Comments on: Ask an Expert: My bilingual daughter gets bored in her Spanish class at school, what to do?

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By: brook

brook — Sun, 01 May 2011 07:20:05 +0000

We had kids who spoke fluent Spanish look bored in the Spanish immersion class not because they were bored but because they were not listening. The teacher was teaching Spanish with a different dialect or something they were use to so a lot of it they just did not understand. They just sat there not listening. Why should they learn a different Spanish than what Mom and Dad speak? It was not until they heard the TA’s and the teacher discussing which way they were gonna teach something and see them learning there own language from one another did the kids realize there was more than one Spanish and it seemed to change things for them. I would ask them how do YOU say this and they would get excited and tell me otherwise they got embarrassed and did not participate afraid the Spanish they were comfortable with was wrong.

By: Beth Butler

Beth Butler — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 13:20:39 +0000

Thanks Tricia for chiming in! I love when teachers give to willingly to others – parents and fellow educators! It’s all about the children, and when we share our ideas freely they are the winners in the long run! I love your ideas and comments amiga.

By: Tricia

Tricia — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 17:45:38 +0000

I had a native Spanish speaker (I’ll call her Rosita) in the weekly Spanish class I taught the past two years at my son’s Montessori school. The situation was a bit different, because Rosita loved the chance to be the “star” of the class, and it never seemed to bore her, but I’ll chime in with a few things I did to include her.

I think Beth has given some great suggestions about how to approach the teacher in a non-confrontational way, and how your daughter could be included. In general, my classes involved a lot of games and activities that kids enjoy in any language, and we use Spanish as the medium, so the kids learn the language they need to play the game or do the activity. Rosita already knew the language, but since she enjoys singing, dancing, playing hide-and-seek, guessing games, etc., in Spanish, she was able to participate and not be bored. My class is almost exclusively in Spanish, so another thing I would do is to use Rosita as the first “volunteer” for any new activity or game. I would explain the activity to all the kids in Spanish, using lots of gestures and props, and then Rosita would “model” the activity for the kids by being the first to play the game. Another thing we do frequently is write simple stories together using vocabulary we’ve been working on. I start the story, and then ask all of the kids for suggestions (what kind of animal to use, where the animal should go in the car, what the animal sees once he arrives, etc.). I take all of the suggestions and then choose which to write into the story. Rosita’s suggestions were, of course, far more elaborate than her classmates’, but all of the students were able to participate at their own level.

One other thought I have, is that if the Spanish teacher isn’t very receptive to your involvement, would the classroom teacher be someone you could speak with? If you could lend/donate Spanish cds or simple books to the regular classroom, maybe you could sneak some change in through the backdoor! Or, if the Spanish teacher is resistant to your participation, maybe you could volunteer to go into the regular classroom now and then to introduce cultural topics/holidays/etc. If you approached it from a cultural perspective (instead of a purely language perspective), you might be able to participate that way without offending the Spanish teacher. In any case, I hope the teachers are receptive to your input and suggestions! Spanish class should never be boring for any of the kids, in my opinion!