celestine

Morning all, I have tried to translate this but am unable to find the translation of this particular word 'flaja' I am thinking it may mean lazy? If this is the case I would be interested to know how appropriate people feel it is to scrawl 'Ultimamente esta muy flaja' across the bottom of a test result handed to a child in primary school. Personally speaking I am steaming from the ears. OH says I should ignore personally I would like to speak to the teacher. Any thoughts?

billgates

Although I have no idea what flaja means, I would just ignore it.
If it does mean lazy, then maybe your child is a bit lazy?
It's not the end of the world.
My eldest can be lazy when it comes to homework and revising for class tests. She would do the absolute minimum if we didn't continually push her.
I think some Spanish teachers can be very blunt and patronising when talking to foreign parents. Maybe they feel they are just using simple language that you will understand?
Sounding off at the teacher is only going to make life difficult for the child.

JLFS

The word you are talking about is Flojo/a, which literally mens loose as the most common use.

Here are more examples of different uses.

http://es.thefreedictionary.com/floja

I think she was referring to nuimber 9.

celestine

Thank you. Although I absolutely understand that a previously reply to my thread suggested that the best course of action may be to ignore this, I feel it completely inappropriate to call any child lazy. Children can lack motivation for a variety of reasons but to call them lazy is so demotivating and damaging to their self confidence and self worth. I feel a little torn as if this had happened in the UK I would without doubt speak to the teacher and express my concerns however here it appears parents are expected to stay quiet and stay out of the realms of the teacher. Very frustrating!

JLFS

Dont jump to conclusions that the teacher means lazy, I would translate it as "lately not up to scratch, which is not lazy, it could mean bad handwriting, not much content, only half done or a host of other things, and my take by reading what the teacher wrote in the context, not just the word floja, I think she is talking about the work, not about the child, if you see what I mean.


It would be difficult to get your point across to the teacher without having more command of the language, I am presuming you are far from fluent,as without the vocabulary neither party will understand fully what the other is trying to say.

steviedeluxe

There was an article on Breakfast news this morning, about a new uk docu-series called "Dream School" (may be a slightly different title). The premise of the show (from what I saw) is that famous clever people get to teach school drop-outs. Anyway, one of the celebrities (some obnoxious historian - I've seen him on Question Time) started out by provoking the class in stating "Why are you here? You're here because you failed..." I agree that destroying younger people's confidence, is not always the best route to follow, and can have a totally counter-productive effect. I can fully understand why the OP is aggrieved. On the other hand, there's a famous quote somewhere along the lines that the best answer is success. Maybe the teacher is hoping for a reaction, instead of just allowing the pupil to drift?

Rotor

My Andaluz workmate has no idea what it means

Update , he now thinks it should read floja which can mean lazy but dont worry to much initially,many Spanish teachers are fond of blaming pupils for their own teaching inadequacies.

Rosemary

I do not think that she was saying that your child is lazy but just not putting her all into the subject. Ignoring it is not possible for you and the teacher obviously wrote this to gain a response. I think that if it was me and my child I would have a talk with the teacher to find out what could be done to remedy the situation. This would gain clarity on what is really meant and give you an action plan. Maybe your daughter finds the subject boring so needs stimulation, or maybe she finds it far to difficult so needs additional help or maybe she finds it too easy so is therefore not bothering with it and needs encouragement to take part. No matter what the truth is behind it all a pleasant discussion with the teacher should help but I would not go in all guns blazing which is your natural first reaction to the perceived critism of your child.

Hope you get this resolved to your and your childs satisfaction.

Rosemary

twistedmelon

It does mean lazy but that could apply to meaning just scruffily done.
Teachers here are not always that approachable but I'm sure if there was a serious problem with your childs work they would soon let you know.
My advice, ignore it.

cricketman

Floja can mean lazy, but can also mean a drop from the level your child was at before, either in performance or effort, kind of like "weak performance" or "drifting".

I dont think it is inappropriate for a teacher to write that about a student, but yes you should find out the reasons why so you can help your child. If you cant talk to the teacher then bring someone who can! Very important.

snikpoh

One of my daughters teachers recently put a red cross through her test with the word 'mal', and that was it.

How on earth is the pupil supposed to learn from that.

Surely teachers should teach! and part of this is to show what is incorrect or what could have been done better (differently).

So far I'm not that impressed with the general standard of primary school teachers.

Rotor

Me neither ,I know of one case where the teacher had the parents in and explained their child was disruptive in class,when the one parent asked what they were doing about it the teacher was gob smacked and saying the parents should be able to control the child when not presant!!

cricketman

I think this depends on whether the child is 4 or 10 years old. If 4, then yes the teacher needs to be in charge of the situation, if 10 then the parents.

These things have to be discussed with the teachers as personal relationships are everything in Spain. If you arent able to get on with your teacher, and they think your child is misbehaving then there will only be one outcome and it wont be good!

Just saying all Spanish primary teachers are rubbish wont solve anything, it will reenforce to your child that they can do what they like, and your child will end up failing shool. 30% of kids in Spanish schools fail, this is a set proportion, so make sure your child isnt in it!

Rotor

As usual an expert but with no experience , and as I recall you have no kids

cricketman

So what?

I have many younger brothers and sisters. Plus cousins etc. Plus I was at school not long ago!

Plus I will be having children in Spain and sending them to school here.

By your fuzzy logic a doctor cant have an opinion unless he actually HAS the disease he is trying to treat?

Speaking as someone who went to a bad school in the UK, where only 10% of kids went to uni. And as one of the very few at this school who got all As in their exams at school. I learnt a few things.
1. You cant fight the system, you must use it to your advantage
2. The kids who were disruptive and did worse were from families who didnt trust the education system and just put it down.
3. I feel people who havent got good qualifications think education is purely down to the teachers. It is mainly down to the attitude of the child, which comes from the parents. Having a good teacher is a bonus.