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?

Also, kids will need to know a lot of ‘outdated’ references as long as the English Language GCSE asks them to analyse a page of 19th Century fiction they’ve never seen before. If they can’t understand the words, they’re kind of screwed on that paper.

Why is that shocking? It’s not a common word. I have a velvet sofa and some velvet dresses, but I don’t think my two 8yr olds know what it is.

Some words just aren't used as much as they were. Velvet seems to be coming back in again - lots of velvet tops/trousers in the shops this Christmas, but unless you specifically tell your children what it's made of, then they wouldn't know.

Words become old fashioned. I cringe now when I remember that my son, in year 7 of a super selective grammar school (so quite bright) was given a list of words to write a definition for. He guessed that 'grocer' was defined as 'more gross'.

They can learn it as they encounter it though. What’s the issue?

My toddler was adamant that a pinecone was a hedgehog yesterday 😂

I was reading to a Year 3 class a few years ago, and one of the children asked what a hedge was. I asked the class who could explain, and none of them knew what it was.

I read The Lion, the Witch and the Wadrobe to the same class and I was explaining to them that the book was written in 1950 but set during the second world war. They asked if they had phones then, and I said that some houses would have them, but not all. After further conversation, it transpired that they were all picturing mobile phones and had very little concept of a landline, much less a rotary phone (which I found them pictures of).

There was mayhem in the playground not that long ago when the children came running to tell me there were loads of penguins on the field. They were magpies 😆

Goodness I haven't seen anyone wearing velvet since the 1990s. R.I.P. my lovely crushed velvet jewel tone hair scrunchie 💀

Kids don't need to know what velvet is

Velvet isn’t just a noun though. So, yes, they do. As a PP said it may not affect their reading age but not having knowledge of words affects their comprehension of texts.

Apart from that, got to love the batshittery of MN sometimes - the suggestion that velvet is some sort of historical fabric is hilarious. Just did a search on Zara for velvet - hundreds of items come up. So tried Next - 10,701 items, hardly obsolete. 😂

@Didimum it’s an unseen paper. They’ll be in the exam with no one to explain it to them. Some exam boards have unseen 19th century fiction, some have unseen 19th century non fiction but they all have that element. Teachers have no way of knowing what the text will be, not for English Language, and we can’t teach them every obscure word just in case. So yeah, what they have learned and discussed as children is important.

Do a lot of them live in flats? We do, and when we were staying with friends and I told DS (probably aged 10 then) that something was ‘on the landing’ he had no idea what I meant.

My 8 year old knew what it is. My 5 year old thought it was part of her body, possibly in the tummy area but she wasn't sure 😂

Loads of people?! I see velvet regularly. Particularly velvet jumpsuits.

That’s so cute 🥰

This is reminding me of the time we sat down to watch the film Pride with our then 9-10 year old niece. Before it started we explained there might be some things she didn't understand and just to ask. She was absolutely fine with Aids, gay culture etc but completely bemused by coal and coal miners.

My children wouldn't know what a DFS advert is never mind be able to identify the fabric of a sofa from an image in one😂

The consume via YouTube, Instagram, netlix etc none of which are showing those kind of adverts.

I'm pretty well read but I've only heard of the Velvetine Rabbit because of the Friends episode, I assumed it was an American book, is it popular here? You see, we all have things we haven't heard of

And very much came back in a few years ago and remains so.

Velvet isn't widely worn these days and most kids don't ask what their clothes are made of. Many modern adults wouldn't know what a crinoline was either, as it's not used anymore so slips from the vernacular.

Just asked my Y2 7yo out of interest: ‘Isn’t it a sort of fabric?’
We’re doing SOMETHING right 🤣 - to be fair he’s currently obsessed will Tolkien. It sounds like something a hobbit might wear.

But they're digitally literate 😉
Nobody was a few generations ago

I thought kids might know velvety or silky as adjectives.

I very much doubt they'd be able to name more "modern" fabrics as a PP suggested. I think this is due to the fact that children aren't used to considering the composite parts of everyday things because stuff just appears now via Amazon or wherever. I don't even know if this is bad, it's just the way it is, isn't it?

This 100%

Umm no, none of that in my house

Or in a similar vein, crimpoline 😂in fact my spell check doesn't even want to let me type it. I bet there are posters on this thread who dont know what it is

Well yes I think it's sad..But for me it's sad because I would have known it from wearing velvet ribbons in my hair ( I'm ancient) and I'm pretty darn sure the clothes me and my friends had for dressing up would have included velvet on the dress. It's such a sumptuous material you can't ignore it..