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Pedants' corner
Original poster

Pedantry at parents' evening

177 replies

GooseyLoosey · 25/02/2009 08:43

Was parents' evening last night.

All ds's (5) books were out for us to look at. We picked up his literacy book and read comment praising his use of "the coma".

I was happy to let the spelling go, but try as I might I could not see any "comas" in his work.

We then sat down and talk to the teacher who begins to tell us how good his written work is and that he knows just where to put the comma in "isn't". The penny drops - she means apostrophe.

Dh and I tried not to say anything at the time as she really is a good teacher, but it was really hard.

OP posts:
gingernutlover · 25/02/2009 18:10

i agree that a teacher of any age group should be able to spell and punctuate to a good standard, as has been said, we all make mistakes every now and then.

as a teacher I would feel really really pee'd off if a parent went to the head or started writing letters about me before they had spoken to me.

Goosey Loosey I realise you arent going to the head or writing a letter but do please speak to the teacher, some of the suggestions on here are very good about dropping it into conversation. Otherwise when the next peice of homework or a book comes home with a similar mistake and you deicde that this time you wont 'let it slip' you wont have given the teacher chance to be more vigilant. Maybe no one has pointed it out to her yet, because they all feel like you ...

spongebrainbigpants · 25/02/2009 18:24

I think it is very sad that it is accepted nowadays that is is ok to teach young children incorrect grammar and spelling "because it can be corrected later on". As a Y6 teacher, I can assure you it is incredibly difficult to correct children's mistakes when they been left uncorrected for years .

And don't even get me started on emergent writing . . .

spongebrainbigpants · 25/02/2009 18:25

"when they have been left" !

Quattrocento · 25/02/2009 18:26

LOL at your son's use of the coma. I must try it myself sometime.

It is useless, isn't it? Teachers ought to be able to spell and know the difference between a comma and an apostrophe.

edam · 25/02/2009 18:29

at spongebrain, oh, the irony! (Have done the same on pedant threads...)

I'm old enough to remember the disaster that was ITA (fortunately I wasn't taught it but friends of mine at high school had been and were terrible spellers as a result). Think that's when the rot set in - we've ended up with a substantial number of people who are confused about spelling and passed that confusion on to their children/pupils.

unfitmother · 25/02/2009 18:35

That's shocking!

spongebrainbigpants · 25/02/2009 18:35

@ edam!! I'm always so nervous posting on threads like this because I know all of you know how to spell/write and I'll get pounced on!

In fact, this is the only forum I post on where people come back and apologise for mistakes in their posts - love it!

ITA? What's that?

edam · 25/02/2009 18:51

Initial Teaching Alphabet - a trendy teaching theory in the 70s where (I think) they taught children a cut-down version of spelling, expecting them to move onto the real thing later. At least, that's how my poor friends described it.

spongebrainbigpants · 25/02/2009 18:53

Ah, I think I get the idea - my dh was a victim of trendy teaching in the 70s and can't spell for shit!

pointydog · 25/02/2009 19:00

I wouldn't have been able to stop myself saying 'oh, an apostrophe' at the time.

You can't write a letter about it. You will sound mad.

You really should have said at the time. That is rubbish, not knowing an apostrophe. What is wrong with people.

pointydog · 25/02/2009 19:02

hundred, are you defending this woeful lack of literacy?

ahundredtimes · 25/02/2009 19:03

Oh I had trendy bad spelling teaching in the 70s. I had to make a conscious decision to sit down with a dictionary and learn how to spell when doing A levels fgs.

Perhaps this is why I am feeling charitable to poor teacher with her enthusiasm but poor to / too understanding.

pointydog · 25/02/2009 19:04

well, I'd have thought it incentive enough to sit down and improve your to/too spellings when you knew you were going to be a teacher

ahundredtimes · 25/02/2009 19:05

Oh god Pointy I am. Well I'm not defending it, but I feel sorry for her and don't want anyone writing letters or shaming her.

Mind you, I did say earlier that I'd have said something at parent's evening. And that I'd then have felt bad about it afterwards.

ahundredtimes · 25/02/2009 19:08

I once made a teacher blush bright red because I pointed out that she'd spelt chocolate wrong on a notice she'd put up. It was AWFUL. She looked so mortified, and she paled and looked sick. I ended up fighting her away from the notice saying 'Oh god, it doesn't matter, it's only me, nobody will notice, they'll all know what it means, leave it, fuck it, LEAVE IT.'

pointydog · 25/02/2009 19:08

keh. let you off

DeepThought · 25/02/2009 19:11

Oh deep joy - come and point and laugh with me at this, from the back cover of the Perfect Punctuation book linked to earlier.

''From the Back Cover
Are you confused by commas?
Baffled by brackets?
Afraid of apostrophes?
PUNCTUATION is EASY with this brilliant interactive book! Lift the Flaps! Pull the tabs! Make full stops, question marks and speech marks slide beautifully into place.
Also available:
The Great Grammmar Book * The Global Garden
The Wonderful World Book * The Super Science Book
The Terrific Times Tables Book
The Magnificent Music Book
"Puntuation has never been so much fun!"
"Paper Engineering by Corina Fletcher" ''

haw haw

(and wtf is paper engineering??

spongebrainbigpants · 25/02/2009 19:15

@ deepthought

Ohmigod - that is truly shocking!

The end of the world is nigh .

DeepThought · 25/02/2009 19:16
Grin
senua · 25/02/2009 19:34

Goosey, I think that you have to let this go but be more vigilant with this teacher in the future so you have the chance to make a timely comment, instead of kicking yourself afterwards for a missed opportunity. It sounds as if there will be many more occasions when you can make your point.

I despair of the MNers who think that expecting teachers to be literate is asking too much.

ahundredtimes · 25/02/2009 19:36

Don't despair of me! I do expect them to be literate - I also expect them to make mistakes and to not be perfect. I expect this of all peoples at all times.

NotQuiteCockney · 25/02/2009 19:41

"Paper engineering" is Poncese for Pop-up book type stuff.

senua · 25/02/2009 19:41

It is not asking for perfection to know the difference between 'to' and 'too'. Or know how to spell 'comma'. This teacher is a repeat offender (probably because no-one ever corrected her, how do we improve if we are never informed of our faults?).

ahundredtimes · 25/02/2009 19:52

Yes Senua, she needs correcting. I think she does too. Goose should have done it at the parent's evening. Now she must be alert for another opportunity.

jemart · 25/02/2009 19:52

This woman went to university?!
Utterly disgraceful, I would have been speechless faced with a similar situation and rather concerned about the quality of teaching. Being liked by her students may mean she's a nice lady but does not necessarily mean she is good at her job. There can be no excuse for such appalling grammar/spelling in a primary school teacher.