It’s school report/parent’s meeting time again! First, Eliot

It’s that time of the term again. Parent’s meeting with teachers and an update on progress. I suppose it’s a bit like parent’s evening in England except we don’t meet individual teachers (lucky for Jake’s maths teacher!), we just meet with the head of year,  in a ‘full class’/all parents meeting to begin with followed by a one-to-one, if desired.

Jake’s school schedules one-to-ones with the heads of year twice a term anyway so this meeting en masse is more of a formality to sign off the results of the previous term.

But this post isn’t about Jake (yet) It’s about Eliot. The meeting with his teacher was yesterday.

I was surprised how much more I understood this time. I definitely followed a lot more of what she said, in her chat with the group, than I had before. Even to the point that I didn’t miss all of the jokes! We were then handed the children’s end of term “avaliação” or evaluation. This is an unaided test in all areas of the curriculum.

Eliot’s is tailored slightly to his abilities. He works with year 1 children for Lingua Portuguesa and with his peers, in year 2, for Maths. In the other main subject, Estudo do Meio (a kind of general studies subject)  he works with both years, depending on topic. He owns the text books for boths years 1 and 2 in all subjects except Maths now. In addition to that there are some slightly differently approached areas which broadly equate to social awareness, study and project work.

Overall, he has done great! His end of term evaluation earned him 2 “suficiente” marks (about the equivalent of a C, I suppose) and 2 “bom” marks (which is roughly a B). This is over years 1 and 2 work mixed but it was completely unaided work for the testing. To be honest, the results surprised me! Especially as he doesn’t get any “Portuguese as a foreign language” (PLNM) support in school. It has been applied for but not yet received so all his teacher can do is place him in work groups and levels where she thinks best. This is greatly aided by being in a mixed, years 1-4 class and, quite honestly, Eliot is clearly not suffering for the lack of support (although it would be greatly beneficial for him to receive it. I can only hope he will eventually)

His final term report was also good. He is spending the majority of his classes with his peers and he isn’t failing anything. His assessed level is A1 which puts him in the top range for year 1, which is great considering! I am hoping this will mean that he repeats year 2 next year, rather than moving up to year 3, because I think this will benefit him hugely too.

There were few mentions, in his report, about him being a bit boisterous when playing and not liking to be confronted/told off. So he’s a 7-year-old boy! I’m fairly sure there will be worse in the school!

All in all, a good report. Better than expected. Well done, Eliot.

Next stop, Jake’s meeting tonight!

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Census schmensus

I don’t really remember filling out the 2001 census in the UK but I supposed I must have. I have to admit that, while I knew there was a UK census imminent, I had no idea it was Europe-wide!

Various postings on the ex-pats Portugal forums alerted me to the fact that a Portugal census was imminent also and, on Saturday evening, ours was delivered. I’m not sure if it’s the same in the UK (I sound like I’ve been gone for years already LOL) but each census is delivered by hand, ensuring every property is covered and has the correct forms. We opted to do ours online so, we were given our ID and password envelopes and told that the online census could actually be completed in English! Result!!

Or so I thought.

Portuguese Census 2011 Website

Turns out, it can’t. While you can see the login screen in English, the census itself is only in Portuguese. This amuses me for no other reason that I would not be at all surprised if the internet-census-filling populus of Portugal either speak English as a first language or a second**! I’m betting there were more English speakers who filed online than Portuguese** but hey ho, when in Rome ‘n’ all that 😉

**Completely fictional claim with no basis or proof whatsoever

So anyway, it’s done. With much testing of my learned Portuguese and some copying and pasting obscure questions into Google Translate

At least we chose to do it online. It’d be a lot harder to type in and translate the paper forms! I have to do it regularly with school permission slips!

Some questions, particularly the work ones, are difficult for us to answer because our work situation here is complicated but I did it to the best of my abilities and with the hope that the translations were accurate enough to mean they were answered correctly. Google Translate certainly is not perfect. Even I, with my limited Portuguese, find myself regularly editing Google-translated passages of text because some of the grammar in Portuguese is a bit beyond a computer’s ability to get its “head” round! I am learning a lot though which is great.

So, it’s another thing ticked off our to-do list anyway.

Next rite of passage, picking up our new car tomorrow and taking all the forms to be re-registered in our name (like change of keeper but done at a vehicle DVLA type local office)

Once more into the breach…

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Random post. And why not?

There is no particular point to this post today. Sometimes, nothing very interesting happens and life goes on as usual. Here, at least. We must spare a thought for people, such as those in Japan, who would give anything for an uninteresting day when nothing happens, of course.

