to want my child's teacher to understand how apostrophes work!!!

[intothenever]

DD is writing things like 'She live's in a house' and has been taught that the plural of potato is potato's! I am getting really pissed off!

I wanted to complain to my child's teacher that her spelling was poor but was told that, as I was also a teacher, it would be seen as unprofessional conduct.

So I was just supposed to sit back while my child learned incorrect spelling and grammar, was I?

I did point it out to DD when I looked at her writing book but I am reluctant to approach the teacher. If more evidence pops up that sh is actually be taught wrong I will, though.

But I did put apostrophes????

Oh bother ...I see it. Really, I'm not usually bad like that. Yes I'm a TA, but I don't usually make those sort of mistakes!! Blame it on typing skills instead!

It was Word's fault. Must be. Colleagues of mine who write about DVD's always blame Word so it must be the case.

LaQueen has someone said that expecting teachers to be able to spell and punctuate is spiteful and elitist ?

I think, like you, most people have asked if you can be sure that the error has come from the teachers.

I am amused by the way that my phone auto corrected punctuation to rustle pubs.

Might your DD have been reading signs in the local greengrocer's on the way to and from school?

YANBU to expect any teacher to be able to spell and use grammar correctly. I think that people, including teachers can make mistakes but it is wrong if they are "correcting" work to be wrong.

There are a lot of recently qualified teachers who don't know how to spell, use correct grammar etc.

I thought there were literacy tests for teachers at the start of teacher training these days. Or have they been abolished?

Whenever I teach apostrophes, some children will always start inserting them before any "s". I have NOT taught this and I very much doubt your child's teacher has either.
If your child is just learning to write then this emergent writing will be encouraged as you just want kids to start putting things on paper at that age. You correct things later on. Children are learning. They don't do things correctly, first time, every time.
It makes me a little sad that you believe that the teacher will have taught this.

If it's any help, we recently had a very young supply teacher, who made a shocking amount of spelling mistakes in the time she was there. One that stands out was "draws" as in "chest of".

clarinet there may be tests for teacher trainees in England but I don't there's such a requirement in Scotland, where I am.

If there is, then they must be extremely easy to pass, judging by the standards I see on a daily basis!

drama I would not be making this assumption had she not specifically taught my child that the plural of potato is potato's!

Did you mean to end your thread title with '!!!', OP?

I don't think anyone has said that on this thread have they?

YANBU

Yes, Johnny, technically my thread title is a question.

If they have a Higher English or even Standard Grade then teachers should be more than able to place apostrophes correctly. Teacher trainees shouldn't need literacy tests if the curriculum robust enough. But that's another story...
If I find mistakes in homework instructions then I correct them (but not with red pen). The one that gets my back up is practice/practise. I corrected a poster at the secondary school last year, which had the wrong your/you're.

Personally I would have re-crossed out "potato's" (even writing that is making me twitch) and re-written it correctly in an even redder pen. I also would probably have glued in a photocopy showing correct use of apostrophes, and have greeted her with a slow, disappointed head-shake at every drop off.

YANBU! Wrong use of apostrophes make me and English is not even my mother tongue language !

The appropriate use of apostrophes was taught to us from in English grammar lessons year 3 or 4 if I remember correctly up until year 9 (from when you are 8 years old till 14ish) .

Teachers should be role models. If she/he doesn't know the basics of English grammar I personally can't trust her with the rest of what she teaches.

clarinet there are tests, DH is a secondary physics teacher and he had to take one (this was 4 years ago). I am literally aghast at teachers having this little grasp of grammar and spelling. potato's? I seen a dog?! What is next, "he could of done better?"

I have to say though, sometimes I snoop on my DH's work emails (because he always has them open on the computer) and the general quality of his colleagues' writing is exceptionally high. It is a very naice school though.

jam donut 'draws' is a surprisingly common error amongst the British, depending on accent. (I am Canadian and we do not have this problem as we pronounce our Rs very clearly.) I nearly broke up with DH when I realised early on in our relationship that he thought this was the correct spelling!!! Believe me, he will never live it down.

We have a fair amount of children from Eastern Europe at our school - mainly Latvian and Lithuanian - and their knowledge of English grammar is far superior to that of their native-speaking classmates.

Grammar and spelling are things you can learn, not things you're born with. So it's fine to expect that all teachers should have learned them to a high standard.

Agreed, snowed. I just find it frustrating that they do not spend an afternoon going over the rudiments of grammar!