9.02.2008

Yo Quiero Taco Bell

Hope's Spanish teacher called this morning. It seems I have robbed my children of being able to ever succeed in the good ol' USofA. I did not teach my daughter Spanish... I taught her Latin.

She is 3 years behind her peers in her Spanish class. Her Spanish teacher says that she needs to catch up or she will have a really hard time once she gets into high school.

I tried to get a few brownie points for Hope by pointing out that her father is half Puerto Rican, making Hope a Quarter Rican... but the Spanish teacher did not think I was funny.

Please respond in Spanish only for your comments. I am taking the cold turkey approach to learning Spanish. grassy ass.

33 comments:

Rebecca Goodwin said...

Eso es mi primero tiempo para... Oh f@#% it. This is my first visit to your blog and I love it!
I'll be back.

Regina said...

muy divertido! what happened to having options in high school. i took french, is spanish required now?
que lastima. aye caramba.
me gusta su nueva pictura con su esposo! i wonder if any of this is conjugated correctly.
r

B.A. Kemple said...

El pantalones de la chupacabra es muy grande, pero mi perro es dormiendose.

*Insert Mexican Hat Dance Here*

Barb Szyszkiewicz said...

Soy profesora de espanol. ?Por que' es problema que su hija ha estudiado latin en vez de espanol? Ella es estudiante inteligente; ella aprendera' espanol pronto.
?Cua'ntos anos tiene Hope? ?Cua'ntos anos antes de ella empieza escuela secundaria?

Email me if translation/advice is needed. I actually AM a Spanish teacher (can't type in Spanish on my laptop too easily/early in the AM, though) so if you need to bounce off some ideas, I'd be happy to help.

New Unschooler said...

Me no speaky espanol. I no wanted to learn espanol in eschool either. I wanted Latin. Padre forced me to join espanol.. you can see where that got me. Mucho Lucko with your Kiddo!

Anonymous said...

Me Llamo Angela. Three years of high school Spanish and that's all I've got. ( Although, I think I can ask directions to the bano if the need were to arise! )

Maurisa said...

Say what? I guess I'm glad I home school. Our kids will really be behind the curve because I gave up on Latin, too! How will they ever make it in the real world???

Delilah said...

All I know is Cerveza por favor and Donde esta el bano? Do you really need anything else?

Anonymous said...

dos humbergasas e papa fritas, por va vor!
I'm sure I messed up the spelling, but that should be good enough to get Hope some lunch!
Have a grande day!
Love,
Aunt Barbara

Anonymous said...

Dos Cervezas Por Favor!

That's it... that's all she needs to know.. one beer for her, one for her husband. The end!

Unknown said...

Yo necessito Espanol en America?

Aye caramba! Mi vida es a toda madre!

heidi said...

I'm with Delilah - I can order a beer and ask where the bathroom is. Do you really need much more spanish than that?

Oh! I forgot. I can also tell you to shut your mouth you bag. Told my 7th grade Spanish teacher that little gem, courtesy of mi mama. Detention city, dood.

Anonymous said...

para englais?

That way, if she's in Mexico she can find someone who speaks English...or if she's getting her yard done...sorry was that bad?

good thing this is anonymous! :)

Anne McD said...

Um, no habla espanol.

You only taught your daugther Latin and didn't make her learn Spanish???

YOU GO GIRL!! GOOD FOR YOU!

That means, she'll be able to do well on the verbal part of her SATs. No, wait a minute, they'll be in Spanish only by the time she gets there.

Hmm, fight the trend or learn Spanish so we know what they're saying about us. Its a toss up . . .

John said...

Lenguas nuevas no son faciles! Buena suerte con este projecto. Y debe llamar a su hija "Esperanza." :)

I think it's great that your daughter got that exposure to Latin, even if that's the last bit she'll ever have.

momto5minnies said...

Bien c'est j.ust trop mal. Il y a d'autres langues!

Shoot ... that's FRENCH!

Aubrey said...