The weekend was uneventful (unless you count a certain child’s cringeworthy misbehaviour while playing outside over the weekend but we’ll gloss over that one for now!) and both boys went back to school, for their first full week back since Carnival.

We had a great Carnival break. Nik’s parents were over for a few days while his sister got some stuff sorted for her return to England and the boys were uncontainably excited about seeing Grandad! It was the first time the boys had seen him (and vice versa, obviously) since we left England in July and both were very, very excited (I’d say they were more excited about that than they were on Christmas Eve!)

So we had a nice few days with them here. The boys were off school Monday to Wednesday and so were able to spend plenty of time with Nana and Grandad. It’d have been nice to have had them stay longer, perhaps so they themselves had a few quieter days, while the boys were AT school, but perhaps next time. It’s looking hopeful that there might be a next time before we return for our England Trip in July anyway so that’s good.

It was a difficult day when they left on Thursday. Jake was particularly upset at school (so he told me when he got home) as he’d had to go to school knowing Nana and Grandad would be gone again when he came home. I was surprised actually how hard Jake found it but he’s recovered now he’s back to ‘normality’ and looking forwards to seeing them again (and counting down to Aunty Wendy’s visit in a few weeks!)

Eliot took it in his stride somewhat but he still doesn’t know about Nik’s sister’s return to the UK. He knows that she went back with them but  I think he just hasn’t put 2 and 2 together yet. He will… and we’ll cross that bridge as and when.

Meantime he’s being his usual slightly insane self. This morning he spent half an hour trying to get me to take a photo (on a totally unsuitable camera) of him flying! Don’t get me wrong, our camera is good but certainly NOT for action shots! Nik decided to get his ‘proper’ camera out instead (nice swanky DSLR) and took a few which Eliot was happy with. He is an oddball, for sure (Eliot, that is. Not Jake 🙂 )

He did start off just running down the hallway and jumping but Daddy (in his wisdom) decided that a better shot could be created by having him jumping off a chair, just out of shot. That’s what makes this first shot all the more impressive! You’d never know how he got there!

This is my favourite shot! Poor lighting but GREAT pose!

And this one looks as though we’ve stuck him to the wall!

Did we stick him to the wall?

This last one just makes me chuckle. He’s very much picked a point and aiming for it here! You’ve got to admire his complete lack of fear (or, with 1st floor balconies all round us, perhaps worry about it!)

Reach for the stars!

Anyway, enough insanity, eh?!

Jake has just come home from lunch with good news. He had a science test on Thursday (you may remember I mentioned he thrives in science. He enjoys it very much and does very well in tests) His test had his test sheet written in both Portuguese AND English but he had to answer, as everyone else did, in Portuguese. So today he was very happy when he came in with a “Muito Bom” which is the best mark you can get, I suppose the equivalent of an A (we’ll ignore the existence of A* which, in my mind, is NOT a real grade anyway!)

Well done Jake 🙂

While I’m on the subject of tests, Eliot brought home a progress test last week for me to sign. Usually, he does well in the maths but poorly in the language subjects (Portuguese and Estudo do Meio which I think is like a general subject study thing) because of his lack of language and reading skills. However, this time, he actually PASSED his Portuguese but failed his maths, I think due to the questions being very wordy. I don’t know if the general year 2 reading level is significantly above his or what but they were pretty tricky questions to expect a 7-year-old to read and understand, even in the native language!

Eliot’s reading has come on loads lately, mind you. We are noticing that he is reading much more (English) than he ever did and he’s picking up new Portuguese at a good pace at the minute. He’s certainly thriving in Portuguese schooling. Not bad for a boy who only 12 months ago was assessed for learning problems, eh?

Well done, Eliot 🙂

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As promised, a non-beach related post :-) School updates

It’s not difficult to keep the beach out of my post today because I, personally, haven’t been. I missed out on the weekend’s trips due to illness!

So today’s post isn’t beach-related, it’s other school-related 🙂

It’s 6 months since my boys started at their Portuguese schools here in Lagos.

I know a lot of my blog readers are very interested in how our boys have made the transition from the UK to Portuguese schools and it is certainly one of the (if not THE) biggest single challenge our whole family has faced (and is still facing on a daily basis) since moving here to Portugal.

