Distracting in class resulting in removal

[Jordasmum12]

My son is 12 and is in a mainstream Grammar school. I have been very proactive in ensuring he gets help and understanding at school which for the most part is working very well. The week in week outy problem is predominantly in one subject French. He hates the class. He says he is totally unengaged with it and every week is being removed from the class for disrupting the class.

I have told the school (what feels like a million times!) that if he is not engaged in the class he will get distracted and with disrupt the class. I feel quite frustrated because for the rest of the subjects he is getting good results and the teachers are happy with him and his work.

I am going to a meeting with his French teacher to try and see if we can work anything out to help but he is one of these teachers who isnt interested in any difficulties or excuses as he sees it.

Ive even had the head of Jordans year speak to this teacher but he wont change his attitude. I think it is a waste of everyones time to force Jordan to sit through French when he is getting absolutely nothing from it.

Im not sure they will be responsive to the idea of him withdrawing from French but I would appreciate any ideas to try and help my son cope with this class for the remaining time he has to do it. He will be opting out of French next year options.

[oxgirl]

It's a difficult one, because I'm sure all the kids in his class have certain lessons that they hate, I know I did. I hated my History teacher and her lesson and me and my friend were absolute beasts during her lessons, but I'm not sure opting out is necessarily the answer. If he can behave well in other classes, it could just be a matter of him learning that he has to put up with some things, even though he doesn't necessarily enjoy them, the same as the other kids in the class who might also hate the lesson do.

My lad used to scream if he was made to write, but eventually he did have to learn to write, opting out wasn't an option, he just had to learn not to keep fighting it and to learn some control.

Sorry if that's not very helpful, just my opinion really.

 

~ Mel ~

[julie1]

its a shame to remove your son from French as its good to be able to speak another language. However my own son was removed from French, he had enough trouble understanding the English language let alone trying to learn another. That time was then used as catch up time in English it was a more positive experience for him. So whatever works best for your son is what you need to be doing, maybe as he gets older he may be more interested in French or with a different teacher with a different approach to your sond needs and differences.

[baddad]

Hi jordansmum12 -

 

Got to say I agree with both of the above posts!

 

Oxgirl's absolutely right that he has to learn that with some things in life you just have to 'like or lump it', and I don't think the teacher is 'wrong' for having an expectation of a reasonable standard of behaviour regardless of your son's like/dislike of the subject. [i'm not sure that telling the school if he doesn't like something he'll get distracted and disruptive sets a particularly good precedent, either )

But those factors aside, I also think it's pointless him sitting in a class he hates, has no interest in and is unlikely to benefit from if there is something better he can be doing.

Looking for a compromise: if he was able to 'drop' French as part of a differentiated curriculum what other curriculum subjects does he need additional input in, and can that be made available to him within the 'French' timetabled time?

An additional thought - does he have any other timetabled events (physio, OT, S&LT etc) that could be shifted to 'French' time so that he could access the classes he's currently missing for those 'therapies'?

If not, then I really think you should 'encourage' (even if it means sanctions) him to go with the flow for the few months left before he can drop French legitimately. Learning to do that is a very valuable life skill in itself, so if that's what he learns from French he's still learned something.

 

Hope that helps

 

L&P

 

BD

[Suze]

You could speak to the senco about having him disapplied(taken out) of the classes.My son was taken out of german and religious studies, this was so he could concentrate more on english and maths in a 1;1 environment.I f he is getting nothing out of it and disrupting the class for other kids everyone is losing out....it might look like giving in to him, but the other kids would benefit too.Good luck with talking to the senco, suzex

[smiley1590]

i used to disrupt in languages lessons shout out not sit down being loud etc i have AS and Dyspraxia! i found this lessons very challenging and difficult i struggled a awful lot to understand the comphesion of our language let alone another left me so frustrated annoyed and confused .... grrr used to dread it so played up as didn't know how to cope!

 

XKLX

[justine1]

I think thats interesting,my son is 6(AS) he is bilingual,english and Igbo(a nigerian language that he picked up at the age of 10months from his dad) He can also say three phrases in mandarin and 5 in Japanese and few words(not sentences)of spanish.I have not exactly taught him these except mandarin,he just somehow picked up from friends.He started learning polish(my friends daughter is the same age so she taught them together) three years ago but its really really hard.I can also speak Africaans(from south africa,its part of the curriculum from age 8)but I am not that good some of the words are similar to dutch,tried teaching him but he doesnt like the sound of it and is not at all interested.

[Mumble]

I was removed from French lessons at school and spent the time working further on English and German.

 

For me, it was totally pointless being in French lessons (there's a big difference between not enjoying (who said learning is supposed to be all fun anyway? ) and not getting anything out of something) and was actually causing acute distress (probably to the teacher as well as to me but she was a bully so she deserved it ).

 

What is it actually about the French lessons/learning French that is the problem for your son? If you know this, you know whether you're coming from an enjoy/no point angle. I'd missed a year of French before I started (change of schools, hadn't done French in first secondary school) so all the other kids knew some of the language and we had a teacher who insisted that everything said in the classroom had to be in French and would simply ignore you if you spoke English. I couldn't even ask to go to the toilet and sat terrified in lessons with disastrous consequences.