!Estoy riendo! !Todos los demás comentarios del me hizo reír en voz alta!

Christine said...

Hey what happened to good ol' Sesame Street....uno dos tres etc..

and "aqua"!

I think learning another language is fun. Gets you to use your brain cells. With a lot of things in school you might never use them day in and day out but the experience of learning Spanish and knowing some phrases is a good thing.

Love the post.

So funny.....Quarter Rican!

Laura said...

Mi cabeza es lleno de pollos.

Anonymous said...

Okay,knock it off! I don't know what anyone is saying! Hee hee!
It's so frustrating!
Aunt Barbara

Keri said...

Tres anos de espanol y yo solamente can remember how to say

donde es la bana?

y

dame las llaves!

I figured I would need to know how to find the potty and get some keys if I were ever in a Spanish speaking somewhere.

Kasia said...

No Spanish. Took German. Took Russian. Took Polish. Took French. Would've taken Chinese if I'd had time. Have a Farsi Rosetta Stone CD-ROM that I've been playing with.

But no Spanish. And what do you know - I'm doing fine!!!

Seriously, it's very practical to learn Spanish if you plan to live anywhere near the Southwest, and there's certainly no harm in it if you don't. But gee whiz!

You know what? Try getting her a Rosetta Stone CD and make her do 15 or 20 minutes a day. It might help. They're ridiculously expensive (like $200 per disc), but hey - if I can actually remember a dozen or so words of Farsi on the strength of a couple hours' work, they must be doing something right...

southernjoy said...

cerveza!

I remember that Spanish word, lol!

southernjoy said...

cerveza!

I remember that Spanish word, lol!

Anonymous said...

I guess it's a good thing for your daughter that in high school she won't be required to take spanish. At least you're not here. You can take Latin, German, French, and of course Spanish.

I don't quite get that required Spanish in the lower grades. As if their days aren't full enough throw in a language that they don't need.

No, I don't speak Spanish either, nor do I plan to learn.

Good for you on the Latin!! We haven't decided what we'll do now that we're homeschooling, but I promise it's not forced Spanish!!

Anonymous said...

asi es la vida !

Kasia said...

I don't quite get that required Spanish in the lower grades. As if their days aren't full enough throw in a language that they don't need.

Well, the one thing I'll say there is that there are lots of studies that show neurological benefits to learning a second language before age 12 - brain plasticity and so forth. And that doing so makes it easier to learn additional ones int he future. So there are perfectly good reasons for having foreign language instruction in elementary school.

But there's no reason it has to be Spanish. I'm sure Latin does just as well.

Barb Szyszkiewicz said...

Kasia, I have taught Spanish to primary-school kids, and in most schools, the 35 minutes per WEEK that the kids get is really not enough to bring on those "early foreign-language learning" benefits. They would probably benefit more from extra time learning to read English or add and subtract.

Martha said...

Ugh... i am in the same boat with my kids who started Catholic school this year. I took French. My older son did 2 years of Latin. I thought that would help. Boy, was I wrong.

Oh well. Sympathy!

Kasia said...

Barb,

35 minutes per week?!?? That's ridiculous!!!

No, you're quite right - if they're going to do early foreign language ed, it needs to be more like 35 minutes per day.

So - I guess it depends on what the district is doing... :-)

Tom in Vegas said...

La maestra esta loca.

Stupid Fat Hobbit said...

Well, just about everything I could want to say is taken. Poop! (is that Spanish)? I do know that if i could speak Spanish, they would probably get my order right at the local McDonalds! Numere cuatro con Coque de Dieta (I used www.freetranslation.com to translate what 'Number 4 with Diet Coke' is)

Anonymous said...

Sorry Kaisa, but when my daughter was in public and private school, the amount of time spent in Spanish was 30 minutes. The only thing that that succeeded in doing was taking up precious time that she could have used for math, language arts or something that she REALLY needs. She's ahead in most subjects and always has been, without the Spanish.

I still think the the foreign language needs to wait until high school when they get to choose which language they want, the way it used to always be!!