Anyone else underwhelmed by Spanish instruction in mcps?

[Anonymous]

My DD's language instruction has picked up as she has advanced to higher levels. Her AP class consists of mostly native/heritage speakers, so that is great. We have supplemented MCPS instruction with summer trips abroad. DD is not happy with online learning.

So, I guess my advice would be that if your child has a talent for languages and is bored to tears in Spanish 1 and Span 2, classes should get better at Spanish 4 and up. We also used a Montgomery College class one summer for acceleration purposes. The professor was a native speaker and DD loved the class.

I've heard that the classes are better in the clusters that have immersion students moving up. They enjoy the language much more and aren't taking it just to get their required credits or to get into college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought half the county is now Hispanic! And no one in it can properly or effectively teach Spanish?!?

Yikes.

Actually, only 33%, according to the MCPS website.

Interestingly though, I get all my ES kids' lessons written in English and Spanish. Even his English lesson this week came in both English, plus the option to read the book and answer the questions in Spanish.

So, they must have some people who can teach in Spanish?

At the ES level, these are often a translation by support staff or a parent volunteer. Not someone with teaching credentials. Last year, my school got in trouble because we had a building service worker serve as a translator for a parent meeting. The district translator cancelled last minute and the parent was very upset because of the time already lost from work. Tagging in the building service work seemed like a good idea, but she gave the parent advice in addition to translating and did not keep the info in confidence afterwards. It was a true mess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can’t tell if we’re just unlucky in terms of teachers, but I have to say our experience has been very underwhelming. Thus far, most teachers have not been native or bilingual Spanish speakers. (Think: Senora Rosenberg.)

The quizzes and assignments I’ve seen at the high school level are ridiculous. I’m bilingual (studied Spanish k through 12 at private schools and earned a BA in Spanish), and the instruction and metrics seem ridiculous.

Care to comment on your kid’s experience? Care to share your school or pyramid? I will if you will.

So what? My daughters French teacher at Eastern is Asian and she’s PHENOMENAL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can’t tell if we’re just unlucky in terms of teachers, but I have to say our experience has been very underwhelming. Thus far, most teachers have not been native or bilingual Spanish speakers. (Think: Senora Rosenberg.)

The quizzes and assignments I’ve seen at the high school level are ridiculous. I’m bilingual (studied Spanish k through 12 at private schools and earned a BA in Spanish), and the instruction and metrics seem ridiculous.

Care to comment on your kid’s experience? Care to share your school or pyramid? I will if you will.

So what? My daughters French teacher at Eastern is Asian and she’s PHENOMENAL.

I teach there and she is awesome!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can’t tell if we’re just unlucky in terms of teachers, but I have to say our experience has been very underwhelming. Thus far, most teachers have not been native or bilingual Spanish speakers. (Think: Senora Rosenberg.)

The quizzes and assignments I’ve seen at the high school level are ridiculous. I’m bilingual (studied Spanish k through 12 at private schools and earned a BA in Spanish), and the instruction and metrics seem ridiculous.

Care to comment on your kid’s experience? Care to share your school or pyramid? I will if you will.

Or Kreutzberger or Blumenfeld. Ridiculous. Everybody knows there aren't any people in Spanish-speaking countries with an ethnic heritage from Jewish Eastern/Central Europe!

Or, um, something.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/the-jewish-don-of-latin-american-tv-says-adios-after-53-years/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can’t tell if we’re just unlucky in terms of teachers, but I have to say our experience has been very underwhelming. Thus far, most teachers have not been native or bilingual Spanish speakers. (Think: Senora Rosenberg.)

The quizzes and assignments I’ve seen at the high school level are ridiculous. I’m bilingual (studied Spanish k through 12 at private schools and earned a BA in Spanish), and the instruction and metrics seem ridiculous.

Care to comment on your kid’s experience? Care to share your school or pyramid? I will if you will.

My kid is in Spanish 5 and can’t speak a lick of Spanish. All As too. Worthless classes.

[Anonymous]

I'm a native Spanish speaker, and a Spanish teacher in MCPS. The truth is you will find more native Spanish speaking teachers in schools that offer Spanish for Spanish Speakers (basically a Spanish version of MS/HS English--in-depth student of grammar, literature, etc of the Spanish language). Personally, I sought out a school that offered this course, and now I have the pleasure of teaching a section of it, because I wanted to work with my community. Most of the other Spanish teachers in my school are native speakers (although I've worked with more than one "Jewish last name" teacher who speaks native Spanish!)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can’t tell if we’re just unlucky in terms of teachers, but I have to say our experience has been very underwhelming. Thus far, most teachers have not been native or bilingual Spanish speakers. (Think: Senora Rosenberg.)

The quizzes and assignments I’ve seen at the high school level are ridiculous. I’m bilingual (studied Spanish k through 12 at private schools and earned a BA in Spanish), and the instruction and metrics seem ridiculous.

