Grundschule Grades in B-W

[friederike 515]

 

I have 3 children who are native English speakers. When they used different vocabulary, one of their English teachers told me that my children had an unfair advantage over the other children in the class and that they should forget the other vocabulary and only use what was listed in the book!!!

OMG :(

[Pavo 6]

Old topic, but I guess not much changed. I came here looking for some hope that I completely lost now. My younger has bad luck with Grundschule teachers since the beginning. The first one "luckily" disappeared as she refused to work remotely with students during the lockdowns. That however left knowledge gaps. The second one was a replacement and didn't care. She stayed only until she got pregnant ("luckily" for the kids, again). The current one, who looks like a drunk to me, bullies kids and her teaching skills are close to none. The distribution of test results is heavy on the 4-5 side with no 1s at all. Some kids work at home every evening either with parents or paid tutors and that still doesn't help because the tests come with questions that have no grounds in the material they work on.

 

Ah, and there are anecdotal statistics that say that her ex students rarely get to gymnasiums as opposed to other teachers students.

So, am I waiting for her to get pregnant? Or too drunk to work? Any other hope? Forget Gymnasium and just swallow it? 

[MattW 10]

Hi

 

sorry to hear about your issues Pavo. I had the same with my kids, so I know how stressful it is -- it used to really wreck my days.

 

Info on your background could help as regards advice, but here is my story.

 

We are from the UK but really really  loved living in Germany for 15 years. When our kids reached school age, it was really not what we imagined.

Our children not really embracing German, and not really being able to express what they were capable at home. We tried to interact with schools but it was always so difficult. Unfortunately I've never had any positive interaction with any German teachers - some people say its the system but my feeling is that  teachers in Germany  themselves are the problem. The money is there but the Teachers have 'wenig Bock!' (in the uk it's the opposite)

 

This was brought to a head by covid - 'many teachers in my kids schools refused to teach online as well'.

During lockdown my kids attended a UK online school and they really did well so...That set the ball rolling. 'Day and Night'

 

In the end we moved back to the UK, and my two are really happy and doing well in school. One is in independent and one is state

the education philosophy/method is similar and IMO is more positive and forward thinking than in Germany. Although general standard of living is a bit lower (but ...not as bad as the news would make-out)

 

Probably this is not an option for you, but my message is that interacting with teacher/schools in Germany is pretty pointless so if it comes to a head you have be prepared to find alternatives. There are often private or different school options that could fit.

 

Matt

 

[MattW 10]

Sorry,

 

Just to add - really speak to your kids (sure you are) to understand do they dislike German, school in general or just Teacher X so that you can pursue the best strategy.

[Pavo 6]

@MattW

 

Thanks for your reply. We have lived in Poland and Ireland before and kids went to kitas / schools there. Some people say that the teachers who started jobs in eastern Berlin while it was still DDR will have similar attitude to Polish teachers and I think I agree, while I would add that they are still more relaxed (they won't overwork themselves for the sake of kids)

[MattW 10]

No worries Pavo, hope it all works out in the end - rooting for you!

[LeonG 14,855]

 

On 4/21/2023, 11:23:13, Pavo said:

So, am I waiting for her to get pregnant? Or too drunk to work? Any other hope? Forget Gymnasium and just swallow it? 

 

Talk to the headmaster about this.  Ask if your child can move to another class.  Ask at other schools nearby if you can enroll your child there.  Look into moving to another school district.  No guarantee it'll get better but those are kind of your options.