He seems to have occasional difficulties with material which he is expected to know, but which he has never been taught.

In my experience of being dropped into schools at non-standard points, the school remembers you're new for about two days, and then they forget - you (or your parents) have to keep reminding them.

And although sometimes you know it's something you haven't been taught... you think... maybe... and if you put your hand up how many of the others will sneer? And how loud will the teacher sigh? ... How stupid will you feel? That's assuming you're confident it is something that you can't be blamed for not knowing...

I think it's incredibly common though - specially, dare I say it, in boys - to go off reading at this age, at least temporarily. And to be honest, if he's operating all day in a second language, it's desperately tiring even when they're really quite fluent. It may be that that's making him even more prone to seek the anaesthetic of computer games, rather than struggling with print. Would audio books be easier for him to take in?

I'd have thought you might even have a case for asking for some educational support at school, given not just the language, but that he's come from such a different system. At least for an assessment of whether he has any particular needs in that area - a few catch-up lessons in subjects which are very differently structured.

The key to Cherys's story was that the book of cheats gave her son something he couldn't get except by reading...

I'd have thought you might even have a case for asking for some educational support at school, given not just the language, but that he's come from such a different system.

That's another source of frustration for us. Our educational system (both in Hampshire, where we used to live, and in Birmingham where we are now) is very good at promising such support, which somehow never quite materialises.

I'm going to buy the books that Leila recommended, and I will also look into books on cheats for computer games. I'm also trying to arrange a meeting with his English teacher, to find out what his views are. My son also tells me that the English teacher doesn't mark his exercise book, so I'm going to find out if it's possible for him to bring it home so that I can do that. It won't hurt to let the school know that I'm keeping my eye on things. I have good reason for doing so - both of his last two terms' progress reports had errors in them, so I can't trust those to tell me the correct story.

Alex

I wouldn't think you needed to worry about your son, Alex He is probably very bright with lots of support from home and English is his second language. You're right to try to support him yourselves. The last thing teachers need are middle class parents demanding to have their kids tested for dyslexia and being cpmplained about because they don't mark every error in their kids' writing. There are other kids in their classes who need their support more, I'd say.


Yours, an ex- teacher of English

The last thing teachers need are middle class parents demanding to have their kids tested for dyslexia and being cpmplained about because they don't mark every error in their kids' writing.

Maybe not every error, but as a non-native speaker he does need to see corrections made to the most important errors, especially those of grammar, word-order and spelling. From what he says, his work isn't being marked at all, which means he is receiving no feedback to show him where his mistakes are. Even if he were doing a lot of reading, he might not pick up on some of the more subtle mistakes that are typical of non-native speakers.

The main reason that his mother and I are becoming concerned is that his maths (a subject at which he is very good) is showing him to be some way off his KS3 target. I had a meeting with his maths teacher today, at which she said that his maths is actually good enough that she would like to move him up into a higher stream. However, the say-so on such a move apparently lies with his English teacher, and the maths teacher thinks that it is mainly his English that is keeping his marks in maths low. So whether or not he is allowed to move into a higher stream, where he would be stretched to an extent more appropriate to his ability, is dependent on his ability in a subject at which he is at a disadvantage compared with his class-mates, and in which he does not appear to be receiving the level of support/feedback that would enable him to improve. If we don't do something to help him improve, he could easily fall into a cycle of discouragement and worsening results.

I can't believe they're still streaming kids in this day and age. Is this a comprehensive school? It must be so frustrating for you!

Is it streaming across the board, or in divisions for individual subjects? In things like Maths the latter seems to me essential.

But I agree - it sounds like they can't or won't support his English...

I assume that you've looked at the local private language schools? Many can cope with school-aged children, because they run classes for packs of them as part of a week's school trip to England, or whatever. There might be a tutor who was happy to do one-to-one for this age. It may also be that because English is rather harder work, he tends to tune out in lessons, even if he would be understanding the English if he was listening hard.

Emma

It used to be a grammar school - I went there in the 1970s. It's where I learned Russian, funnily enough (and the meeting with the maths teacher yesterday was in the very room where I had most of my lessons in that subject). Nowadays it calls itself a "Mathematics and Computing College". I don't know what the definition of a comprehensive is, so I've no idea whether it is one. I do know that its Ofsted report, while being superficially middle-of-the-road, had quite a few positive points in it that made it seem like a better choice than another school in our area, which had a similar Ofsted rating. Plus, the mathematics and computing slant seemed like a good choice for my stepson, who is very strong with arithmetic.

When we first moved to the area, I enquired at a number of places that were offering ESOL courses, and also spoke to a few private tutors. Like I said, it seems to be very difficult to find that kind of support for children, who mostly seem to be expected to absorb it through their feet, or something.

(I've always been rather irritated by the refrain that you often hear, in this country, that foreigners ought to learn English if they're going to live here. In the past, my irritation was over the hypocrisy of that position in a nation where very few of the population even know what it is like to learn a foreign language. Nowadays, my irritation is over the hypocrisy of wanting people to learn English whilst making it extremely difficult, and artificially expensive, for those who want to learn.)

That's another source of frustration for us. Our educational system (both in Hampshire, where we used to live, and in Birmingham where we are now) is very good at promising such support, which somehow never quite materialises.

It's not widely appreciated, but, unless there is an obvious physical or mental disability, parents have to pay for a private assessment if they want their special needs application to be taken seriously. It's an annoying hoop to jump through but it basically stops overly protective parents from clogging up the system just because little Johnny gets his 'b's and 'd's the wrong way round.

As for not correcting English homework, no they don't. In fact they pretty much stop doing that when kids reach KS2, let alone KS3. It's a major bugbear about the current state of English teaching. All you can do is go through it and correct it yourselves.

Might be worth seeing if there's a Kumon English course in your area.


- NaomiM

<Added>

...however, I really would try to interest him in some of the quest-based computer games. It is notoriously difficult to get boys to read and write, and I've found online games like Runescape a godsend in the past.