Severe Consequences For Incomplete Homework

My mom shared this account from when she was explaining the consequences of not doing homework to Spanish-speaking ESL students:

"As I was scolding students in my combined 4-5-6 grade ESL class in Sunnydale Elementary for not turning in their homework assignments, I tried to strike fear in their hearts by saying they could flunk. Unfortunately for me, the word I chose was fallacer. I had read it somewhere and seen it translated as 'to fail'. I found out a couple of days later from one of my little girl students that I had pronounced a death sentence on them all, because fallacer means to fail in health [to the point of death]. I asked the girl how many of them had gone home and told their parents what I said, and she smiled and said she knew of a few. The word I should have used was either fracasar or to tell them they would have to 'repetir un grado'. Live and learn. I use that story now to encourage my students to use as much Spanish as they can, knowing that we all make mistakes, even the teacher."