/01
“You nod, and work out at home what it meant.”
The recommendation
A move to a different group, extra support, a referral. It arrives as a statement rather than a question, and the ten seconds after it are the whole meeting.
Your child's school, rehearsed out loud
2
people run this conversation
8 min
The shortest conversation
Ten minutes with a teacher, and everything you do not ask in them is a year of your child's schooling.
B2 · confidentC1 · advanced
What actually happens
Five things people say before they start.
One of them is usually the real reason. What sits underneath it is what actually gets scored.
/02
“You leave knowing the decision and not the consequence.”
Asking what it means
What changes, who decides, and can it be reversed. Three questions, and almost nobody asks the third.
/03
“One word goes past and takes the rest of the sentence with it.”
School vocabulary
The words are specific and nobody defines them for a parent, reading group, support plan, assessment, tutoría. Not knowing one is not a language problem, but it feels like one in the room.
/04
“You agree in the room and disagree in the car.”
Disagreeing politely
You are allowed to. Saying so in a second language, to somebody with institutional authority, is the hard part and it is what the rehearsal is for.
Not the situation you need?
Bring the real thing: the job description, the date on the letter, the words the school used. Everyone who runs your child's school will work from what you actually walked in with.
How a first conversation worksWho you will be talking to
Your child's school, with 2 of these 2.
In whichever order helps. The first 5 minutes with a free partner cost nothing, so you can talk to two of them before you choose.
5 min freeYour child's school
5 min freeYour child's schoolWhat it costs
One price a minute, whoever you talk to.
A harder conversation simply runs longer. The shortest way to rehearse your child's school is 8 min.
You pay for the seconds you talk, and the minutes come off a balance you already hold. Nothing renews, and you are never sent a bill. Plans and refunds.
B2 · confident
12 min
is how long a conversation at this difficulty runs
A warm teacher with ten minutes and a recommendation to deliver, in American English or Peninsular Spanish.
- Minutes of talking in total
- 72
- What that costs here
- $32
- The same minutes with a tutor
- $300
- You do not spend
- −$268
At $50 an hour, rounded up to the 60-minute booking nobody will sell you less than.
Your first 5 minutes
What 5 free minutes are for.
01
This is the parent's side
Deliberately. A child speaker would mean consent machinery this product does not have, and the parent's half is arguably the higher-stakes one.
The terms, in full
- Free
- 5 minutes
- No card asked for
02
Ask the third question
Can it be reversed, and when would we look again. Almost nobody does, and it changes the meeting.
Paid for out of your free minutes
- The recommendation
- Asking what it means
- School vocabulary
- Disagreeing politely
Questions
What people ask before they start.
Nearby
What people open next.
The rest of Everyday life first, then everything else at the same difficulty.
All the situationsAt the clinic
B2 · confidentC1 · advancedDescribing a symptom to somebody typing, who will ask you to repeat the date.1 personfrom 7 minBehind the counter
B1 · workingB2 · confidentAn order said once, at full speed, with two modifications and a queue.1 personfrom 5 minYour first shift
B1 · workingB2 · confidentA manager explaining a till, once, while three other things need him.1 personfrom 5 min
B2 · confidentC1 · advancedDescribing a symptom to somebody typing, who will ask you to repeat the date.1 personfrom 7 minBehind the counterB1 · workingB2 · confidentAn order said once, at full speed, with two modifications and a queue.1 personfrom 5 minYour first shiftB1 · workingB2 · confidentA manager explaining a till, once, while three other things need him.1 personfrom 5 min