Care to comment on your kid’s experience? Care to share your school or pyramid? I will if you will.

My kid is in Spanish 5 and can’t speak a lick of Spanish. All As too. Worthless classes.

+1

[Anonymous]

My best foreign language teacher have not been native speakers. The best one was a linguist who speaks 8 languages, and 2nd best one was from some small country in African where they speak Portuguese or French, not even sure.
US does not have a culture of learning foreign languages. People keep claiming to Speak a 2nd language while many people in the word speak 3-4. I have studied 7 and did not grow up hearing any of them. Finding a teacher was never a problem, because everybody learns 3-5 languages. My Russian teacher could also teach English and my English teacher could teach Spanish.
DC are has a shortage of educated Spanish teachers who would like to teach. I know this because every school that called me, was looking for a Spanish bilingual teacher. I;m not Spanish bilingual, but I get by simply having taken only Spanish 1 and 2.
I can teach Spanish 1 better than a native speaker who has had to drop out of school after grade 9.
It's about delivery. Native speaker with limited education can teach a toddler or practice Spanish with someone who is advanced. They are not suited to teach Spanish 1 or 2 to a middle schooler.

[Anonymous]

Mine both went through Spanish 5, three years in MS two in HS and bailed. Neither speak Spanish and both got straight As. This is partly a US problem rather than just an MCPS problem (it's both). Foreign language should be mandatory and start in kindergarten.

[Anonymous]

We have had very good MS teachers and awful HS teachers. I wonder if there is something systematic that makes the more engaging teachers favor MS? Something about the certifications required or something. This year at our HS, there were two permanent teachers and several long term subs. The head of dept tried to craft all of the lessons for the LT subs and complained bitterly to her students that the subs never followed the plan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have had very good MS teachers and awful HS teachers. I wonder if there is something systematic that makes the more engaging teachers favor MS? Something about the certifications required or something. This year at our HS, there were two permanent teachers and several long term subs. The head of dept tried to craft all of the lessons for the LT subs and complained bitterly to her students that the subs never followed the plan.

Disrespectful kids in high school who think they're grown. There's disrespect in middle school, but the kids still want their teachers to like them, and most teachers can still set the tone from the start by laying down the law.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can’t tell if we’re just unlucky in terms of teachers, but I have to say our experience has been very underwhelming. Thus far, most teachers have not been native or bilingual Spanish speakers. (Think: Senora Rosenberg.)

The quizzes and assignments I’ve seen at the high school level are ridiculous. I’m bilingual (studied Spanish k through 12 at private schools and earned a BA in Spanish), and the instruction and metrics seem ridiculous.

Care to comment on your kid’s experience? Care to share your school or pyramid? I will if you will.

Or Kreutzberger or Blumenfeld. Ridiculous. Everybody knows there aren't any people in Spanish-speaking countries with an ethnic heritage from Jewish Eastern/Central Europe!

Or, um, something.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/the-jewish-don-of-latin-american-tv-says-adios-after-53-years/

Op here.

Yes, I realize that.

But this specific Jewish woman doesn’t speak Spanish fluently nor can she pronounce words correctly in Spanish.

My Spanish is better than hers. Dramatically better.

I learned Spanish starting in K from native speakers (one from Cuba, one from Spain, one from Puerto Rico; all were well educated/affluent).

[Anonymous]

I’ve had multiple kids take Spanish at Frost and Wootton. We’ve had one good teacher at wootton and the rest are terrible. Most were native speakers but I don’t necessarily think it makes them good teachers, especially at the beginning levels.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can’t tell if we’re just unlucky in terms of teachers, but I have to say our experience has been very underwhelming. Thus far, most teachers have not been native or bilingual Spanish speakers. (Think: Senora Rosenberg.)

The quizzes and assignments I’ve seen at the high school level are ridiculous. I’m bilingual (studied Spanish k through 12 at private schools and earned a BA in Spanish), and the instruction and metrics seem ridiculous.

Care to comment on your kid’s experience? Care to share your school or pyramid? I will if you will.

Or Kreutzberger or Blumenfeld. Ridiculous. Everybody knows there aren't any people in Spanish-speaking countries with an ethnic heritage from Jewish Eastern/Central Europe!

Or, um, something.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/the-jewish-don-of-latin-american-tv-says-adios-after-53-years/

Op here.

Yes, I realize that.

But this specific Jewish woman doesn’t speak Spanish fluently nor can she pronounce words correctly in Spanish.

My Spanish is better than hers. Dramatically better.

I learned Spanish starting in K from native speakers (one from Cuba, one from Spain, one from Puerto Rico; all were well educated/affluent).

OP, as you should know, the issue here is not that her name is Rosenberg, or that she's Jewish. The issue is that she doesn't speak Spanish well (in your opinion).

Another thing that's not the issue: how affluent your native-speaker Spanish teachers were when they were growing up.