Children repeating bad grammar they hear at nursery

[caughtinthesnow]

My little one is 2 and a half and I've noticed she repeats some grammatical errors. She definitely hasn't heard them from us..

The main one I've noticed is ' was ' instead of ' were '.

I know it hasn't come from us, because that's how the nursery teachers speak and write too...

It's not ideal is it? Has anyone had this issue with nursery or school ? I would expect a school teacher not to make grammatical mistakes like confusing was with were, but I don't know. I wouldn't have expected nursery teachers to make that kind of mistake.

I disagree, that's not 'local dialect' it's just wrong 😳
If a child wrote in that way in a formal English exam they'd be marked down for it and rightly so. A local accent is one thing, the examples you have quoted are a different thing altogether and most people wouldn't be happy at all with the latter!

Yes I say “aitch” but my son has picked up “haitch” from school. My daughter went to the same primary but pronounces it the way I do.

I can’t be bothered to get upset about it, and I’ve read enough threads on here to know it’s a sensitive topic!

Children will hear bad grammar and even bad language at nursery. Good opportunity to teach them the correct way. Just repeat whatever they say modelling the correct grammar rather than making a big point of it.

My priority for nursery is that they are safe and happy. So if well supervised with warm and friendly staff i couldnt care less about any bad grammar, I can correct that. You can't prove it is nursery but even if it is coming from there the person now has a habit they are unlikely to be able to change so i wouldn't want to make them feel self conscious or pissed off about it.

Nursery isn’t education, it’s childcare and there likely won’t be any qualified teachers working there. I think you are expecting too much from the staff.

We live in the south and DD key worker was from Newcastle. She used to come home age 3 with a geordie accent!!!

I work in a secondary school and I am amazed/appalled at the constant misuse of grammar - including English teachers. Here are some examples;
"He was SAT next to Sally"
"Toby was STOOD by the window"
"Please send an email to Mr Edwards and MYSELF"
"Have you BOUGHT in your homework"

I have to bite my lip and not say anything as I am not an English teacher.

It may be normal in certain areas but it is still incorrect. People are actually able to learn new things.

My advice - get a grip. Grammar isn't the be all and end all.

Exactly. Keep modelling good grammar and I'm sure they won't talk like this forever - but even if they do continue is that so dreadful?

I find this thread quite difficult to read to be frank. Comes across as snobbish, like you're scared your DC will catch a bad case of working class. Hire a Norland Nanny if it bothers you so much.

The type of people who decide to work in a nursery in a key worker/ play assistant role are generally those more vocational girls who don't do well at GCSE, might have achieved a 2 or 3 the first time round, sat resits or functional English alongside their BTEC in Childcare. Their grammar skills are not going to be perfect. Hopefully they are kind, caring and playful with plenty of patience instead making them fantastic at their job. Fortunately your child has you at home and may other adults that will be in their lives who will talk in all sorts of ways. If you want someone looking after your child with better grammar skills than employ a Norwood Nanny who will have a degree in childcare and early years education and generally come from a well-to-do family.

I would explicitly correct every time. I picked up "zee" for "zed" from watching Sesame Street at that sort of age. I did outgrow it but my mother used to correct it VERY firmly which I suspect sped my "zed" along. I think she told me I wouldn't be allowed to say it at school, which seems to have been a helpful strategy!

My 2.5 year old says ‘me’ instead of ‘my’ no matter how many times I try to correct him. It’s just because he’s 2.5… He wasn’t in nursery when it started and nobody around him speaks like that, bit unfair to blame nursery staff.

My 12 year old sounds like a wannabe roadman when chatting with friends.

I think it is one of those things, kids will pick up language from other sources. If your child is well looked after and happy at nursery, I wouldn't make a fuss.

🤣 it’s the Scottish equivalent of ‘chav’ it stands for Non Educated Delinquent NED

It can be, at adult professional level.

I wouldn't worry too much at this age. I'd just be modelling the correct usage and gently correcting. But to say that grammar isn't important depends entirely on what the child grows up to want to do with their life.

Yup! Also south London! Have videos of DD talking with an adorable accent when she was in nursery. She's 12 now and definitely on the posh side of the spectrum 🤣

No, but education is pretty important.
Children will be marked down on grammatical errors at school.

I totally look down on people who talk like that. It’s common and just poor lazy grammar, not local dialect.
You wouldn’t write like that in an exam.
You wouldn’t speak like that in a professional work environment.

Ah - thank you! I too was rather puzzled at how a young man could be said to speak like a non executive director……🤣

Add to add, every single one of those young women who cared for her was so attentive, loving and kind, which was absolutely what was important for us at that stage. Don't sweat the accent.

Ultimately you get what you pay for. Sounds like a pre prep with a qualified teacher would be better for you. I don’t disagree, some of the examples here are appalling. Accent is one thing, incorrect grammar is another.

Your kid is 2. 2 year olds are still learning - they say 'swimmed' instead of 'swam' - they'll learn the proper grammar over the next year as long as you model it so I wouldn't worry about what they hear in nursery, they'll work it out.

This made me laugh out loud! Bless 😂😆

@Sherararara you are wrong though, people do write like that in exams (I've even seen txt speak being written in an exam paper) and do speak like that at work but generally don't work in professional places where it matters. You will find people who speak like that working at any Supermarket, builders yard or other minimum wage place of work and the do the job they are paid for perfectly well. Not everyone has the skills or knowledge to speak the way you think they should.

So much of English grammar is ‘irregular’, and at 2/3yo children are focused on learning the ‘regular’ rules, spotting the patterns - one cat, two cats… they learn I was/he was/she was first, but you ‘were’ is a deviation. When they say ‘you was’ they are following the pattern.

It can take until they are several years older to understand where and why those linguistic patterns break. It will likely have bugger all to do with how people around them are speaking, and everything to do with the normal cognitive processes of language acquisition.

There are plenty of guides for parents which explain this if you want to google it and actually understand why a normal toddler does this, even if those in the royal nursery.

Afraid ignorance is no excuse for snobbery.