To think an English teacher should know the correct pronunciation of Glamis?

[susannahmoodie]

As in Thane of......?

Or is it now ok to say "glam-mis"??

2ndSopranos I grew up near to Belvoir Catsle and lots of places around Leicestershire are named Belvoir; everyone in Leicestershire when I was growing up would pronounce it "Beaver" but MIL came to Belvoir Castle with the DCs not long ago and pronounced it "Bel-vwah".

I still have no idea which is the 'correct' pronunciation.

I only know about Glamis because I have friends in Forfar I try and stay with once a year.

*Castle, even

But surely when you do an English degree, you must have an interest in the subject? How anyone who had enough interest in English Literature to choose to do a degree in the subject and could have never read or seen Macbeth is beyond me.

Are the people with English degrees on this thread whi have never read Macbeth getting them from the ex-polys?

You are not being unreasonable, Macbeth is a very well known play.

How anyone who had enough interest in English Literature to choose to do a degree in the subject and could have never read or seen Macbeth is beyond me.

You obviously don't know much about the number of books that have been written.

One is reminded of this:

I didn't do English but it is easy at Oxbridge colleges to spend most of the time reading and writing essays on your own rather than being in lectures. You may have one tutorial over the course of the degree where a word is mentioned. I can see how you could be very knowledgeable and still get pronunciation wrong.

Are the people with English degrees on this thread whi have never read Macbeth getting them from the ex-polys?

Are all the people who think this is a mistake worth worrying about graduates of the University of Life?

I saw that they have a Christmas market and am excited too . A lot of s Irish words are pronounced incorrectly. Milngavie being a particularly commone one it should be pronounced - mil-guy. Strathaven - stray-ven. But I can see why the wrong pronunciation is made so don't let it bother me.

Actually, my English degree is from Edinburgh University, so I am well aware how many books there are in the world. But we are not talking about all the books in the world. We are talking about a degree in English Literature and Shakespeare.

I do not see how you can graduate from an academically credible University with a degree in English Literature and not have at least a basic grasp of one of the major works of Western literature.

YABU - how many Shakespeare plays are there?! I taught English and know lots of Shakespeare but have never read, seen or taught Macbeth. Teachers are people, they don't get the information by some kind of telepathy.

I say 'glarms' although don't know anything about Macbeth.

However you should say it, the QM wasn't born there

Are the people with English degrees on this thread whi have never read Macbeth getting them from the ex-polys?

Rather sneery remark.

Is the teacher very young? Perhaps suggest a DVD. I think teaching a play you have never seen is unprofessional. It would make me question the teachers competence.

The suggestion that Glamis is an obscure name in English literature is bizarre. Macbeth is one of Shakespeare's most important plays and Glamis is one of the name character's titles - the fact that he is Thane of Glamis, becomes Thane of Cawdor and it is predicted that he will become King is its central theme. If you are interested enough in English to do an English degree and become an English teacher where your job is to teach and inspire young people, including in relation to our greatest playwright, it would be extraordinary not to study the play - even if it wasn't on your syllabus. Certainly if you're teaching the play you would need to do so, and it would be fairly extraordinary to teach it without making some effort to see a production of it - it is regularly staged and some excellent DVD productions are freely available. Also, if you have learnt anything about Shakespeare you should be aware of metre and that "Glammis" simply can't work.

And if I know that despite not having an English degree or having studied Macbeth at school, someone who is paid to teach it to secondary students really should also.

A teacher teaching Macbeth should know how to pronounce Glamis, and should have studied it as part of his/her education, but having seen some of the strange texts included in the English syllabus at school and University in an attempt to broaden the canon of English literature, it is not surprising that the classics are being systematically neglected.
Be thankful that your child is studying Shakespeare.

And if I know that despite not having an English degree or having studied Macbeth at school, someone who is paid to teach it to secondary students really should also.

The problem here is that you think you know something important, when what you actually have is one pronunciation and lots of ignorant opinions that clearly mark you out as somebody who is opinionated, but very far from knowledgable, about English literature.

Haha. The snobbery here is hilarious!

ex-polys

How can you take yourself seriously with attitudes like this? It's astonishing.

Also, those of you with such searing criticism of a few pieces of missing information in the body of knowledge of a few people, seem to know absolutely nothing about English degrees or English teaching.

Red brick university first class graduate, in English literature here. Also well aware of size of literary canon and the fact it's not based solely on dead white men. I love Shakespeare and have an in depth knowledge of many of his plays - I just happen, through the course of my studies and teaching, to have not spent as much time on it. Evidently this makes me a failure as a human being only in parallel universe of mumsnet.

letmehaveyoursoul - you say you taught English - do you have a degree in in English Literature? If so, I find it incredible that you have never read or seen Macbeth - shocking, actually.

Egosum - yes, a basic grasp would include the pronunciation of Glamis. As InimitableJeeves has explained (more eloquently than the 'English teachers' on this thread) it is part of a very well known line in the play where correct pronunciation is essential for the metre.

I really wouldn't be boasting about having an English degree from Edinburgh.

You can get much better degrees in English from ex-poly departments of English.

whattheseithakasmean - I too have a degree in English Literature and only know about Macbeth from O level....Just because you study Shakespeare doesnt mean you know everything about every play!
Mind you I do think if you were tasked to teach it, you might just bother finding out!
Glarmz ffs