Meet the Parents

August 30th was our Middle School Open House and although there seemed to be a lot of hype around it, it was not that bad. Parents came at 5:00 for a meeting (which means it really started at about 5:20. Then at 6:00, they went through their students’ schedules to each of their classes for 10-15 minutes to get an introduction to the class from each teacher. Given that this is very much a social event for parents, the fact that my room is the most out of the way and that I needed a translator, it meant I actually had about 5 minutes to fly through everything I wanted to cover. Many of the parents speak only Spanish, so a translator was necessary, it also meant that if I sounded like an idiot in English or fumbled over my words, less than about half the people in the room noticed because they were waiting for the translation. I introduced myself, where I was from and where I taught before in Spanish to try to win the parents over and let them know that my Spanish was pretty bad, but I wanted to practice and that I would then be transitioning to English. Although my vocabulary is small and conjugations and sentence formation often fall to pieces, I have been complimented on my accent by a few people since I’ve been here. I don’t know if it’s because they are just trying to find something nice to say or if the genuinely think I sound slightly less like a gringa than other teachers they have met. Either way, I’ll take the compliment. Anyway, knowing that most people were not actually listening to ME, I spoke at my normal speed, superhuman fast, in order to get to my translator and through my whole 5 slides. Of course after one session, a parent came up to Clara, my translator, and asked “Does she always speak that fast?!” probably worrying about her poor child ever trying to comprehend something in my class.

Overall the parents were very nice and didn’t have too many questions, which I think is a good thing. I spent most of my time emphasizing my beliefs on grading and the fact that students have to learn (aprender) in order to be successful, which in general I have found parents genuinely appreciate. Unfortunately, I really had no idea who was the parents of which students, other than the few who had a second to introduce themselves before or after a session, so I’ll have to wait until parent conferences for that.