Translating in Class?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter just told me that her 5th grade class has a new child that only speaks Spanish. There is another child in the class that is kinda bilingual. The teacher is using google translator to talk to her directly and she says after a few sentences when speaking to the whole class, she pauses so the other bilingual girl can translate to her the same few sentences, and then this continues every few sentences. Does this truly happen in other schools? Who just sends a 5th grader into a school, that doesn't know any English? Does the teacher have to continue this bilingual lessons. It must eat up so much time.

OMG. I was that kid. Except I was in 6th grade and had to learn Japanese. You must not get out much.

Are you acting like it is normal to send a child to a foreign country and send them to school where they can’t understand one word? Sorry that is not normal at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter just told me that her 5th grade class has a new child that only speaks Spanish. There is another child in the class that is kinda bilingual. The teacher is using google translator to talk to her directly and she says after a few sentences when speaking to the whole class, she pauses so the other bilingual girl can translate to her the same few sentences, and then this continues every few sentences. Does this truly happen in other schools? Who just sends a 5th grader into a school, that doesn't know any English? Does the teacher have to continue this bilingual lessons. It must eat up so much time.

OMG. I was that kid. Except I was in 6th grade and had to learn Japanese. You must not get out much.

Are you acting like it is normal to send a child to a foreign country and send them to school where they can’t understand one word? Sorry that is not normal at all.

People seem to be defining normal as "it happened to me" - and, conversely, abnormal as "it didn't happen to me".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter just told me that her 5th grade class has a new child that only speaks Spanish. There is another child in the class that is kinda bilingual. The teacher is using google translator to talk to her directly and she says after a few sentences when speaking to the whole class, she pauses so the other bilingual girl can translate to her the same few sentences, and then this continues every few sentences. Does this truly happen in other schools? Who just sends a 5th grader into a school, that doesn't know any English? Does the teacher have to continue this bilingual lessons. It must eat up so much time.

OMG. I was that kid. Except I was in 6th grade and had to learn Japanese. You must not get out much.

Troll. Japan state schools would not have put you in with “6th grade” Japanese students.
You would have had to Int’l school or start w the four year olds learning your kanji stroke order. Or some special ed school for gaijin who can’t afford intl school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter just told me that her 5th grade class has a new child that only speaks Spanish. There is another child in the class that is kinda bilingual. The teacher is using google translator to talk to her directly and she says after a few sentences when speaking to the whole class, she pauses so the other bilingual girl can translate to her the same few sentences, and then this continues every few sentences. Does this truly happen in other schools? Who just sends a 5th grader into a school, that doesn't know any English? Does the teacher have to continue this bilingual lessons. It must eat up so much time.

OMG. I was that kid. Except I was in 6th grade and had to learn Japanese. You must not get out much.

Troll. Japan state schools would not have put you in with “6th grade” Japanese students.
You would have had to Int’l school or start w the four year olds learning your kanji stroke order. Or some special ed school for gaijin who can’t afford intl school.

Oh, if only MCPS could do this

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter just told me that her 5th grade class has a new child that only speaks Spanish. There is another child in the class that is kinda bilingual. The teacher is using google translator to talk to her directly and she says after a few sentences when speaking to the whole class, she pauses so the other bilingual girl can translate to her the same few sentences, and then this continues every few sentences. Does this truly happen in other schools? Who just sends a 5th grader into a school, that doesn't know any English? Does the teacher have to continue this bilingual lessons. It must eat up so much time.

OMG. I was that kid. Except I was in 6th grade and had to learn Japanese. You must not get out much.

Troll. Japan state schools would not have put you in with “6th grade” Japanese students.
You would have had to Int’l school or start w the four year olds learning your kanji stroke order. Or some special ed school for gaijin who can’t afford intl school.

Oh, if only MCPS could do this

So, you'd be fine with frustrated middle school aged boys in with your preschooler? Is that actually what you want?

Not to mention, given that this method has been shown to increase illiteracy, I assume you're OK with paying increased taxes to cover the costs from increasing unemployment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our ES has had several students from upper middle class, professional families immigrate over the summer in the past and arrive speaking nothing but Chinese, Russian, or Korean. There are some other students that speak these languages and sometimes yes, the teacher will ask them to translate important directions or questions for the student so they aren't totally lost. This usually lasts about a third of the school year, then they stop needing it, and by a year later they are on or above grade level and you can't tell they ever didn't speak English. So no, this phenomenon is not just an "illegal immigrant" (code: poor Hispanic) thing. Children's brains have an amazing capacity for language.

