Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think that "bhajiis" is not a terribly helpful spelling to give a 10 year old...

50 replies

MrsSchadenfreude · 22/09/2008 18:35

...especially as there doesn't seem to be a standard spelling of this word. DD spelled it with one "i" and was marked wrong.

OP posts:
Blandmum · 22/09/2008 18:40

Inclusion? Are there children in the class who's family originally came from the Indian Sub-continent?

is the school trying to include other cultural norms to be multi cultural?

skydancer1 · 22/09/2008 18:41

Oh I thought it was a naming thread and I was going to say sorry, no, I don't think Bhajiis is a good idea

grouchyoscar · 22/09/2008 18:43

YANBU

I grew up in Bradford (so have seen the word a lot) and have always spelt it with 1 i myself

WTF...are there not enough words in the English language that are hard enough to spell or something?

cornsilk · 22/09/2008 18:43

I think there's a unit of work in year 6 about vocabulary that we use that has originated from different cultures. Looking at where language comes from and then comparing spelling patterns is actually very useful.

Marina · 22/09/2008 18:44

I must admit I have only ever seen it with one i on the end

Marina · 22/09/2008 18:45

That sounds great as a project cornsilk but not if you are then going to be marked down for incorrect spelling as in rote learning of weekly lists...

Original poster
MrsSchadenfreude · 22/09/2008 18:45

It is an odd list of words...ending with vowels other than "e", so we have corgis, anacondas, armadillos, cellos, dingos, dahlias...

There are no children of Indian sub-continent origin in the class.

OP posts:
RupertTheBear · 22/09/2008 18:45

We gave bhaji as a spelling last week (Year five). The spelling objective for that week was words ending in i - you try coming up with three differentiated lists of ten words!

Mercy · 22/09/2008 18:46

Well, I assume they are given a list of spellings to learn and the whole point of the exercise is to make sure they can spell what's on the list? (whether there is a standardised spelling of the word or not)

Original poster
MrsSchadenfreude · 22/09/2008 18:47

No problem with looking at words that originate from other cultures (that must be most of the Emglish language!) but would it not be sensible to have words that are spelled only one way.

OP posts:
cornsilk · 22/09/2008 18:47

bhaji

/baaji/ (also bhajia) /baaj/

? noun (pl. bhajis, bhajia) (in Indian cooking) a small flat cake or ball of vegetables, fried in batter.

? ORIGIN Hindi, ?fried vegetables?.

from ask oxford website - maybe teacher is cod?

Original poster
MrsSchadenfreude · 22/09/2008 18:48

She had also never heard the word pronounced and thought it was pronounced bhaji-ees.

OP posts:
spicemonster · 22/09/2008 18:48

cornsilk -

You should photocopy the page from the OED and give it to the teacher MrsS

LittleBella · 22/09/2008 18:49

Why don't you challenge their spelling of the word?

I must admit, I can't see the point of forcing a child to rote learn a word that doesn't have a standardised spelling in English. As a cultural exercise on spelling systems, fine, as a rote-learned word, bollocks.

Original poster
MrsSchadenfreude · 22/09/2008 18:49

I may do that, Spicemonster. I am in a particularly grouchy mood this week.

OP posts:
TinkerBellesMum · 22/09/2008 18:50

I don't think inclusion comes into it, it's a foreign word so shouldn't be in an English spelling test. If they're going to start teaching Indian languages (some schools do) then it would be fair enough to include it in a spelling test.

I went to schools where I was the only white girl in the class and we weren't learning Indian spellings.

onager · 22/09/2008 18:52

I expect it's so it can go on the ofsted report as part of the multicultural requirements. It ticks a box.

Original poster
MrsSchadenfreude · 22/09/2008 18:53

Teacher too young to be Cod

OP posts:
Mercy · 22/09/2008 18:54

I didn't know there was only one way of spelling it, looks like I'm wrong then.

FAQ · 22/09/2008 18:55

"it's a foreign word so shouldn't be in an English spelling test"

errr that are LOTS of foreign words that are used in everyday English

geekgirl · 22/09/2008 18:56

it must be Indian week in the NC - dd1's (Y5) spellings today include 'chapati'

TinkerBellesMum · 22/09/2008 18:57

Just looked on my local's menu, they spell it Bhaji.

Maybe you should collect up some menus and show them

Of course there's not going to be one spelling, it's a word that hasn't come from the same type of alphabet as ours so it's how people think it should be spelt.

Beetroot · 22/09/2008 18:57

Indian words are often misspelt in the UK

I would talk to the teacher

TinkerBellesMum · 22/09/2008 18:58

That have been part of the English language for many years and are accepted as an English word. Apart from being a food can anyone say what it means, without looking it up? Can your children?

FAQ · 22/09/2008 19:02

I can't say what a lot of words that you'll find in the OED mean - does that mean I shouldn't know how to spell them????