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Two girls from a foreign non-English speaking country who have only been here for about
seven months (a cumbersome way of avoiding using the a certain word) were happy and getting on well at school. Their parents were hard working people and paid for their girls to have private tuition in English of which they knew very little on arrival. As they prepared to go home from school one day their teacher told them that they must only speak in English while on school premises between themselves and two friends as doing otherwise annoys other children and the teachers.
One of the parents spoke to the teacher about this and she said that apart from the 'problems' caused by them speaking in a foreign language it was hampering their command of English. I understand that the matter was not taken any further.
We were not asked to deal with this matter but it came to us as a comment. Personally I find it unacceptable to bar children speaking to their friends in their native language, but maybe I am wrong so comments would be appreciated.
Many years ago similar happened with twin boys who were also new arrivals to England from another country, Wales, and resorted to their native Welsh whenever speaking together. Then the teacher objected as she thought they may be speaking about her!
I do not know if a complaint was made.
Thank you Legal beagles for your comments. We deal with most problems ourselves or with other professional bodies so usually only come to as a final resort, hence the complexities and to some extent similarities of our questions. Happy Christmas everybody.
seven months (a cumbersome way of avoiding using the a certain word) were happy and getting on well at school. Their parents were hard working people and paid for their girls to have private tuition in English of which they knew very little on arrival. As they prepared to go home from school one day their teacher told them that they must only speak in English while on school premises between themselves and two friends as doing otherwise annoys other children and the teachers.
One of the parents spoke to the teacher about this and she said that apart from the 'problems' caused by them speaking in a foreign language it was hampering their command of English. I understand that the matter was not taken any further.
We were not asked to deal with this matter but it came to us as a comment. Personally I find it unacceptable to bar children speaking to their friends in their native language, but maybe I am wrong so comments would be appreciated.
Many years ago similar happened with twin boys who were also new arrivals to England from another country, Wales, and resorted to their native Welsh whenever speaking together. Then the teacher objected as she thought they may be speaking about her!
I do not know if a complaint was made.
Thank you Legal beagles for your comments. We deal with most problems ourselves or with other professional bodies so usually only come to as a final resort, hence the complexities and to some extent similarities of our questions. Happy Christmas everybody.
). While I can understand both sides of this, I do think that it is better for the children concerned if they spoke English at school - that way they cannot isolate themselves from their peers
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