As anyone who read my very early and pre-move posts knows, the decision to move and put the boys into Portuguese schools was the biggest decision I’ve probably EVER had to make. It was heart-breaking enough moving them away from friends but plunging them into a completely alien atmosphere with no idea what to expect and NO language skills at their disposal (well, very little) was, in all honesty, being “cruel to be kind”

It was the only way our move was going to work and, in the long (perhaps even medium) term, it WILL have done them the world of good. Even if we could have afforded to send them to one of the several local International Schools, their exposure to the language there would have been very much secondary and, if we want them to have any sort of long-term integrated life here in Portugal, they need Portuguese to be very much up there alongside English in their language skills, not “sloppy seconds”

It’s certainly been a rocky 6 months since they started school. I remember so very clearly how completely distraught Jake was when I left him on the first morning but I also remember how completely buzzing he was when he came home for his first lunchtime and couldn’t wait to get back to his new-found friends, many of whom speak very respectable levels of English.

Since that first morning, there’s hardly been a day where Jake has said he doesn’t want to go to school. He loves his friends and he is thriving there.

Jake's class, Year 6F (there are 7 classes in his year alone!)

We’ve had his second mid-term (mid-semester) meeting with his head of year this morning. He seems very happy with Jake’s progress. There are 3 subjects he has moved up in slightly and one where he has dipped a little (this is, I think, due to the subject matter this term being more wordy in this subject and meaning he’s suffered more with comprehension)

The only 2 subjects he is actually failing are Lingua Portuguesa (Portuguese) and Historia e Geografia de Portugal (History/Geography)

These 2 are totally to be expected. His portuguese is improving. I know it from hearing him talk with some of his friends who speak less English. Their preferred language, with Jake, is Portuguese and he seems ok with this. I’ve also read some of his Science work (he likes Science. His science teacher is his head of year and, despite his own lack of English skills, he is incredibly helpful to Jake) and tests and I can see that Jake is doing well learning sentence structure and suchlike. Certainly good enough for Science, but perhaps a way away from the levels needed from a wordy subject like History (and BOY is it wordy!) and, obviously, Portuguese language subject.

Jake's school books (the right hand pile has doubled in size since I took this!)

Nuno (Jake’s head of year, it’s all first name terms here!) did say that all Jake’s teachers seemed happy that Jake was making an effort and trying hard though and that counts for a lot too. He’s got a long way to go but he’s come a long way also and it’s important to remember and recognise that.

If he doesn’t pass this year (and I don’t think he will) then it doesn’t matter. There’s no stigma with being held back in Portugal. It’s par for the course. Nearly all kids get held back at some point or another and this makes for diverse classes as they progress through the school. Jake’s class, for example, at the start of the September term, ranged from ages 10 (Jake) to 14! Jake is actually the youngest in his year, partly because many get held back en route to year 6 and partly because, coming from UK schooling, he was moved into his equivalent school year rather than where his AGE peers would be (as here in PT they start school at age 6, much later the UK)

It’s probably to his advantage though. It means that, even if he does get held back, he’ll not be the oldest (probably not even close!) and he isn’t concerned by the possibility. There are several students in his class who do worse in subjects than Jake does (he’s about middle of his year) so he won’t be alone either!

All in all, he’s doing well. Better than we ever could have hoped. Rock on, Jake 🙂

So, how’s Eliot’s faring? Well, equally well, to be honest!

A recent meeting with Eliot’s teacher tells us that he is happily doing year 2 maths, with the rest of his year (all 6 of them LOL) and he seems to be doing ok with the year 1 children for Portuguese. A quick reminder, for new readers, Eliot’s school consists of 24 pupils, years 1 to 4, who are all taught as one class by one teacher. This system works well for Eliot because it has enabled his teacher to be able to place him with an ability-appropriate group rather than in his year for all subjects.

Eliot's entire school!

He’s certainly thrived since being at school here. Their method of teacher maths is one I’ve not seen before but it is working brilliantly for Eliot who has gone from being well below average to being able to work out his necessary sums with ease. He’s also developed some mental arithmetic logic too (ie, I want to work out 4 x 7. I know what 2 x 7 is so I double that number) which is great to see. His language skills have a way to go but even he makes good attempts to speak in Portuguese, even at home. He asked me something (in Portuguese) at the dinner table the other day which I understood and I am fairly sure anyone Portuguese would have also understood. It was a reasonably complex sentence and he surprised me with it! Bravo, Eliot!

Needless to say, I’m VERY proud of BOTH my boys. Their achievements have far exceeded my expectations, a million times over.

Eliot still wants to go back to the UK, of course, and I’m sure will even more soon. Nik’s sister has just moved, with her son (J&E’s cousin) OUT of Portugal and back to the UK. We’ve told Jake and, while he was upset and angry, he was ok about it. We haven’t told Eliot yet. He won’t take it well and it WILL put fuel in his “I want to go back to England” fire (which, trust me, needs NO stoking!)

