Tuesday, October 21, 2008

School Update - Tutor, Subjects, Tests

The past couple weeks have been both stressful and rewarding for Oldest Son (and us) who is in 3rd grade in a school in which his day is split between Spanish and English.

Tutor
First, Husband was finally able to secure an after school Spanish tutor. We feel fortunate that his tutor is Youngest Son's Kinder3 English Teacher - Maestro (male teacher.) Maestro is meeting 3 times a week with Oldest Son after school. Oldest Son seems happy with the arrangement. We all like Maestro very much.

Subjects
Second, Oldest Son has brought home his various books: History, Math, Science, Music, etc. As crazy as this sounds, we were not sure exactly what was being taught in these subjects. I feel much better having seen the books and flipped through them. Even though I can not read them since in Spanish!

Tests
Third, last week Oldest Son started talking about some tests that would be given in Math, Science, Spanish and History this week. He seemed worried. Apparently, these test scores are used to "rank" the school against other schools. There are NO English teachers allowed in room during the tests - all communication, verbal and written, must be in Spanish. He actually started studying for these tests. He has never formally studied for a test other than weekly spelling quizzes. How is it going so far? So far, so good. Oldest Son made the 2nd highest grade in class on Math yesterday. He was able to complete Science today without stress. Now the two most difficult for him will be over next couple days: Spanish and History. Husband told me (I am in USA) that Oldest Son studied unprompted for about an hour this afternoon for Spanish. The translation will be tough for him.

We continue to be very proud of him. And more importantly, he is so proud of himself. It is a year for him to learn about dealing with change and adversity in life and the rewards that accompany overcoming challenges.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is getting weird - I just wrote about our tutor! We were having trouble seeing our kids books too. Now when they bring them home, I photocopy some of it so I can have a sense of what's coming. I also found out where I can buy some copies of my own for a fdew of the books.

Frankly Ronda said...

v - we have definitely gone from knowing probably more than we needed to not know much at all. But I actually am not too bothered because all seems fine ...

Anonymous said...

My granddaughter did the 7th & 8th grade in LaPenita - the only 6' blonde gringa in the school. Took her about 2 months to become bilingual, speaks Spanish with no accent. Her parents sent her to a private boarding school in Arizona for high school. It would help you help your son to learn the language asap.

VisitLaManzanilla said...

Yes, school. Given that our son was in a Spanish immersion school the year prior to our move here I thought this would be easy for him. I was wrong. He's adjusting faster now after 6 weeks but we too have just hired a tutor. Starting tomorrow, 2 afternoons a week, reading, writing and math in Spanish.