Hey...Teacher...leave those projects at school!!!

[Praying Colonel]

Update: The sofa pillows were a huge hit. The others sadly not so much.

Is it wrong that my opinion on this changed due to the repeated use of "sofa pillows" instead of "sopapillas"?

 

[gwynne]

Reading through this, the OP hasn't acknowledged a single person's correction with regards to the sopapillas. So, my guess would be that "sofa pillow" is just a passive-aggressive kind of protest over being forced to make the darn things. Like when I'd sit down to do my French homework and deliberately mispronounce every word to myself. Childish, yes, but it always made me feel better when I was a child.

Agree.
I am really hoping that the deliberate mispronunciation isn't being repeated either to the student or within earshot.

 

[Magpie]

I don't eat sofa pillows either. No flavor and too much stuffing.

 

[Dentam]

Talk to the teacher about it or his/her bosses. I think this thread has run its course.

 

[TipsyTraveler]

Talk to the teacher about it or his/her bosses. I think this thread has run its course.

Not even close. We can hash this out over another twenty-two pages at least.

 

[CarolAnn856]

Agree.
I am really hoping that the deliberate mispronunciation isn't being repeated either to the student or within earshot.

Especially since it was the OP's daughter who chose to make the SOPAPILLAS.

 

[Dentam]

Not even close. We can hash this out over another twenty-two pages at least.

My mistake - carry on then!

 

[scoutie]

Project based learning is the new buzz word in education, and many teachers are being evaluated on implementing it in the classroom. When I give projects, the cost can be zero, but some students prefer to buy things. I would be upset if a parent was complaining about the project, and would hope that they would come to me with concerns. Many times, a student has selective hearing and tells their parent one thing, when the reality is quite different. I think it sounds like a fun project. When I took French, we had many "petite dejeuners", and were required to bring in items. That's about all I remember from French class.

 

[*3*Mouseketeers]

Tomato - Tomahto
Soapapillo - Sofa Pillow.

 

[NotUrsula]

For future reference on the Spanish class cooking assignment, I've got the easiest one in the world. All you need is a pack of uncured breakfast sausages and a cheap bottle of sherry. Cut the sausages in three pieces each, put them in a skillet and brown them, then add a cup of sherry and cook it down on low until the remains of the sherry forms a glaze on the meat. Put the pieces in a box and provide a box of toothpicks for spearing them. Easy. (Sausages cooked in sherry are a very popular lunch dish in Spain; in restaurants they serve it with lentils and a salad.) Most kids who are not vegetarians (or keeping Kosher, of course) will happily eat these; they are delicious.

 

[aprilgail]

Sorry, but the plates, napkins, cups, etc. shouldn't get extra credit. I know people who bring those to every event, because they're too lazy to bring anything else. I can't believe any teacher would give that equal credit to someone who actually worked for the grade.

My daughters teachers have always given out free homework passes or extra points on a test for any kid that would bring in a box of tissues- I said I would sent in a whole case for a weeks worth of homework passes but they were limited to 3!

So maybe this is why the teacher assigned this type of project- to teach them about proper Spanish foods. Yes, three courses was a bit much, but as others have said, she should have joined a group. Perhaps that can be a good lesson for her. School should always trump extracurricular activities.

Honestly, I loved projects when I was a kid. It meant I got to actually hang out with my mother who worked full time, and we both learned new things together. Maybe try to think of it as time spent with them rather than a stupid project a teacher assigned.

I HATED all those homework projects the teachers would send home- I REALLY hated when my daughter would say "the teacher said to work on this with a parent" and it was due the next day--- she gets home at 3:30 and at the time I was working 4-12 so there was no parent home to do it with her and grandma was not able to do most of it so it really was a hardship!! Those stupid dioramas that ended up costing 50.00 by the I finished buying supplies and finding a friend or family member that had a old shoebox laying around! The worst was the science fair- I was SO happy when they stopped doing that yearly nightmare! By the time we had done of them I just resorted to using my neighbors old science fair projects to save us the misery of it- I passed those down to my friends daughter that was in a different grade school too!
And there is no way a stupid cooking project would trump any extracurricular as far as I am concerned- it has nothing to do with speaking Spanish.

 

[gwynne]

For future reference on the Spanish class cooking assignment, I've got the easiest one in the world. All you need is a pack of uncured breakfast sausages and a cheap bottle of sherry. Cut the sausages in three pieces each, put them in a skillet and brown them, then add a cup of sherry and cook it down on low until the remains of the sherry forms a glaze on the meat. Put the pieces in a box and provide a box of toothpicks for spearing them. Easy. (Sausages cooked in sherry are a very popular lunch dish in Spain; in restaurants they serve it with lentils and a salad.) Most kids who are not vegetarians (or keeping Kosher, of course) will happily eat these; they are delicious.

I would guess that serving anything with alcohol (and yes, I know it cooks out) would not be happily received. American schools are like that.
On the other hand, I'll bet they are delicious for a appetizer at home.

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

I took 5 years of Spanish from 8th-12th grades and we often had what we called "cultural experiences" in class. They amounted to a couple of classmates bringing a 2-L bottle of Coke, another couple bringing some Doritos, at least one bag of Oreos (and you didn't want to be the guy that brought the generic Hydrox once!), and maybe some cheese dip. We did them at least once a month with the teacher's blessing. We would munch and listen while she taught.

We also made pinatas in Spanish 2 or 3. Took a couple of weeks to add layers to the balloons every class period. When they were done... we had a "cultural experience,"

 

[roseaster]

 

[bellebud]

The original point of this post is if you want to assign a project for class, do it durng school hours. Many original posters agrees with me.

I don't eat sofa pillows and the kid has only had them a couple of times at a restaurant. She chose the menu based on available choices from the teacher. This falls all on the teacher for this meaningless assignment!

I completely agree. Do these "fun projects" during school hours, or don't do them at all. My kids have gone to private school, public school and we've homeschooled, so I'm not against doing things with my kids, but I don't want the school to tell me what we have to do, and that we have to do it after their long day at school when they're worn out, or on our weekends. Keep it in school or don't assign it. Anything assigned at home becomes a "parents project" for at least 50% of the kids, and the teachers know this, they all admit they know it. So why the heck assign it in the first place??? It's beyond annoying!

 

[mom2rtk]

Not even close. We can hash this out over another twenty-two pages at least.

No joke. I mean, have you checked in on the engagement thread recently?

 

[Disney_traveler]

Anyone in this thread take Spanish and learn the countries and capitals of Central America with the "Mexico d.f. Mexico" record? Yes I said record! It was the early 2000s but my teacher was there since my dad was in high school.

I would bet that would cause a lot more confusion to those calling sopapillas "sofa pillows"!

 

[LilyWDW]

So all I see is that the student messed up and the parent wants to blame the teacher for it instead....

 

[Miskey]

I'm not sure what's bothering me more, the continued use of sofa pillows, or the correction to sopapillo.

I am sure that I really want some fresh sopapillas served with some honey

 

[Disney_traveler]

I'm not sure what's bothering me more, the continued use of sofa pillows, or the correction to sopapillo.

I am sure that I really want some fresh sopapillas served with some honey

That was autocorrect on my part. Then I was just too lazy to edit, and figured no one cared one way or the other.