TerryJ2
Well-Known Member
She wasn't *that* bad but I can see the difficulty.
First of all, difficult child did not want to go to school. He and I have colds, plus he pulled out a rib from coughing so much so he could hardly sit up. He called around noon but I was too sick to go get him. I had the nurse give him some pain medications and send him back to class to wait. husband was at the gym but must have had his phone in the locker.
At the end of the day, I forced myself to drive to school to meet with-the Spanish teacher. I texted difficult child but he was h*ll bent on taking the bus. His text said, "I TOLD you I was going home."
Grr.
I found his locker, his Spanish papers, (filled in the assignments but never did them) and found the teacher, alone, grading papers. Many of her students are struggling, but not all. Maybe half the class. She is very liberal in her grading.
I saw her grading sheet. She has columns, and where there is a missing assignment, she puts a yellow marker spot. difficult child's was an entire line of yellow from the first week to date. I could see it 3 ft away. Sigh.
She spent nearly an hr with-me, recreating the assignments. I had to clarify several things, and again, can see why the kids have problems. She assigned a drawing and explanation sheet to do the flag of Mexico, with-the population, statistics, etc., all in Spanish. She called it the Independencia de Mexico, y la bandera de Mexico.
She kept repeating "Independencia" so I said, "So the kids draw people fighting? with-guns? Or do you want a map with-borders?"
Nope. The flag. Huh?
Then she wanted names spelled out. She called it the spelling assignment. Easy names--Mariya, Eduardo, etc. difficult child had written all the names on the left side of the paper, then equal signs, and then nothing. The teacher showed me the overhead projector with-the alphabet and phonetic spellings of each letter.
A is "ah," for example.
I still wasn't certain of the assignment but brought it home anyway.
The teacher said she is speaking in Spanish 1/4 of the time, then 1/2, then 3/4, etc.
She said the kids all balk at that but she has to do it to get them ready for HS. This is a HS credit class.
So, I sit down with-difficult child to make up 4 wks worth of work in one night. We negotiated a game to be downloaded from the Internet, since he had a good report card, but never told us about his F in Spanish. No homework, no game. Even though I promised him a reward 2 wks ago, he basically lied. Period.
You've never seen anyone work so fast! I was happy and mad at the same time, Know what I mean??
The spelling assignment went like this: Mariya = Ma-r-ee-ye-ah. Or something close.
difficult child knew what it was. Why he didn't do it until I forced him is beyond me.
I think the teacher should have called it the phonetic pronunciation list. She is a rule follower, at least in this classroom and school district. I do not think she is a great teacher. Her English is lousy but I had no problem understanding her accent. But she's not going anywhere so difficult child and the other students will have to just do their best.
If difficult child gets through the class with-a C I'll be relieved. I am going to have to stay on top of him. To have to leave town, and then be sick with-a cold was a huge setback for me, and thus, for him.
difficult child did all but one assignment last night. He absolutely hates to draw so I left him one to do tonight. It's actually fun--you draw yourself as others see you, and then draw arrows/labels if applicable, or just list adjectives about yourself, 5 positive and 5 negative, all in Spanish. "No me gustan insectos," and "Me gusta y Juego Besbol," for example.
First of all, difficult child did not want to go to school. He and I have colds, plus he pulled out a rib from coughing so much so he could hardly sit up. He called around noon but I was too sick to go get him. I had the nurse give him some pain medications and send him back to class to wait. husband was at the gym but must have had his phone in the locker.
At the end of the day, I forced myself to drive to school to meet with-the Spanish teacher. I texted difficult child but he was h*ll bent on taking the bus. His text said, "I TOLD you I was going home."
Grr.
I found his locker, his Spanish papers, (filled in the assignments but never did them) and found the teacher, alone, grading papers. Many of her students are struggling, but not all. Maybe half the class. She is very liberal in her grading.
I saw her grading sheet. She has columns, and where there is a missing assignment, she puts a yellow marker spot. difficult child's was an entire line of yellow from the first week to date. I could see it 3 ft away. Sigh.
She spent nearly an hr with-me, recreating the assignments. I had to clarify several things, and again, can see why the kids have problems. She assigned a drawing and explanation sheet to do the flag of Mexico, with-the population, statistics, etc., all in Spanish. She called it the Independencia de Mexico, y la bandera de Mexico.
She kept repeating "Independencia" so I said, "So the kids draw people fighting? with-guns? Or do you want a map with-borders?"
Nope. The flag. Huh?
Then she wanted names spelled out. She called it the spelling assignment. Easy names--Mariya, Eduardo, etc. difficult child had written all the names on the left side of the paper, then equal signs, and then nothing. The teacher showed me the overhead projector with-the alphabet and phonetic spellings of each letter.
A is "ah," for example.
I still wasn't certain of the assignment but brought it home anyway.
The teacher said she is speaking in Spanish 1/4 of the time, then 1/2, then 3/4, etc.
She said the kids all balk at that but she has to do it to get them ready for HS. This is a HS credit class.
So, I sit down with-difficult child to make up 4 wks worth of work in one night. We negotiated a game to be downloaded from the Internet, since he had a good report card, but never told us about his F in Spanish. No homework, no game. Even though I promised him a reward 2 wks ago, he basically lied. Period.
You've never seen anyone work so fast! I was happy and mad at the same time, Know what I mean??
The spelling assignment went like this: Mariya = Ma-r-ee-ye-ah. Or something close.
difficult child knew what it was. Why he didn't do it until I forced him is beyond me.
I think the teacher should have called it the phonetic pronunciation list. She is a rule follower, at least in this classroom and school district. I do not think she is a great teacher. Her English is lousy but I had no problem understanding her accent. But she's not going anywhere so difficult child and the other students will have to just do their best.
If difficult child gets through the class with-a C I'll be relieved. I am going to have to stay on top of him. To have to leave town, and then be sick with-a cold was a huge setback for me, and thus, for him.
difficult child did all but one assignment last night. He absolutely hates to draw so I left him one to do tonight. It's actually fun--you draw yourself as others see you, and then draw arrows/labels if applicable, or just list adjectives about yourself, 5 positive and 5 negative, all in Spanish. "No me gustan insectos," and "Me gusta y Juego Besbol," for example.