He may be doing well at school but he doesn’t see it that way and he is far from being completely settled yet. He interacts well and works hard but he has a fair way to go before he’ll be content there. I’m hoping this won’t cause us issues when we return to the UK for a week in July. The schools here finish on 22nd June so we have a week in UK booked before the UK schools break up (it’s much cheaper to fly then (although still expensive enough!!)) I’m hoping that the fact that we’ll be flying back to sunshine and nearly 3 months of summer holidays will mean that he won’t be reluctant to return after.

We’ll see, I suppose.

****Apologies for poor school photo qualities. Our scanner has broken and these are VERY poor photographs of..well..photographs!*****

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The many ups and downs of Portuguese schooling…

What a week of turmoil and torment! For ALL of us.

My boys started school, for real, good and proper, last Monday (13th September)

After Eliot’s taster session the previous Friday, he was quite excited about starting on Monday. GREAT! One less child to worry about on what was, potentially, the worst day of their lives!

So, Monday morning comes and, for the first time in his life, it’s JAKE I can’t get out of the door to school. I accompanied him into school and guided him to his first class. 8.30, the bell went and his first teacher appeared. She didn’t speak any English and my poor babe was left sobbing in a room full of aliens (well, may as well have been!)

It must have felt like the longest 90 minutes of his life, that first lesson. His lunch break wasn’t til 1.30 so I was sat on the balcony, listening to every class bell go, wondering how he was doing.

Eliot’s lunch was at midday and we have to collect him and take him back to school at 1.30. Well, that was a totally different story! He realised, during that first morning, that he’d been placed in an alien environment and did NOT want to go back. His lessons, plus extra curricular lessons which we’d signed him up to, lasted til 5.30pm. It took us until Wednesday to decide that was too long and we cut his day back to the compulsory 3.30 finish (although it did mean ditching English, which is optional but not scheduled until 4.45pm)

After we cut his day down, it’s been easier to get him back after lunch because he only has “one lesson”. This one lesson is actually a 2 hour session but, compared to the 4 he was doing, it feels comparatively short, I think. He’s still reluctant to go in the mornings but I expect that to last many weeks yet.

Jake, however, has been FANTASTIC!

Apparently, during break after his first lesson (they have 10-15 mins break after each 90 minute double lesson) one of the boys came to talk to him. This boy speaks pretty much fluent English and has, apparently, an English mother. He and Jake have been pretty inseparable since. Jake’s also made a number of other friends in his class and they all get by using pidgin English, for the most part, with the occasional help of Jake’s Portuguese/English dictionary!

This is great because Jake now looks forwards to going to school. Sure, the work itself he has NO clue about but it’ll come. As long as he’s going with a smile on his face, he can fall behind, learn and catch up again. I’m not so worried about him now 🙂

Eliot knows none of the children speak English at his school and this has made friends-making hard for him. However he IS playing with them and he does say he is enjoying school (sometimes) so I think he will pick up the language without realising he even is. In fact, I am also fairly certain that, by Christmas, he’ll be speaking a good bit more Portuguese than Jake will.

Jake’s Portuguese lessons (as a second language) start this Wednesday. He has a double (90 minute) lesson before lunch. After lunch, he also has a single (45 minute) lesson of Apoio Portugues, which is basically Portuguese Support for any students who require it. Not just foreign students but it’s all helpful for Jake.

There goes one of his free afternoons though. Shame 😉

Mind you, he’s had an impromptu afternoon off today. School was closed and all pupils sent home at 10am after an announcement that all the support staff were on strike and there wasn’t enough staff and teachers to keep the school open. When I returned back to school with Jake to confirm this was an ‘all day thing’ (Jake just knew they’d been sent home but not why or for how long!) I met his Portuguese (as in native Portuguese or ‘literacy’ to English primary schools) teacher. She was lovely and spoke perfect (if a little Americanised) English. It’s nice to know that she is the person supporting him in what will undoubtedly be his most difficult subject.

So, all in all, it’s good and it’s so-so.

Jake has stunned me with how quickly he has settled into school. It’ll get more difficult as his classes become more structured and he’s expected to produce work he has no idea how to produce but he’ll fail, then he’ll learn. Long-term, he’ll be fine.

Eliot has been very grown up about it all, even though he is finding it difficult. He has had a couple of long conversations with me about why we are here and what school is like. How he tries to be brave but can’t help being sad when he gets to school. He’s anxious about being seen crying and he must feel like his world is abandoning him each morning when I leave him.

It’s heartbreaking but I know he’s doing ok when I’m gone. He’ll make friends and absorb language without trying or even noticing and I’m sure, soon enough, he will forget they’re not speaking the same language as him.

Soon enough just can’t quite come soon enough though.

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