Nursery confusing 'there' with 'their' and STILL not correcting it when brought to ^their^ attention!

[lovecat]

Well, I hope I don't make too many mistakes here ... I'm hoping this is a relatively safe place to vent about dd's nursery.

When I went in this morning there was a note taped to the classroom door, asking parents to make sure that they emptied 'there' children's trays out on a regular basis and also to ensure that 'there' pegs were checked to make sure that nothing was left there at the end of the week. In total there were about 7 "there"s in the message, all spelt the same despite the different meanings.

As dd is only 2.8 and a while away from writing yet, I suppose this isn't wildly important, but this sort of thing irritates the pedant in me, especially in a place that 'takes an active role in promoting learning' (according to their mission statement). So I mentioned it to the nursery nurse. She bit her lower lip in a kind of 'oops' expression, said it wasn't her that had written it out, then took it down.

So when I came to pick dd up tonight, the message was back up again. Uncorrected.

I feel like bringing in a red marker pen on Monday and doing it myself...

I've experienced this too and have just let it go. However, were it to happen in the pre-school room where the children are learning basic literacy, I would say something. The fact that the people who look after my children cannot spell is neither here nor there for me because they do such a fantastic job. I do count myself as a pedant and I am a teacher to boot, so biting my tongue has been hard at times.

Have you read 'Eats Roots and Leaves'? I think sometimes it's just me....But then I went to a meeting at the infants' school the other day when a reception teacher was talking about a 'black wrinkly fruit that had, like, frogspawn, inside' - honestly if a teacher can't recognise a passion fruit in front of her....
Do do do take a red pen in on monday and correct it otherwise it'll annoy you for ever.

I agree. And I also hope I don't make any mistakes in this post.

BUT.

We run a nursery where most of our staff have English (does that need the capital? ) as a second language. That said, their spelling and grammar is often better than our native speakers.

I regularly check displays and notices for mistakes and (very kindly) point them out.

Not good that it wasn't corrected, though.

An India Knightish type journalist wrote a while ago that her son had come home from nursery with a sticker saying...

" I done me own shoes up."

I am a Nursery Nurse and most of my colleagues cannot spell. To be honest their grammer is pretty poor as well but they are dedicated to providing a secure amd loving environment for the children. It's a poor reflection of education though I agree.

I wouldn't worry about it, as long as they're doing a good job of looking after the kids.

sparky - I'm not teacher.........but I'm not sure I would recognise a passionfruit if placed in front of me

Fran - I had to laugh at your grammer instead of grammar (not a nasty laugh, it just amused me!)

I don't mind so much about nursery staff not being great at spelling or grammar as long as they are caring. It isn't the best paid job in the world so you can't expect the staff to all be A grade students (although I'm sure some are and am not making judgements!)

When ds is at school if the teachers make that sort of mistake I will care.

Sparky hate to be a pedant - but it is 'Eats, shoots and leaves'

This sort of thing drives me MAD!It doesn't matter if the children are too young to read. It's very basic grammar/ spellings (year 3 in the literacy strategy) and people who work in education with children should have these very basic skills!

The Staff in Ds1 nursery cannot spell either. I don't care. They might not have been the brightest at school all of them, but they are very intelligent in their way of dealing with the children in their care, so who cares?

I agree looking after the children is first priority but the 'it's OK as long as...' line is what gave us two generations who cannot spell or punctuate in the first place!

The sign was on the classroom door so older children who are working on reading and writing would have seen it. I'd be less bothered if it was in a daily record sheet where only the parent would notice.

Making a mistake is human, failing to correct it when it is brought to your attention is just rude. And stupid - if an error is pointed out to you, it's an opportunity to learn.

I find non-native English speakers make fewer mistakes like that - because they've been taught the two words and understand that they perform different functions.

Even if you are not a grammar genius, if you are thinking in a foreign language your mind does tend to differentiate between types of words (as in pronouns versus prepositions etc).

They definitely make fewer mistakes with apostrophes, and that's because they've been taught the rule. If you know the rule it's quite simple. If you've never been taught and you're just guessing then it's practically impossible.

I'd be with getting it corrected but I would have thought the nursery would want to present itself properly and that means in proper English, regardless of whether the kids can read it.

Oh Yeah bigmouth, Eats Roots and Leaves is the punchline to a (rude) joke !!!!!!

I think it's "Eats shoots and leaves"

And the other thing I hate is when they confuse pours and pores - as in he pours over the papers. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarggh

Oh and slivers and slithers......one is what a snake does and the other is a very small slice of something. THEY ARE NOT INTERCHANGEABLE!!!

You've got me started now.

Exactly, M&J. I check and double check letters to parents that have been written by staff. I also police displays (see earlier post.)

Last week I had to lurk in front of a rogue Humpty Dumpty display while some prospective parents looked around the nursery with the manager.

It's hard being a pedant isn't it?
You must take your red pen in, pedants of the world must take a stand!

I was once asked to sign a petition to stop a Nursery school from being close in order to save "you're children's education". Needless to say, I didn't!

Funny sign I saw last week "Theif's will be prosecuted" It was all I could do to stop myself reaching for the red pen...(in a farm shop where you can also buy peach's and plumb's!)

Ah well - greengrocer's are allow'ed to put they're punctuatshun in the wrong place's, terry pratchet says so.

cafe on the corner sells "baggets" (and that's etched into their frosted glass window so many, many people were responsible for it).

Jake they can spell 'punctuation' but not thief?

Didn't mean punctuation, meant 'prosecuted' - bottle of wine is beckoning.

Sparkybabe, the book is called Eats, shoots and leaves after the joke about the panda...