English Woes and boys.
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Re: English Woes and boys.
Never thought of giving him a good whiff of oxygen. I tend to just get the wine bottle out for me instead. Can you smuggle some supplies home from work?
Re: English Woes and boys.
Just make sure DH isn't simultaneously enjoying his evening cigar....
Re: English Woes and boys.
It will improve but he needs to be prepared to listen to you and work with you.scarlett wrote:Hope I don't addle too many brains but am addressing two problems in one thread. Any advice appreciated.
Problem 1
Ds1....In year 8 at a grammar, still will write half a sentence instead of a paragraph and it's generally rather basic. I've noticed a few teachers have written in his books that his work is too simplistic and he needs to extend and elaborate his sentences. This is affecting other subjects now, history, geography etc. Ds gets all huffy and offended if I suggest helping him. What help can I give him? Is this common in lazy boys? Do you think it will improve in time?
My DS when he was in yr5 an essay for him would be 4-5 sentences. The year 5 teacher made them write essays for homework and that's all he gave for English. Some of the comments were; use a sharp pencil, I know you can write more etc... . DS reads magazines like Top Gear
, so I showed him some of the headings and some newspapers and explained to him that his essays were like the newspaper headlines. I told him to elaborate and I also showed him how to and that the teacher wants him to write like the article that's under the headlines. Told him it should have a beginning, a middle and an end. I also sent him to the after school writing club in school. I thought it would be a difficult task but he got it somehow, and he had produced some good ones in school. Its just that his imaginations started running wild when he was in yr 6 and the year 6 teacher's comments was to keep to the point or heading. He needs to improve but at least now he writes quite a lot.'What we have learned is like a handful of earth; What we have yet to learn is like the whole world.' Auvaiyaar.
Re: English Woes and boys.
Thanks Ahap. I think he's okay with writing fictional stories, it's just explanations of things. The newspaper / magazine article idea is good.
Re: English Woes and boys.
If the question was "describe the battle" I think he captured it well, and very succinctly, unless it was nuclear war. If the teacher wanted an essay, perhaps he/ she needs to think up a better title - a discussion point perhaps. I wonder really if the teacher is a bit "lacking" shall we say. DS1 doesn't have a problem with written language, so this particular battle (!!) could maybe be left between him and the teacher. It's not going to affect his GCSE history grade yet.
Reading at home - fact and fiction -is probably still going to be the best thing that you can encourage at this point in secondary school; don't worry about the laziness in writing thing unless you see that he really does have a problem expressing himself in writing. If he likes history and exciting reads, but not history lessons, maybe some exciting historical novels?
We get some pain homeworks at the moment from year 4 teachers - bits of writing which can take hours. However, this teacher has clearly told me more than once that she doesn't believe in homework and only sets it because she's told to. So as well as getting homework we get **** homework to put the child off that subject for life. What's the logic in that? There's probably still a bit of this in years 7 and 8 in some subjects because it isn't going to make one jot of difference to the child's results in that subject at the moment.
Maybe go for reverse psychology. Tell him the homework is rubbish and just to do one sentence and hand it in, and that you'd rather he tidied his bedroom than wasted time on history homework.
Reading at home - fact and fiction -is probably still going to be the best thing that you can encourage at this point in secondary school; don't worry about the laziness in writing thing unless you see that he really does have a problem expressing himself in writing. If he likes history and exciting reads, but not history lessons, maybe some exciting historical novels?
We get some pain homeworks at the moment from year 4 teachers - bits of writing which can take hours. However, this teacher has clearly told me more than once that she doesn't believe in homework and only sets it because she's told to. So as well as getting homework we get **** homework to put the child off that subject for life. What's the logic in that? There's probably still a bit of this in years 7 and 8 in some subjects because it isn't going to make one jot of difference to the child's results in that subject at the moment.
Maybe go for reverse psychology. Tell him the homework is rubbish and just to do one sentence and hand it in, and that you'd rather he tidied his bedroom than wasted time on history homework.
Re: English Woes and boys.
You can also get hold of good samples, you could ask him to read them and show him where he needs to improve.
'What we have learned is like a handful of earth; What we have yet to learn is like the whole world.' Auvaiyaar.
Re: English Woes and boys.
I'm sure Scarlett gets hold of lots of good samples at work.
Re: English Woes and boys.
mystery wrote:I'm sure Scarlett gets hold of lots of good samples at work.
scary mum
Re: English Woes and boys.
'What we have learned is like a handful of earth; What we have yet to learn is like the whole world.' Auvaiyaar.
Re: English Woes and boys.
Lowering the tone again, Mystery?
Just had a chat with ds 1 and he says they only have a short amount of time to write essays etc and he's worried he'll get shouted at if he doesn't finish, so rushes it. Could be another excuse though. He has agreed to work on his English with me, though.
I said to him, if I asked you to describe your hamster, you would need to use some good vocabulary etc...you would probably just say he's brown and furry. Ds1 said no , I would say he's furry and brown. And then he and ds2 burst into uncontrollable laughter.
Just had a chat with ds 1 and he says they only have a short amount of time to write essays etc and he's worried he'll get shouted at if he doesn't finish, so rushes it. Could be another excuse though. He has agreed to work on his English with me, though.
I said to him, if I asked you to describe your hamster, you would need to use some good vocabulary etc...you would probably just say he's brown and furry. Ds1 said no , I would say he's furry and brown. And then he and ds2 burst into uncontrollable laughter.
