 years of language, I took German because the teacher who taught it, treated it like a useful language. We watched movies in German, read books, etc. I learned more in my 2 years of German than my gf learned in her 4 years of Spanish.

 

[tynopik]

the issue isn't how much of an idiot the teacher is or isn't or what the best method of teaching a foreign language is

i can guarantee most of the rest of the class isn't getting D's

it's clearly not impossible to get a better grade and she clearly has the ability to get a better grade, thus it comes down to her desire/attitude

 

[highland145]

She's in the 5th grade. Why would getting a D in Spanish in the 5th grade make it harder for her to get into College?

this and she's young. Teacher applies pressure to find out why she has a bad grade...."uh, gymnastics....right?"

Teacher problem.

 

[zerocool84]

I'll say with the utmost confidence that high school math sucks. Have her stand outside of Home Depot with the people looking for work, she'll learn Spanish in no time.

 

[Snock514]

I never could wrap my head around french until I really started putting the time into actually studying and that was an average level french class. That was also the only class I had to study for to do well enough in.

 

[Jumpem]

Getting a C or better in 4 years of high school spanish may waive the language requirements of many universities. Taking a year of college spanish is much harder than 4 years of high school spanish.

Since when do colleges have a foreign language requirement?

 

[Wreckem]

Since when do colleges have a foreign language requirement?

The VAST majority of bachelor degrees require 2 semesters of foreign language. These two semesters are waived if you take 2 years of foreign language in high school.

As for degrees that require 0 semesters of foreign language, they are far fewer than degrees that require 4 semesters.

 

[Mixolydian]

your daughter isnt even in middle school yet.

grades don't matter until high school.

 

[hans007]

i took spanish in high school. if your daughter is getting those type of grades in her other classes she probably just doesnt like spanish, and isnt putting in the effort.

honestly i'd probably tell her she better turn that around because life isnt all about doing only things you are interested in. she clearly is just being lazy. it will not be to her benefit when shes applying for college anyway. and its not like high school spanish is rocket science,, its probably not that much effort.

 

[mizzou]

 

[Kadarin]

Well if she is like me she has already learned to lie to you so you dont even realize it, hell that's how I passed middle school. Even managed a B in anthropology in college from straight bullshitting the teacher.

Learning to lie such that others don't realize it is a good skill to learn.

 

[Soccerman06]

Interesting. We had foreign language class every year starting with kindergarten. I assumed that the was the norm everywhere.

They constantly switched languages on us.
K-2: french
3-5: spanish
6: french
7-9: latin + choice of spanish or french
10-12: choice of spanish, french, latin, or german

FWIW, I can't speak any of those languages.

lol your in texas, how is spanish not a mandatory class?

 

[Jumpem]

The VAST majority of bachelor degrees require 2 semesters of foreign language. These two semesters are waived if you take 2 years of foreign language in high school.

As for degrees that require 0 semesters of foreign language, they are far fewer than degrees that require 4 semesters.

That must be something very new, or for colleges outside of upstate NY. Of the six people I am close with, no one took any foreign language courses while obtaining their bachelor degree.

 

[mistercrabby]

Waggy, i feel your pain. All my kids did this from time to time. Here's the rule i put down: Cs or better. We pushed for As and Bs, with the occasional Cs. C- or below was not tolerated and they would lose all privileges. Less than a C just shows they're not even trying.

In your case, she's obviously a talented kid, both academically and athletically. If this is the one 'free pass' you want to give her, its certainly an option. Many people have had a class they just didn't/couldn't click with and needed a "do over".

This may be a case of not pooping on excellence in our pursuit of perfection.

 

[IronWing]

Foreign language credits to graduate HS? I don't think so. GPA doesn't matter except for ivy league. She might not even want to go to a University.

My HS required three years of foreign language. GPA matters for more than the ivies.

 

[mnewsham]

My HS required three years of foreign language. GPA matters for more than the ivies.

This, as a white male I needed a 3.8+ cumulative GPA and 1950+ on SAT to get into UMCP (closest state school).

 

[SunnyD]

I think this ought cover it:

Dear Teacher;

I appreciate your concern for my daughter's grades in your class, however if it were not a state requirement my daughter would not have elected to take any foreign language study at all. Given that she is passing, and that she has more of an interest in gymnastics than she does in foreign language, and is also excelling in her studies as a whole outside of one mostly irrelevant-to-life forced state requirement class, we respectfully request that you shove it up your pie-hole.

Sincerely,

waggy family

 

[OBLAMA2009]

first of all spanish is a good language to know and this may be the only time in her life that she has the time and motivation to learn it. second, yeah its just spanish class, but if you get any bad grades at all you can forget about a good college. a c or d in any class is really going to hurt her in college admissions if shes trying to go to a top school. third, spanish is easy, illegal aliens can learn it, why not get an a in it?

 

[T_Yamamoto]

The problem with the education system is that it is heavy weighted on how well your child can memorize and regurgitate the material. The SAT and ACT are not a test to see if you're ready for college but rather if you're good at reasoning and some other shit like that. Colleges say they look at your scores holistically and that race doesn't play a role but it does. If you're white, you'll have an easier time than an Asian. You can say "this is unfair" but they'll just mail you a copy of their affirmative action statement. Colleges want student who will become famous or who have money.

 

[waggy]

I think this ought cover it:

ohh nice. i suspect that would cause more problems then we have LOL