AIBU to feedback to school about teachers use of glottal stops

As a Yorkshire woman who studied linguistics, you're really not being reasonable. But you're a proud prescriptivist which would explain having this attitude. Most people who study the English language and accents agree that prescriptivism went out with the Ark. You simply explain to your children that there are a wide range of accents in the UK, based on both region and class background, and emphasise that what is spoken and what is written can be quite different.

Go read Tony Harrison's Them and [uz]. Think about how much great literature and poetry we would lose if we limited our idea of what is correct and worthy to RP/Standard English! It would be a travesty imo

100%. I find it funny when people with RP type accents get outraged about people “not pronouncing” letters, when not pronouncing Rs is such an identifiable feature of their accent. And how are the poor children expected to learn to spell paw poor and pour if they are all pronounced the same?

imagine if my kids had a teacher with an English accent and I made a complaint that they werent pronouncing words properly 🤣🤣🤣

It should be about (the or a) teacher's use, with a possessive apostrophe. I am sure others have pointed this out to you, but I enjoyed doing so because I loathe bigots.

And of course it matters if you're claiming to be a teacher.

Glottal stops are normal in Northern Ireland. Every accent has its features. Most English people don't enunciate their Rs apart from those from around Bristol etc. But it would be ridiculous of me to complain about somebody from England saying "teachuh" instead of "teacher". Would you also complain about a teacher having a foreign accent?

There was a snobby poster here a couple of months back who absolutely had her arse handed to her for whining about regional accents. She was such an utter snob and had zero life experience beyond her own snobby little backwater and she was spittle lipped with rage when she was told to stop being a prissy little snot.

That wouldn't be the OP, of course, trying again.

I definitely think you should whine about this, they deserve to know what they're dealing with.

Can’t believe you claim to know “lots” about linguistics and then talk about “essential parts” of accents. That concept doesn’t exist.

a glottal stop is a feature of an accent. It is no more or less correct than any other feature. It is not a lack of enunciation which is a lack of clarity of sounds - it was obviously clear enough for you to identify!

Please do and tell us who it went 🤣🤣🤣

Instead of wasting your time complaining, just teach your child yourself if you are worried. You are a teacher after all and it is quite quick and easy to teach a child to read if they don’t have any learning difficulties.

When my daughter was in primary school i was sat in my car outside while a teacher was doing some planting with the children
The teacher said "today I'm going to learn you" and I completely forgot my window was down and I said "I think you'll find you're going to teach them not learn them"
She whipped her head round to me like I had just slapped her
I was so embarrassed that she heard me and she glared at me the rest of the time my daughter attended the school

I wouldn't make a comment if I we're you, just reinforce pronunciation at home

When my DD was in Y5 she used to get a typed sheet with a spelling list on it. Every week without fail at least one word would be spelled incorrectly
I felt I had to point it out as if the children didn't get a certain number of words right then missed break time that day and they were obviously teaching children the wrong spelling for lots of words. It was embarrassing though.
After a few weeks the spellings came home with the correct spelling.
I wouldn't complain about how someone speaks though. That's just being rude.

My children heard regional accents and glottal stops outside our home. I explained to them that accents vary, and it is part of the history of this island. Mr X might say wa’er, we say water. A learning opportunity for your children perhaps? Millions of children have coped hearing different accents during their education, the sky did not fall in.

DS is in an international school and is picking up loads of these American pronunciations. They fall heavy on my Yorkshire ear.

To me it will always be watter

More parents making nonsense problems to complain about. I feel sorry for the teacher.

You’ve not said what your remedy would be OP? What do you want to happen as a result of your intervention?

It really doesn't I hope. I'm guessing because I'm a professional woman with an accent.

Oh god "our" is one of mine ( I say "our" as "are" rather hour, which is closer I think). Another one is is bald and bold. But I do know how they should be spelt when written down and context.

And how does this set up kids for failure??

Lots of Scottish people pronounce letters properly, thanks all the same.

you're nuts FYI

I remember kids at my infant school writing "I were" instead of "I was" as that was Manchester/Lancashire dialect and "Are" instead of "Our" as it's pronounced the same in Manchester 🙂I knew the difference as I was an avid reader.

Just chalk it down to experience. DDs pronunciation varies between slightly more posh London/RP (DH and family), Mancunian (me) and slightly estuarine (local accents). Some other kids can throw an extra couple of languages into the mix, never mind accents and dialects.

Agree! That is why reading is so important as children learn the right words and replicate. It is not all about phonics but I do sometimes re-coil when my son writes something in 'my accent" (due to his phonics understanding). My accent is more cockney than where we live now. But he's a reader and will continue to naturally learn the spellings. He is at at secondary now and I was very pleased to see that the teachers are focused on his understanding of the subject rather than just his spellings.

What? Being dyslexic is not an insult! It was a genuine question. Difficulties with phonological discrimination is a feature of dyslexia.

I think it's only a cockney thing, or whatever cockney is now called

😁

It would v much bother me if my kids picked it up, but it's a perfectly valid way to speak, so if you don't like it, you will have to find a different school (possibly one that you pay for) or move regions