To be shocked that not even one y4 child knew the meaning of the word velvet?

[Utterlybananas333]

My sister is a teacher in a South London primary school, she is a year four teacher of around 30 8 to 9-year-olds. She was recently describing her disbelief over the fact that not a single child knew what velvet meant? There were some crazy guesses, and lots of children who thought it was cake (probably relating to red velvet). Is it just the fact that children and adults don't talk anymore? That nobody reads anymore? Or even watches educational TV programs? Would your child know?

Its a type of fabric, cant get that shocked about it. Now if they didnt know gingham or brocade thats another thing 😆

Do schools still use Binca?

Exactly the same here.. I'm even a bit funny with pipe cleaners when we used them for arts & crafts with my classes over the years

Or you could go down the full MN route with Blue Waffle disease and Dragon Butter. Arf!

I do think it’s surprising. But I’m a secondary English teacher and I often am surprised at the gaps in children’s knowledge. Velvet as a word comes up in a lot of books and poetry as it’s a good descriptor for something soft and pleasant to touch, so I’d imagine most kids that read a fair bit would have come across it.

I get ads for Coutts. I earn minimum wage!

We say bannisters for the stair rails & the landing for upstairs, opposite of hall, as in "turn on the landing light"

Well yes because we call turnips ‘swede’ in England. Turnip is what the Scots call it.

Yr 4 to GCSE is quite a few years to come across more vocabulary via reading for pleasure and schooling. It’s not really relevant to a yr 4 child not knowing what velvet is. Further schooling will also set them up to be able to have an educated guess as to what unfamiliar words might be by reading in context.

🤣 I guess your Instagram algorithm is too rich for both you and I!

So do I, but an increasingly number don't.
I talk about films, not movies - but lots of younger people don't. I also talk about going to the pictures; my kids think I'm an antique.

Surely it's because not many people wear velvet fabric clothes anymore? When was the last time you used the word velvet in conversation? If it doesn't come up in conversation it's not going to be a word they're exposed to.

My Granny always cooked "carrot and turnip" despite coming from Liverpool.

And no book you've ever read your child has it mentioned, never has it come up. Ok but a whole class not knowing?

Ditto. My GCSE students do not know the words swede, nettles, brambles or any type of wild birds or flowers.

It’s still common in women’s occasionwear at Christmas.

Oh no all the comments about no one wearing velvet any more when my entire December wardrobe is velvet. The velvet trousers I added to my collection this year kick some tacky sequin butt thank you very much

Does your kid know what a shark is ? Presumably you haven't got one of them either

Likely because Liverpool is hugely Irish influenced. The Irish also call them turnips.

I'd imagine most children have at some point had a toy shark. It's hardly a reasonable comparison. Although you do seem incredibly frustrated that some of us may not have exposed our children to the word velvet...

I just asked my yr3 twins what velvet was. One said fabric, the other said ‘the dough that churros are made from’ 😂

I have two boys. Rightly or wrongly, they are much more interested in dangerous marine animals than material for curtains/dresses.

My year 9 knew what it was, the younger one was going down the colour route and they are older than Year 4.

Just asked my 8 year old daughter...her reply was "is it a cake and also sewing stuff"

I'm not frustrated , but I do know vocab is important and there's a massive gap