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?

Agree.

This is the kind of word you find in a book. I remember looking up 'organza' when I was reading 'Ballet Shoes' in the 1970s, a decade when very few people wore anything made out of organza, and the word was not likely to come up in general conversation.

Agree, and I even saw velvet pumpkins earlier in the year.

Well not really. I can't remember the last time I or anyone in my family wore a velvet dress. Or any of the other things you've name checked here.

I am really surprised- I am sure the word velvet is in one of the RWI colour storybooks and so I am pretty sure most of my class would know. I will ask next week!

I have a chocolate velvet coat, promenade style, it's lovely. The modern designers seem to have forgotten bust and waist darts 😔

My two would have known but probably only because we were given some velvet curtains by my parents when we moved house.
Not sure they would have known otherwise.

When only 1 in 5 children read daily it's not surprising that children's vocabulary is so limited. Reading a wide variety of books, exposes you to so many more words than your ordinary daily conversations. For example, Peter Rabbit has the word soporific in it, even the Mr Men books have words like extraordinary. Fact books expose children to huge amounts of vocabulary. That's why reading is so important.

Just asked my 8 year old DD and she described it and then listed the several items in her wardrobe that are velvet - we are obviously very much out of fashion!

I find this shocking.

I haven’t seen anyone dressed in velvet dresses or any of the other things listed 🤷‍♀️

My nieces do as they like party dresses and my son because I do!!

In England, turnip and swede are different vegetables. So I (English) would have known turnip as a child and probably could have described it as "a bit like a swede". I'm not sure my DS could describe either.

My 5 year old twins know what velvet is. This isn’t a brag, it’s not much to brag about but we talk constantly about anything and everything, point everything out, explain and encourage questions. So their vocab and understanding of the world around them is good. I don’t think it’s that old fashioned a material and yes it is a bit odd that older children wouldn’t know what it is. In fact just talking about Christmas decorations this year meant velvet was brought up in conversation.

You find the fact two 8 year olds don't know what velvet is shocking? Really?

Yes! But I’m old too.

what about taffeta? My mother made me a lovely taffeta and velvet party dress when I was about 8 or 9

Does she work at a poor performing school? It can only be reflective of the parents? The children can’t be expected to know things if their parents and children don’t teach them…

I don't have any velvet Christmas decorations. Is this unusual?

I’m wearing velvet pyjamas!

Personally I know about taffeta from reading ballet shoes. It doesn't come up much in modern parlance.

Me either. I'm finding it fascinating that people are so shocked that some of us have no velvet items in our homes. I wouldn't have thought it that unusual.

This!

Velvet still exists. They had velvet jackets in Sainsbury's recently.

Year 4 is a bit young for David Lynch movies. "Bluer than velvet was the night"!

To all those saying “Well nobody wears velvet anymore so why would children know it?”, you must not live in an area where Juicy Couture tracksuits (other knock off brands are available) are still a thing 😃
I suppose officially they’re velour but we’ve always called it a ‘velvet trackie’. Not that I’ve ever worn one I hasten to add! As a size 18 they don’t quite have the same impact… 🤣🤣🤣

But why would a Y4 child know that? Or what it was made of? To be honest I'd be surprised if a Y4 kid knew many clothing materials e.g. what Linen is, Poly etc