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elfsI went to Storm's high school last week to attend the so-called "Student-Led Conferences." These were terribly disappointing when she was in middle-school: mumbly events where the kid led the parent from classroom to classroom, showed you one folder after another of incomprehensible and often disorganized materials, and then directed you to the next. If you engaged the teacher at all, they were usually pleasant but disengaged: this was a "student-led conference," and it was up to the student to communicate with her parent about the quality of the work.
Ridiculous. Either you already know what the kid is up to, or you're hopelessly out of touch with what the kid is doing.
This conference was decidedly better. It was not "student led"; it was a fifteen-minute conference with each teacher the student had, discussing their progress.
I found most of the teachers to be delightful. Even more to the point, every teacher was confronted with a parent who gave a damn. As a ferocious diletantte from a family of the same, I was able to engage every teacher at some level, which gave me some insight into their caring. The science teacher was discussing electron shells with the kids; I was able to discuss the difference between covalent and ionic bonds, so he knew that Storm's parents weren't being left behind on that topic. The same was true in language arts: "Both of the adults in Storm's house are published authors. Much of the Writer's Digest collection on writing genre fiction and reportage nonfiction is on our shelves." And in social studies: "Storm sits at a dinner table where the phrase 'the marginal utility of wealth' is not unknown." French: "Je parle un peu l'Francaise."
The only teacher who let me down a bit was for mathematics. I think she was honestly surprised by, and completely unprepared for, a parent who could still do the kid's math homework. She started in a droning voice, "I keep every kid's progress report on-line. Here's how you get to it..." Blahbitty blahbitty blah. When I started engaging her directly in the material on simple linear and quadratic equations, you could see the gears in her head shifting as she changed over from the routine she had built to actually discussing her topic. She seemed pleased with my inquiry, but more than a little unready to actually discuss material. I frankly doubt such inquiry happens often.
Storm continues to be a pretty good student. She's sliding a bit, but we're pushing her hard to succeed. I don't think she quite gets the importance of it all, but she's figuring it out.
Ridiculous. Either you already know what the kid is up to, or you're hopelessly out of touch with what the kid is doing.
This conference was decidedly better. It was not "student led"; it was a fifteen-minute conference with each teacher the student had, discussing their progress.
I found most of the teachers to be delightful. Even more to the point, every teacher was confronted with a parent who gave a damn. As a ferocious diletantte from a family of the same, I was able to engage every teacher at some level, which gave me some insight into their caring. The science teacher was discussing electron shells with the kids; I was able to discuss the difference between covalent and ionic bonds, so he knew that Storm's parents weren't being left behind on that topic. The same was true in language arts: "Both of the adults in Storm's house are published authors. Much of the Writer's Digest collection on writing genre fiction and reportage nonfiction is on our shelves." And in social studies: "Storm sits at a dinner table where the phrase 'the marginal utility of wealth' is not unknown." French: "Je parle un peu l'Francaise."
The only teacher who let me down a bit was for mathematics. I think she was honestly surprised by, and completely unprepared for, a parent who could still do the kid's math homework. She started in a droning voice, "I keep every kid's progress report on-line. Here's how you get to it..." Blahbitty blahbitty blah. When I started engaging her directly in the material on simple linear and quadratic equations, you could see the gears in her head shifting as she changed over from the routine she had built to actually discussing her topic. She seemed pleased with my inquiry, but more than a little unready to actually discuss material. I frankly doubt such inquiry happens often.
Storm continues to be a pretty good student. She's sliding a bit, but we're pushing her hard to succeed. I don't think she quite gets the importance of it all, but she's figuring it out.
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My sympathies to you...
Date: 2011-12-04 11:56 pm (UTC)Her sister is doing better, but she also said "Send me to a military boarding school," mostly because she clued in that having 3 sets of parental figures in her life that she has to contend with each week is not conducive to learning...
no subject
Date: 2011-12-21 05:21 pm (UTC)"de" :== "of"
"française" :== adjective w/feminine ending
"la Française" :== a French woman
"le français" :== the French language
Lastly: Abbreviating the direct-article in French only happens when the noun starts with a vowel or, sometimes, with the letter 'h'. So:
"l'erable" :== "le" + "erable" :== "the maple" (we were in Quebec recently)
"l'aventure" :== "la" + "aventure" :== "the adventure"
"l'abbé" :== "le" + "abbé" :== "the abbot"
"la halle" ("the hall") but "l'heure" ("the hour").
Note that "se" ("himself"/"herself"/"itself") and "de" ("of") are quite often (if not always?) contracted to "s'" and "d'". "du" (the partitive article) is never contracted, however. Also, the plural masculine definite article, "les", is never contracted.
*giggles* I just realized what your original sentence actually translates to: "I speak the Frenchwoman a bit."
Ah well, live & learn. ^_^