How should you respond to this?

theresak

Our older son has been teaching for 17 years, over half of them as a Head of Department, ( MFL ) in a comprehensive school. It's not a bad school - in fact it's a fairly good one, though has a fairly mixed catchment area. Last Thursday was Open Night, for prospective New pupils & their parents.


Now, said son is not easily 'fazed' and normally unflappable, used to dealing with all sorts of kids & parents, but one parent clearly came out with - in son's experience - a real conversation stopper. In his words :

" This little barrel of a lady bowled in & said the only bit of French she knew was 'Voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir?'"

His reply - " Good to know romance is still alive & kicking!"

Don't you worry just a little bit about the kids?


For anyone who doesn't speak French, the translation is " Would you like to sleep with me tonight?"

I hope mods are not offended by the post - I'm simply telling what happened.

What are things coming to?

dreamdaisy

I think your son got it spot on. She may or may not have known what it meant, was possibly showing off, she might have been nervous (heaven knows we all do silly things when nervous) so well done to him in dealing with it as he did.

My favourite comment came from the headmistress of a private school where I taught when she tactfully told a very pushy couple that it wasn't the school's fault that their daughter wasn't very bright - it ran along the lines of 'We can't put in what isn't there because there's nothing there to receive it.' DD

mig

Oh I like that DD. Mig

Slosh

I was at secondary school when the song from which this came was released and we all very quickly learnt the phrase and it's meaning and it remains one of the few bits of French I know, but I must add I have never used it.

I would assume she said it as a joke, I would be more worried if a pupil said it to your son.

barbara12

Very tricky situation... think she was showing off..and came unstuck

theresak

Ah, I hadn't realised it was from a song - I must have led a sheltered life!!

DD's post reminds of when I first started teaching. A number of our kids came from a notorious estate, and chief among them was a family whose matriarch we shall call Winnie N.She had 11 children, to various feckless fathers, and whose talents were largely in the field of petty crime & poaching.When it was time for the eleventh child to begin secondary education, she marched him in, waylaid the Deputy Head, and said triumphantly "This'n ''ll be clever Mr. P - his father was a student."

stickywicket

I didn't know it was in a song either but I think it is the French phrase that many people who don't speak French know and trot out. Its Spanish counterpart is “Dos cervezas, por favor.” (Two beers, please.) (Oh the number of times I've heard that when I say I taught Spanish!) I think it was just a clumsy, inept attempt at making conversation. Dealt with brilliantly by your son. Let's hope she's not been coaching her offspring.

LignumVitae

A boy once said that to me. I was 17, he was 21. He was trying to impress me. I was climbing a fence on a rural lane in deepest darkest Wales. I slipped when he said it. My leg went through two slats in the fence and my knee dislocated. I responded with 'I've just dislocated my knee, I think I need an ambulance'. He started to get all huffy at a perceived overly inventive brush off. He then looked at my jeans and the shape of the leg and ran miles to get help (it was in the days before mobiles and reception). I bet he was far too tired afterwards to repeat his offer and anyway, I offered to marry the paramedic who extracated me from the fence, gave me entonox and relocated the knee...I think given that, your son had a much better response.