.

+1000!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our ES has had several students from upper middle class, professional families immigrate over the summer in the past and arrive speaking nothing but Chinese, Russian, or Korean. There are some other students that speak these languages and sometimes yes, the teacher will ask them to translate important directions or questions for the student so they aren't totally lost. This usually lasts about a third of the school year, then they stop needing it, and by a year later they are on or above grade level and you can't tell they ever didn't speak English. So no, this phenomenon is not just an "illegal immigrant" (code: poor Hispanic) thing. Children's brains have an amazing capacity for language.

+100 OP you never had a kid move to your area from a foreign country when you were a kid? I always thought it was fun. This is not a new phenomenon. All kids are required to be in school by law. Relax. Maybe your kid can learn something from this experience.

Pretty sure this isn't even close to the same situation. And no, I never had a student enter any of my classes as a complete non-speaking student that needed complete translation when I was growing up. The fact that you think everyone has is very very strange.

DP: If that's true, I think you need to realize that you grew up in an isolated bubble, which may have shaped your world-view in a particular way. Around here, this is certainly very normal, expected, and desired. I grew up in the 70s in the midwest and we had children arriving from other countries who needed to learn English at school. It was always understood to be a good thing for all involved.

Open your heart and mind and see the good in the world. You seem to be wearing angry blinders.

[Anonymous]

I thought this is what ESL classes were for?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought this is what ESL classes were for?

Perhaps reading the thread will help. It has already been explained that this student will receive ESOL services but it isn't all day. She might be pulled out of class for an hour or so but that leaves 6 additional hours in the school day.

[Anonymous]

My brother went to first grade in Sweden not knowing a word. He picked it up. Can't believe how selfish people are. I bet the kid who is translating is picking up a valuable skill both in improving their english and spanish and the development of empathy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My brother went to first grade in Sweden not knowing a word. He picked it up. Can't believe how selfish people are. I bet the kid who is translating is picking up a valuable skill both in improving their english and spanish and the development of empathy.

And what about the other 20 who are slowed down? Does their education matter?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My brother went to first grade in Sweden not knowing a word. He picked it up. Can't believe how selfish people are. I bet the kid who is translating is picking up a valuable skill both in improving their english and spanish and the development of empathy.

Hmm...

Affluent 7yr old goes to an affluent country and learns Swedish at a young age when everyone is also just learning to read in 1st grade. Swedish kids also get English lessons and 86% can speak English.

Pretty sure this is not even close to a decent analogy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My brother went to first grade in Sweden not knowing a word. He picked it up. Can't believe how selfish people are. I bet the kid who is translating is picking up a valuable skill both in improving their english and spanish and the development of empathy.

And what about the other 20 who are slowed down? Does their education matter?

Do you have any idea what it means to be part of a community? It doesn't mean that my kid gets every single stinking thing they want all the time. Sometimes someone else's kid gets more. Sometimes a kid who is less privileged gets the help they need while my more privileged kid has to wait around. I highly doubt that YOUR child will somehow miss the ability to spell and do math on account of this kid. If you don't want to have to accommodate anyone else then you should homeschool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My brother went to first grade in Sweden not knowing a word. He picked it up. Can't believe how selfish people are. I bet the kid who is translating is picking up a valuable skill both in improving their english and spanish and the development of empathy.

And what about the other 20 who are slowed down? Does their education matter?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My brother went to first grade in Sweden not knowing a word. He picked it up. Can't believe how selfish people are. I bet the kid who is translating is picking up a valuable skill both in improving their english and spanish and the development of empathy.

And what about the other 20 who are slowed down? Does their education matter?

Do you have any idea what it means to be part of a community? It doesn't mean that my kid gets every single stinking thing they want all the time. Sometimes someone else's kid gets more. Sometimes a kid who is less privileged gets the help they need while my more privileged kid has to wait around. I highly doubt that YOUR child will somehow miss the ability to spell and do math on account of this kid. If you don't want to have to accommodate anyone else then you should homeschool.

"Sometimes" ... does NOT mean everyday, all day, for every class lesson. That is what is happening here.