Poor spoken English - how to tackle the issue with the school

[Eachpeachpearwherestheplum]

DS started the reception year in September and we quickly picked up that the TA and many other TA/admin staff etc spoke, how can I say without sounding like a snob?! Ummm lots of dropping the T's and odd sentence construction?! I wasn't that worried as the teachers are well spoken but I have heard so many times the staff not correcting the children.

This morning as an example, a child said "Mrs x, x is being 'n or t y' and she didn't say anything, the TA shouted over to my son this afternoon "x you forgot your 'wor a bot al'

My issue is that dispite always correcting DS he is starting to copy everything and I really do not like it. He is annoyed at me too. He also corrected a TA today which must have gone down well!

Would you just except it? The school is good, in a very mixed area.

I love your typo, ace that.

And RELAX.

Not every one speaks like you do, welcome to the world around you.

I would accept it as there's not much you can do about it really. It's the way most people speak in your area.

I found myself cringing at dd1's English teacher's grammar at parents' evening, but dd1 is progressing well and thoroughly enjoying English so it obviously isn't affecting her too much.

I'd leave well alone.

It would be as rude as telling someone they'd spelled despite and accept wrongly, and you wouldn't do that, would you?

I certainly wouldn't.

yes, I would just accept it.

Children will hear all manner of accents and ways of speaking and that's fine.

You speak to them how you want them to speak and correct them if they speak in a way you would rather they don't - "it's not wor-a bot al, it's water bottle" for example

But you can't change the way the rest of the world speaks.

Oh. And stop your child from correcting the TAs. It's really rude and they no doubt have a word used in the staffroom for kids like that...

I think you should except it dispite how much it upsets you.
Do you mind being corrected, out of interest?

The more I correct mine the more they do it. Is there a 't' in water?' I bellow. There are two 't's in 'better', 'little'.... whatever.
Careful in the playground when you 'correct'- I have probably unintentionally offended other parents....

With my Pfb I did say to teacher in year 1 that my angel was dropping his 't's and could they correct him if they heard. .

You can't police other people's regional accents. A glottal stop is not necessarily an indicator of a lack of intelligence, the TA might well be excellent.

If the staff were using slang vocabulary I can understand why you might raise an eyebrow, but I still don't think it's our (parents) place to comment on it.

Mmm regional accents is interesting thought. Is it Newcastle accent where 't's are dropped? [I am not in Newcastle].

I am a TA and if you went into the staff room at my school you couldn't identify who was a teacher or TA just by their accent/pronunciation.

Where do you live? Is there really such an obvious divide between the accents of TAs/admin staff and teachers?

DC lose T's in Norfolk. Drives DH batty.

I've no idea who influences children the most, parents or school staff and friends. But somehow I seem to have ended up with ds who speaks a bit like Prince William, and dd, who veers towards "am I bovvered" on occasion.

Interesting points - thank you. Will relax...a little! clam hilarious!

My son speaks like Little Lord Faunteroy for some reason, despite all his TAs having strong London accents. One little girl in his class said to me, 'I like ds, even though he talks funny'. Anyway, I think it would be utterly outrageous to complain that the TAs (who get paid f all) don't speak like 1930s BBC continuity announcers. Their accents don't bother me. I do get more irritated by the 'you was' and 'they was' etc because this is actually incorrect as opposed to just different.

For what it's worth - I've always tried to make sure my dcs appreciate that they need to be able to speak appropriately for the situation they are in - with friends, family, adults, potential employers - that way I hear them speaking clearly and well (to my ears & yes it is subjective) and know that they can cope in the wider world as well. I try not to knock other accents but as Farewell says incorrect language is another matter.

If the situation got at all fraught then I'd remind them of the elocution lessons (a paid for extra at my state primary) my mother sent me to and how lucky they were to have the benefit of her expenditure! and not to have been through the same experience!

It's how you speak at home that matters most.

I went to a school in a region with a very strong accent/ dialect. I never spoke in a strong dialect because my parents encouraged me not to, considering it was a reflection of poor education and would limit my job prospects in later life, and yes, it was unashamedly class- based.

When I moved to an area which had a much more RP way of speaking I was never identified as being from X part of the country.

I'd give up on trying to police who your child mixes with but make sure that at home you encourage them to speak in a way that is acceptable to you and doesn't automatically label them- which accents can, no matter how pc we try to be about them!

Agree that there's a big difference between accent and grammatical errors. Surely teachers and TAs should use correct grammar when speaking, but regional accent variations wouldn't bother me.

There is nothing wrong with different forms of language; not everybody has an RP accent. I went to school in inner London where if you didn't speak with a cockney accent, you were ostracised for being posh. My mum (who is foreign) corrected me when I said "ain't" for example, but for the rest left me alone.

My parents spoke RP and that is my natural accent but I find I normally change my accent if speaking to someone with a strong "London" accent. DD2 who is 14 also moves from London patois to RP depending on who she is talking to. DH as well changes from his natural Cork to vaguely London as well.

Personally I find accents and different dialects really interesting and attractive. If someone tells me they come from a particular area and they don't have an accent, I feel more judgey to be honest

It's coz us skool admin staff are well, like, common innit?

If that's the local accent then your DS is more likely to pick it up from the other children than the TAs. Our local accent can sound horrible (to me), but there is a massive range in how the children speak in the area, so I think there is a strong influence from home too.

The only thing I corrected my daughter on was pronouncing the letter H. Her year 3 teacher used to say haitch. We used to keep telling her it was aitch!

Neither OH nor I are from South Yorkshire, but I don't want DD to sound different from everyone else as it just gives other kids a reason to pick on her.

I wasn't bullied at school, but I was teased mercilessly for having a "posh" accent.

Agree that there is a huge difference between regional accent and grammar. However, I have experienced prejudice because of my accent. In the sector I work in my accent can be a bit of an affliction. My partner on the other hand - in his sector his accent is a bonus. Depends how many closed minded prejudiced snobs you work with I guess.

There are at least two errors in your OP so I'd keep very quiet