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AIBU?

To be so angry about this stupid English teacher!

188 replies

ILikeTrains · 20/10/2013 21:18

My daughter's just told me how her English teacher has corrected her on her spelling of apostrophe. Not a huge thing to get angry about except that my daughter's spelling it correctly and the teacher keeps telling her to spell it apostrophie! This is her English teacher, how on Earth is she supposed to respect and be inspired by this teacher.

I know it's quite a small this to get annoyed about but it's just really wound me up.

OP posts:

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pointyfangs · 21/10/2013 09:08

When I was in secondary in Holland, I had an English teacher who pronounced the word 'laughter' to rhyme with 'daughter'.

Even back then I was fully bilingual and we had an adversarial relationship so I said nothing, but my face must have spoken volumes.

friday16 · 21/10/2013 09:12

Local super-selective's sixth form prospectus, big headlines as page headings:

"The school has very high aspirations for it’s students who exceed these expectations. HMI, 2012"

"...supporting it’s students to develop the skills and confidence to take their place as adults in the 21st century.’ Ofsted, 2008

If you trace back to the original Ofsted reports, they're correctly spelt. It's the school that has "corrected" them.

CeliaFate · 21/10/2013 09:14

Mistakes are human, it's how we deal with them that it's important. If I was that teacher, I'd check in the dictionary if someone questioned my spelling.
When I was a student, my tutor corrected "sensitive" to "sensative". I got a dictionary and pointed it out to him that he was wrong. Not the most diplomatic response I was a smart-arse but he accepted he was wrong.
I'd let the teacher know her mistake, but not rub her face in it. She's got a long relationship with your dd, best not to spoil it. Handle it carefully.

RandomCitizen · 21/10/2013 09:22

I was just reading the postcards given out by the super selective school, last night - you know, addressed to future students/parents from a selected demographic sample within the school.

The one from the head girl contained the most ungrammatical, nonsensical load of words that I have ever seen cobbled together! It was terrible.

I am wondering whether to point out that someone should have edited it.

GhostsInSnow · 21/10/2013 09:29

Not spellings but I had a long 'discussion' with a Primary teacher about Ligers and Tigons. He informed me I was being 'Utterly ridiculous' and that such creatures didn't exist. My Uncle bless him would buy me natural history type books as a kid which I just devoured and the Ligers and Tigons were in one of them.
To his credit the teacher did apologise the following day when I plonked the book on his desk. He gave me a house point for teaching him something

Boaty · 21/10/2013 11:26

My friends' then 8 yr old son in a new prep school on a scholarship corrected the teachers use of apostrophe on the board, it was not received well, he was told to be quiet, he then told the teacher she was an incompetent fool...his mother was called in and he was made to apologise..he was very indignant because he felt he was right and she should apologise to him!!
His mother still cringes..

CeliaFate · 21/10/2013 11:28

God ^^ he sounds delightful, Boaty

MerryMarigold · 21/10/2013 11:32

We had a homework set where someone 'wondered' through the park (kids had to finish of story). One of my pet hates. Was v tempted to point it out, but since ds is 7 and Y3, and could hardly read it anway, I refrained oooh, self control.

MerryMarigold · 21/10/2013 11:33

that would be finish off story. Clearly not bothered about missing consonants, just incorrect vowels!

snakeweave · 21/10/2013 11:37

i think it's perfectly acceptable for a pupil to question a teacher if he/she seems to have made a mistake. i'm a teacher and i would always encourage my kids to point out any errors they think i've made so long as they do it in a respectful way. calling a teacher (or anyone) an idiot or an incompetent fool is obviously not nice. teachers who are not prepared to be questioned have failings as teachers imo.

DuckToWater · 21/10/2013 11:37

I wrote about the Ermine Stoat when I was about 6. I got a "See Me". The teacher wasn't cross or anything but thought it was nice that I had made up the idea of a stoat turning white in the snow.

The next day I took my Readers Digest wildlife book in to show her this:

She was stoatally amazed

digerd · 21/10/2013 11:49

I am a little senile now, but my use of the ' includes the possessive case. Daughter's spelling for example. If daughters are plural, then the ' goes after the s at the end. Is my memory letting me down?

AnaisHellWitch · 21/10/2013 11:50

MerryMarigold I had never come across that one before last week. According to my mother's hospital report she was "wondering" on the ward.

I might have let it go but given that she has advanced dementia and a mental capacity score of 0/10 it paints a rather inaccurate picture of her condition.

TheEponymousGrub · 21/10/2013 11:53

My sister and I had had the same English teacher who did (with her class) the Ballad of Reading Gaol. How did he pronounce it?
"Reeding goal."

I could never understand that, because what did he think the poem was about??????
I so wanted him to try that with my class, but he never did

TheEponymousGrub · 21/10/2013 12:02

Digerd, a nice trick is to imagine a circle drawn around the noun, be it singular or plural, and place the apostrophe after that. So:
belonging to my DD: (daughter)'s
belonging to both my DDs: (daughters)'
or: (children)'s

I have been waiting ages to get telling that to someone.

bruffin · 21/10/2013 12:08

My DD had to explain to her teacher that he had got the meaning of wherefore art thou wrong in Romeo and Juliet.
Give him his due he did start to teach it correctly after that.

digerd · 21/10/2013 12:13

Thank you. My memory did not let me down < as it does with nouns and names of people, vocabulary, films etc and some spellings>.
I did GCE O levels in 1960 including English, when grammar was a very important part of the subject syllabus. My memory now is a bit suspect

MerryMarigold · 21/10/2013 12:57

digerd, oh no, that's a bad spelling mistake! I think "wondering" is quite common, but hopefully not with teachers!

HouseAtreides · 21/10/2013 12:57

DD1's y4 teacher was shockingly bad. Among other gems she taught the class that a camel's hump is full of water.

MerryMarigold · 21/10/2013 13:00

What is a camel's hump full of?

CeliaFate · 21/10/2013 13:01

Ds's friend was taught to put in an apostrophe when pluralising nouns!!
Had the sheet in his homework book - one cat, two cat's.
One very red faced teacher the following week!

CeliaFate · 21/10/2013 13:02

Merry Camels' humps are full of fat.

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AnaisHellWitch · 21/10/2013 13:02

Given that it is a medical assessment it is quite bad to ascribe abilities to a patient that they don't actually have but you must be right about it being a common mistake. I have just been trying to explain it to my Dad and he can't see the problem

SoniaGluck · 21/10/2013 13:10

My DD had to explain to her teacher that he had got the meaning of wherefore art thou wrong in Romeo and Juliet.

Most of the rest of the world get it wrong but you'd think someone teaching the play would know

PervCat · 21/10/2013 13:11

OP is the tutor meeting tomorrow?

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