<p>There’s only one teacher who’s teaching this foreign language in school, and he’s known to put down students, call them stupid, covers only 4-5 chapters of the book for the whole year, hardly teaches the language, only wants to talk about the culture. What would be the best course of action-switch to a different language, or hire a tutor? My child planned to take this language all four years, but now it seems like it would be a waste of time. Any suggestions in this situation?
Thanks</p>
<p>What year is your student?</p>
<p>What does your student think? How long has he/she been in the class?</p>
<p>How about on-line classes?</p>
<p>My Spanish II teacher was a dear man whose parents were from Spain. We learned about bullfighting. We learned about Spanish wines. We learned everything but how to speak and understand Spanish. A different teacher taught Spanish III and I was afraid to take it because I knew I’d forgotten everthing I’d learned in Spanish I and hadn’t learned anything in Spanish II (and had a high A to show for it!)</p>
<p>Give the teacher the work he wants to receive and self-study to actually learn something.</p>
<p>My experience is that if a teacher has a bad reputation there is usually a reason for it. If the textbook is good enough it can still be possible to learn the material.</p>
<p>D’s high school emphasized Spanish and French (her language) was somewhat an afterthought with a regularly rotating cast of instructors. Her senior year the school was planning on an “AP French Lite” - one semester of “AP” French that would meet at the same time as Honors French IV. Every other day one class would receive instruction. And if the course could fit in your schedule, an online course could not be substituted. </p>
<p>See if your state offers virtual or online instruction. We live in Virginia and D had the benefit of an online AP course taught by one of the state’s best and most widely recognized foreign language instructors. Virtual High School may be another option for language. What is the language? Folks here may be able to suggest additional resources with more information.</p>
<p>Virtual High School and Aventa Learning are the two online programs we have dealt with, and they are accessible, along with many other programs, through an umbrella organization called Educere, which you can google.</p>
<p>Community college is another idea, and they often have “dual enrollment” programs so that the student gets credit for both high school and college.</p>
<p>Our school’s lead Spanish teacher is abusive to the kids. Our daughter used to love Spanish, but now won’t go near it after a year with this teacher.</p>
<p>Organizing parents to complain can help, but in our community it just doesn’t seem to work. People love to complain, but are reluctant to go to the principal. I don’t know why.</p>
<p>These teachers should be fired, but they are rarely fired unless they do something really, really outrageous.</p>
<p>This teacher has been there for a while now, so he’s probably not going anywhere. I’ll look into online programs. It’s just sad that because of the teacher, many kids are not going to continue with the language they like, just do the minimum required and forget about it.</p>
<p>If you live near a community college, classes there (for credit), or through a community ed program (non-credit class) might work. My daughter has used both options in studying her language. She also did a high school credit program on summer through Concordia Language Villages. So, there are options outside of the high school.</p>
<p>No teacher should be allowed to call students “stupid.” Our friend had a similar experience w/an English teacher. She was very verbally abusive and so random in her grading policy. </p>
<p>She told her child to give her what she wanted. Meanwhile, she worked in the background (very quietly) to organize some parents and went to the superintendent. My DH had to guide her through the legalities. Long story short, it took a year - but the teacher took a leave of absence and eventually resigned. </p>
<p>It’s no wonder that our ed. system is so broken when it doesn’t allow bad teachers to be removed.</p>
<p>In our area, you have to be a HS junior to attend CC. I like Concordia and heard good things about those camp, but am worried about sending a kid so far away. For now, we are teaching standing up to this teacher, as he’s known to pick on students who are not standing up for themselves.</p>
<p>I would talk to the principal and other parents to begin with. Nothing is EVER going to change if people only talk quietly. I assume that your kid is a freshman and that this is the one and only teacher of the language at the school, so your kid will be stuck with him for the entire four years - yet another reason to start some kind of an action.
I am against online classes for foreign language. It is all about conversation.</p>
<p>Kelowna, D’s online course included conversation and discussion. She had weekly conversations with the teacher completely in the target language. Recordings were submitted and critiqued in response to recorded questions. The students also had “chat” sessions using a microphone hooked up to the computer. She had far more discussion in the target language than she ever would have had in the “live” course.</p>
<p>^^wow, times change!</p>
<p>Student should talk to counselor/administrator. On-line course may be allowed and school may give credit for it. CC may have on-line course for reasonable price.</p>
<p>What’s the old expression? When life hands you lemons …</p>
<p>Here’s a perfect opportunity to learn Spanish some sane way. (Do you really think the State Department provides four years of language training before sending a diplomat off to Argentina?) Go to class and do what’s required there. At minimum learn to read and write the language. Outside of school find a method that works for speaking and listening … Tapes, CDs, Internet, etc. Better yet find a native Spanish speaker to work with. Test your abilities by tuning in to the Spanish Channel on cable (or radio).</p>
<p>Still not sure of the age of the student here, but if this is the only Spanish teacher in the school, the student could be stuck with this teacher for years! Having to spend every day for years with an incompetent teacher who calls students names doesn’t sound as if it would enhance the student’s high school or language learning experience. I say, get outta Dodge. The online thing sounds great, or if there are several more years of high school, how about a different language with a reasonable teacher?</p>
<p>yes, to clarify, this is a freshman, the school has only one teacher who teaches all levels of the language. The school just started, but if we switch, we’ll have to start at level 1, if we stay, it’s highly unlikely any kid would want to continue with the language beyond the minimum 3 years, even if they are not being picked on, so there’s a dilemma. The other modern language teachers are all decent.</p>
<p>Although many times, a teacher’s reputation is earned, it is always through someone else’s filter. It sounds like this teacher is bored. If he likes to talk about the culture rather than teach the textbook, that’s not entirely a bad thing. Learning to manage a difficult teacher (or boss) or situation is an invaluable lesson and high school is not too early to begin. It is empowering to figure out how to make lemonade, after all. </p>
<p>Also, there are many free online language sites and forums which are a lot of fun (I use one myself. They seem to be full of very enthusiastic young people.) The great thing about learning another language is that there are many ways to get to fluency. Your child could start a language club. He/she could even find an online language exchange partner (you may want to supervise this. Most of the people are also very young, so it doesn’t seem too threatening but still, you can never be too careful.) I started a language exchange group here through the Craigslist activities partners which has really taken off. These are all ways to keep the spark alive, even with a bad teacher. If your child is motivated and can get these kinds of activities going, he might be surprised at the level of enthusiasm he generates.</p>