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.

Given the number of adults with a poor grasp of the English language, small children are going to struggle if they are the main carers for them on a day to day basis.

Even in the 70s, as a small child living with a grandmother from a small rural village, I had grammar, both written and verbal, drummed into me by example and actively taught. She valued education. She left school in 1928, aged 14 but could read and write beautifully and spoke very nicely for a girl brought up in a village in the southwest. ( ooarr, ooarr, worzel land!)

Hmmm I’ve a totally different perspective on this, but could be a regional thing (from the North of Ireland). How I speak and type on social media is totally different to how I would speak or write in a formal setting (as required).

For example, I always use “me and you”, instead of “you and I”. I know the correct grammar but it sounds odd and you would be ridiculed for using it correctly as being “posh” or having opinions of yourself 🤣🤣

Don’t worry, I didn’t think that at all.

The OP isn't in NI, she's in London but I guess you missed that too.

Aitch and haitch are both fine regardless of location.

Mine've come home saying "Ho'way Man" and I LOVE IT!

So your accent is fine but other people's aren't.

No, I hadn't missed that, I knew she was in England, but your comments towards me made me doubt myself over that. Hence why I then questioned it.

But the correct pronunciation of H in England is indeed aitch. And as I said in an earlier comment, other countries do pronounce it as haitch, and that is correct in those places, my example was that in Ireland, it's haitch. I hadn't used NI as an example, but of course, both aitch and haitch are used here. Please do not attempt to accuse me of anything untoward, I did not appreciate the sectarian reference. You couldn't be further off the mark there.

I doubt it matters in the long run. Little children are developing and growing at such a rate and have a huge range of influences, principally you or whoever is the prime carer. So it’s not going to be entrenched when they start formal learning.

But equally I don’t think it’s snobbery to use correct grammar around children or the gentle correction some are suggesting. It’s like when tiny children learn to speak and ask for a “nanana” when you hand it to them you would say “here is your banana.” It’s common for little children to conjugate verbs incorrectly. My toddler would say “who be in the bathroom?” “that was the goodest day ever!” although we aren’t a family of pirates and no one actually says those things.

I agree that the most important part of early education helping children to get ready for school e.g taking turns and socialising and you want kind empathetic people to do that so children feel secure and cared for.

All settings are required to follow EYFS which means they will have lots of free play/ play based learning until the end of reception.
However there is good research on the positive impact of someone with L7 qualifications who understands child development etc leading that play, understanding language rich environments (not so much about the right grammar but exposing children to new words and concepts), being able to spot early where children might need interventions and putting those in place. I’d pick a school nursery or community led provision, if I had a choice, recognising that it won’t always be possible because of logistics, wrap around and what your local options are.

I can not believe anyone imagines that the nursery workers are anything but minimum wage, usually working class, young adults. Maybe a handful of mothers returning to a part time job at best.

Your child will not receive RP training or anything like it. Their language skills will reflect the area they live in - and the colourful differences could be approached with kindness and possibly humour, but certainly not the horror some have expressed on here. Even pre preps have difficulty recruiting polished staff that are able to do almost anything else for a much higher salary!

I hate this too. It can happen at school too.

isnt language all about meaning?

After hearing from friends how their children picked up cuss words like "c*nt" etc from nursery.
Bad grammar wouldn't bother me (my grammar is bad enough haha)

I moved my first twice because the staff at 2 nurseries were completely incapable of speaking properly. I understand regional differences in dialect, English as a second language and obviously we all make mistakes occasionally but her reports were filled with "We was all in the garden", "I seen X play with a teddy" and most annoyingly, words like "aint", and "innit" being used.

Accent and poor use of the English language aren't the same. I have a strong local accent but have a very good grasp of the English language. Some snobbery about accents seeping through on this thread.

So now on the mumsnet list of ‘bad’ things- regional accents and the word toilet.

I must say I'm quite surprised by the amount of unchallenged snobbery on this thread. There was yet another thread on here recently about what makes somebody middle class, and several posters asserted that you couldn't be middle class if you had a regional accent. I think one poster even went as far as saying that people with regional accents who consider themselves middle class must have won the lottery or come into some other recent form of wealth

I find it such a shame how Southeast-centric this country is.

I grew up in the NE but moved to the SE in my late teens. I never had a particularly strong Northern accent and my words were enunciated, but people still took the piss. Most commonly it would be pretending not to understand me when I used words like path, bath, laugh etc and I would be asked to repeat myself, then I'd be laughed at and told to speak 'proper' English. All done in an affectionate deeply patronising manner. Ironically bath-broadening was only adopted by the upper classes in the mid-late 19th century and prior to that was generally looked down upon.

It was also very difficult to chat to someone new without being asked, 'What is your accent?' within the first minute of conversation. What does that even mean, 'what is your accent'? I was even asked this by my driving examiner on the day I took my test. It was literally the second thing he said to me. When I told him where I was from he laughed and said, 'Well, I suppose somebody has to be'. It made me feel so uncomfortable.

I was quite a shy person back then so in the end I gradually transitioned to SSBE in an attempt to blend in, although I never got the hang of bath-broadening. It makes me really sad now that I felt I had to do that. I'd love to be able to revert back to it but sadly I can't even remember how now.

Just don't worry about it - my son picked up some atrocious bits of accent and grammar at nursery, but they all wore off quickly when he left. I don't know why but he has never picked them up as much as school (and I'm sure there is plenty to pick up there).

I speak like that I think. I’m not even sure as I’m not conscious of it but have always lived in SE London and it’s a very normal thing. I’m definitely working class so I guess it’s a class thing. I don’t see how it’s lazy though, it’s just words, it’s not more effort to use one than another.

Yeah I read that thread too I also found it quite insulting how apparently getting your child to practise reading is a middle class pursuit and the working classes apparently don't bother to get their children to do their homework? ESPECIALLY if the children receive free school meals. Like excuse me? I've been through some hard times in the past and the kids had to receive fsm I still made them do their homework every night and practice reading.

Oh yeah and visiting museums apparently working class people don't do that either. Or cook homemade food.

You know when I first started using Mumsnet and saw people complaining about snobs I thought they were exaggerating and being sensitive but I 100% see it for myself now. There are a lot of snobs here. I mean in all fairness though I think a lot of them don't mean to be nasty.

Oh yeah and visiting museums apparently working class people don't do that either.

It's a wonder how they stay open. The ~3% of people who speak with an RP accent must be propping them all up.

My post was tongue in cheek, nothing to worry about.

I'm sorry to you read so much in what was intended as a tongue in cheek post.

It doesn't matter. You can repeat the phrase back to them 'reflectively' as part of the conversation, but with the correct grammar. Try not to make an issue of it, though. Teach them that people use English differently in different places/contexts if it comes up.

It isn’t about accent.

It’s possible to say help and elp with an RP accent, or broad Somerset, even American or French. Try it, see for yourself.

The same goes for they were in the park vs they was in the park. Try it in a Cockney, Geordie, Edinburgh or Cardiff accent.

Do you see now that this has nothing to do with accent?

Lazy speech is lazy speech whether spoken by a prince or a pauper.

Wrong.

My preschooler goes to preschool and is taught by a teacher with a degree! No fees paid ….funded hours!