Parent Phone Calls

[laepelba]

I need to make some parent phone calls about student absences. There is a good chance that several of the parents on my list do not speak English. I am wondering about some key vocabulary that I will need to inform the parents of their children's attendance and consequences.

Here are the words/phrases that I need to be able to say in Spanish:
- absence
- unexcused absence
- unexcused tardy (late for class without a note/pass)
- three unexcused tardies equal one unexcused absence
- three unexcused absences equal an automatic failing grade for this class

Thank you so much!

[literacola]

Originally Posted by laepelba

I need to make some parent phone calls about student absences. There is a good chance that several of the parents on my list do not speak English. I am wondering about some key vocabulary that I will need to inform the parents of their children's attendance and consequences.

Here are the words/phrases that I need to be able to say in Spanish:
- absence -
- unexcused absence
- unexcused tardy (late for class without a note/pass)
- three unexcused tardies equal one unexcused absence
- three unexcused absences equal an automatic failing grade for this class

Thank you so much!

- absence - ausencia (noun), ausente (adj), or falta (noun)

Ella ha estado ausente toda la semana.
Ella tiene demasiadas ausencias.
Ella tiene demasiadas faltas.


- unexcused - ausencia no autorizda

- unexcused tardy - I would use llegar

Ella ha llegado tarde a la clase demasiadas veces sin autorizda.

- three unexcused tardies equal one unexcused absence

En esta clase, tres llegadas tardes no autorizdas son lo mismo que un ausencia no autorizda.

- three unexcused absences equal an automatic failing grade for this class

Además, si la estudiante tiene tres llegadas tardes no autorizdas, la estudiante no va a aprobar la clase.

These are just my suggestions. I am only a second year Spanish student so you may want to wait until someone with more knowledge puts in their 2 cents

[CrOtALiTo]

Originally Posted by laepelba

I need to make some parent phone calls about student absences. There is a good chance that several of the parents on my list do not speak English. I am wondering about some key vocabulary that I will need to inform the parents of their children's attendance and consequences.

Here are the words/phrases that I need to be able to say in Spanish:
- absence
- unexcused absence
- unexcused tardy (late for class without a note/pass)
- three unexcused tardies equal one unexcused absence
- three unexcused absences equal an automatic failing grade for this class

Thank you so much!

I will give you my suggestions.

Absence - Ausencia.

Unexcused absence- No hay escusa para la asencias.

Unexcused tardy (Late for class without a note/pass)- No hay escusa tardia ( Llegar tarde a clases sin una nota o justificante)

three unexcused tardies equal one unexcused absence- Tres escusas tardias equivalen a una excusa o falta injustificada.

three unexcused absences equal an automatic failing grade for this class
Tres faltas equivalen a una automatica baja de grupo para esta clase.


I hope my translation be of great useful for you.

[Rusty]

Here are a couple of suggestions:

absence
= ausencia, inasistencia

unexcused absence
= ausencia no autorizada
= inasistencia injustificada

unexcused tardiness (tardy isn't a noun)
= tardanza no autorizada/sin autorización
= llegada tarde injustificada

three unexcused tardy arrivals equal one unexcused absence
= tres tardanzas injustificadas cuentan igual que una ausencia
= tres llegadas tardías no autorizadas equivalen a una inasistencia

three unexcused absences equal an automatic failing grade for this class
= tres inasistencias sin justificación eqivalen a una calificación de no aprobado por la clase

[Tomisimo]

I'd be more comfortable explaining it in more common terms to make sure they understand.

Si su hijo falta tres veces sin una nota de explicación, reprueba automáticamente la materia.
If your child misses class three times without a note, they will automatically fail the class.

Si su hijo llega tarde a clase tres veces sin una nota de explicación, eso equivale una falta de asistencia.
If your child is late for class three times without a note, that's equal to one missed class.

[laepelba]

Thanks, all! Simple terms is best - I don't want to sound like I know more spanish than I do ... or I'll get myself in trouble! By the way, Rusty - I know that "tardy" isn't a noun ... especially helpful to keep in mind when translating. But the schools have sort of "nounified" the word, so they are officially called "tardies" and we definitely hear the word used officially as a noun.....

[Bolboreta]

Originally Posted by laepelba

Here are the words/phrases that I need to be able to say in Spanish:
- absence Literally ausencia, but in spanish, in teaching argot we say falta (de asistencia). Este trimestre tiene tres faltas.
- unexcused absence. Falta injustificada o falta sin justificar. Este trimestre su hijo tiene tres faltas sin justificar.
- unexcused tardy (late for class without a note/pass). Retraso injustificado o falta de puntualidad.
- three unexcused tardies equal one unexcused absence Tres retrasos injustificados equivalen a una falta injustificada.
- three unexcused absences equal an automatic failing grade for this class Tres faltas sin justificar equivalen a un suspenso automático en la asignatura or tres faltas sin justificar suponen suspender la asignatura automáticamente.

Thank you so much! De nada, para eso estamos aquí

These are the words we use in Spain, maybe in latin american spanish is quite different. Concretely the word falta is very used in education, you can see:

Falta de asistencia
Falta de puntualidad
Falta de disciplina
Falta de orden

But generally, when speaking you use only "falta" you mean falta de asistencia.

And I agree with Tomísimo, depending on the cultural level of the families maybe you should choose more simple words, for example:

-No ha venido a clase tres veces sin una explicación.
-Ha llegado tarde.
-Faltar a clase tres veces sin que los padres lo justifiquen significa que suspenderá la asignatura.

Offtopic: I suppose that you are a secondary teacher. Me too

[laepelba]

Yes - I am a high school Algebra teacher. What do you teach?

[Bolboreta]

I don't teach anything

I am what in Spain is called "orientadora educativa". I am a psycologist, but for doing this work you also can be a pedagogue. We are called "teachers", we study the same opossitions than maths, spanish or phisics teachers to work in public high schools. So the profesional qualification we get is "high school teachers", but in practice we don't teach. Our main work is advice (asesoramiento?). We help teachers whith teaching metodologies, psichological and pedagogical aspects of their work. We advice teenagers about the things they may choose (going to the university, what to study next year...). And we help families with any trouble they have that can be a problem to their sons' learning process.

Do you have any similar job in USA high schools? And how are they called?

Oh, I would love to learn teaching and education vocabulary. The most of the words I used in the paragraph above are from googletranslator. God knows what I said

[laepelba]

We have "guidance counselors" or just "counselors" in the US. Mostly they help students with their problems and with choosing classes and colleges and so on. They don't do much with helping the other teachers in their pedagogy. Your terms are understandable.

What kinds of education terms would you like to know in English? It would be fun to talk "education" in Spanish, too!