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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote]Honestly OP, you have every reason to complain. That child’s time should not be taken up to be a translator for the teacher, your child’s time shouldn’t be spent in school going slower because of one kid, additionally if your child is not in a langaguge immersion class it’s a problem. I would email my concerns to the teacher and principal. The teacher can use other methods without slowing down class lessons for example: using picture vocabulary for the new student, referring the child for ESOL screening, use of manipulative or incorporating more hands on components in her lesson, use sentence stems to help the child, modifying that particular student’s work to make it a simpler version of what everyone else is doing. I’m a teacher and would be horrified if my colleague wasted the entire classes’s time to try to be bilingual without any formal training. This allows the pace of the class to go slower, all for one kid, that is why there is an ESOL teacher. Those teachers can slow things down. Finally, unfortunately, until the county deals with it’s illegal immigration problem this is what you can expect to happen from a small segment of teachers. The kid is obviously in school to learn English, so the teacher should be speaking in English but adapting lessons that make it easier to understand with pictures or fewer words.[/quote]

OP may be doing everything you suggest, and there is zero chance this child isn't ALSO receiving ESOL services. But ESOL in 2018 isn't like ESOL when we were kids. The English Language Learners aren't segregated in a self-contained classroom away from everyone else. They are mainstreamed to the degree possible, which is better for them and better for society as a whole.

I'd also point out, as others have done, that OP is taking the word of a 10 year old about how much time is spent translating. It is also Week One of school. Maybe simmer down and wait a sec to see how this plays out?

Kids have the right to an appropriate education in a mainstream environment. That includes kids with special needs and kids who are learning English. OP's child isn't going to be harmed by the presence of an English language learner in their classroom, even if OP is so sheltered that it hasn't happened before now. [/quote]

Obviously Op’s ten year old is competent enough to know that her education is being impacted in a major way. I’d expect my child to complain so that I can advocate or get together a group of parents to advocate. Additionally someone mentioned ESOL today is not the same as yesteryear, I am aware of that but SOL has changed from having those students in a separate room to the general ed room due to lack of funding. The powers that touted its better to mainstream those kids even though they speak a lick of English and then they backed it up with faux research to skew data in their favor.  This is all  about the dollars since many states around the country can’t afford the number of teachers to the ratio of ESOL learners it’s absorbing. In no other country, do they expect to teach you a second language in school for FREE along with so many additional resources that are FREE in the community. [/quote]

It is one thing to help a child at lunch or with a question here or there. But the fact so many think stopping every paragraph for a full class translation done by one other child, is the right compassionate way to run a classroom?  :shock:  I would be complaining. Those parents can teach their kid and get her some help. Until then, tough. She doesn’t understand. The class shouldn’t be a ping pong of 2 languages to appease 1 person. [/quote]

This sounds like a teacher who is new to having a newcomer in their classroom. She'll realize quickly that this method isn't sustainable. The ESOL teachers are incredibly busy in the first few weeks of school doing entry testing. Regular ESOL services will start shortly. In my school the ESOL teachers provide the classroom teachers with resources that the newcomers can be working on independently, and I try to type directions into Google translate before the lesson so the student can read them first and have some comprehension of what's going on. When it's way too language based I have them work on some of the resources the ESOL teacher has provided. There's a ton of great resources that can be accessed on the Chromebook, and I also am provided with a binder of paper/pencil activities that I can provide the student.

That being said, you and your daughter should try having some compassion. I can assure you that it's much harder for this child (and yes, we're talking about a child here no matter where she was born) and your child will be fine even if she has to listen to translation for a few days. Like I said, this won't last long because it's an unsustainable model. 5th graders do tend to take a little longer to pick up the language than say a Kindergartener, but they are often more motivated to do so due to social reasons and to avoid stigma similar to what we're reading about here, especially if they're in a school where few other children look like them or can identify with their needs. Try reframing this as a learning experience and a taste of the real world. [/quote]

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