 

I had no idea what was going on in the few lessons I did attend - I struggled enough with English and having all this grammar that made no sense to me really was pointless. I know it could be argued that I somehow had a 'right' to learn French or that the school should have found a way to integrate me, but to be honest, doing that wasn't helping anyone and me being removed with another objective made sense and worked for everyone. I was certainly a lot calmer with that pressure removed.

 

Do I wish now that things had been different? Well I would like to be able to speak another language but that situation would never have worked and I wasn't ready to tackle it at that stage. So in a way, I think they did the right thing, responding to my needs as they were then.

 

If he is removed, it's important that he understands why. What you want to avoid is a situation where a link is established of 'if I don't want to do something I can mess around and get out of it' - that helps no-one.

[Jordasmum12]

Thanks for the replies. I do appreciate the advise though Im very unsure what to do. Ive spoken to him about French and he says he just doesnt get it. I think its safe to say that languages are not his forte! He says he doesnt want to be removed from the class (confused me!) but the reason he doesnt want to be removed is that he is afraid he will have to swap all his lessons to a different set.

His French teacher still hasnt got back to me but he can run but he cant hide lol... anyway.. I do think that like all of us, he is going to have to learn that just because something bores you or you dont understand it doesnt mean you can disrupt all others around you.

If I cant get any compromise from his French teacher then I will contact his head of year and see what can be sorted. Jordan excells at Maths and Science and wants to work in computers when he grows up so I think extra time in the computer class would be a better time spent.

Thank you again for all the advice

[Mandapanda]

Thanks for the replies. I do appreciate the advise though Im very unsure what to do. Ive spoken to him about French and he says he just doesnt get it. I think its safe to say that languages are not his forte! He says he doesnt want to be removed from the class (confused me!) but the reason he doesnt want to be removed is that he is afraid he will have to swap all his lessons to a different set.

His French teacher still hasnt got back to me but he can run but he cant hide lol... anyway.. I do think that like all of us, he is going to have to learn that just because something bores you or you dont understand it doesnt mean you can disrupt all others around you.

If I cant get any compromise from his French teacher then I will contact his head of year and see what can be sorted. Jordan excells at Maths and Science and wants to work in computers when he grows up so I think extra time in the computer class would be a better time spent.

Thank you again for all the advice

 

Hi

 

When my youngest was at a day nursery there was a boy who spoke no English at all. My son was frightened of him.

 

Be careful how you word things to school as they may be quick to jump on the "he doesn't want to do French, he wants to do Computers" approach.

 

There is a huge difference between not being interested in a subject and not being able to bear it for some reason. Hope you get this sorted, as you don't want the problem escalating and affecting his enjoyment of school generally.

[Karen A]

Hi jordasmum.

I am fresh from a year 7 parents evening yesterday for Ben who has AS and is also coping well in most subjects but has had one or two issues with some subjects.I have one or two ideas from teachers to pass on.

 

Could the issue be with the teacher.Ben changed sets in maths because he was always going to have difficulties with the teacher and the teacher was always going to have difficulties with Ben.A different teacher has helped.If the issue is the French teacher rather than French it would be a shame to give it up.

If there is more than one teacher it might be possible to change teacher or set perhaps.

 

Could the SENCO perhaps help the French teacher to understand the difficulties your son is having.It was very noticable last night that some teachers understod the difficulties Ben has in particular lessons in specific areas and were making small changes that made a big difference.Others said things which made it obvious that they did not understand that Ben has AS and dyspraxia.I should say that because Ben moved sets he has only been in most subject classes 3 weeks.However some teachers had obviously got the message whereas other hadn't.

We have found that generally we have more sucess talking to the SENCO rather individual teachers.She works as a link for us.

 

Might the way the lessons are planned or the sort of interaction involved be an issue rather than the language.Ben's French teacher along with one of the other teachers has found that it is not the book work that Ben finds difficult.It is the interaction involved in group work and spoken work.

The teachers are attempting to differentiate lessons and involve Ben in ways that he feels comfortable with.In one subject he is currently doing work manly from a textbook that he can work through.

 

Ben also loves science,ICT,history and graphics and the teachers love him.It is just unfortunate that your son and Ben cannot just have a separate curriculum to themselves.

I do agree that it does not always help to be too keen to remove pupils from subjects or situations they find difficult.

Despite our best efforts to encourage Ben's year head of the need to be firm with him she did not listen.He is very articulate and intelligent and adults who get along with him appear to forgett who the teacher is.

Ben helped the year head with the graphics for a recent production of Romeo and Juliet which he did using photo shop on the year heads computer in her office in lesson time.

The office staff even took him drinks and sweets in because he was working so hard.He thought that it was great that he could do that rather than being in lessons he did not enjoy.

He also helped with the graphics for the parents evening last night.Fortunately the year head asked him to use his lunch break this time.Ben was all but planning which lessons to miss.

Ben had various difficulties with lessons and specific staff.

Since just before Christmas he has now moved maths set,form,PE group and DT group whilst understanding people made every attempt to accommodate him.

The maths move and the form move were for very good reasons.However Ben appeared to be getting the message that the school revolves around him....and what is more expecting me to revolve around him too.

 

Ben appeared to be starting to think that if he wishes he could move sets when ever he wishes.

Karen.

Edited January 27, 2010 by Karen A