Odd one. How do you pronounce the word School?

[yeswesayschooool]

Namechanged as I'm going to talk to the teacher about this and if she recognises me I don't want her reading my other posts!

DD is being bullied at school about her accent. We are South Asian and moved to the UK a few years ago. She speaks fluent English (well, that's what we think ) but obviously has a different accent to someone born and bred here. A couple of shits children in her class have a huge problem with the way she pronounces certain words, to the point that she can't say them because they start heckling her while she tries to fight back tears.

I am going to speak to the teacher, but just to satisfy my own curiosity, how do you say school? We pronounce it skool, to rhyme with pool. Long oo sound.

According to Bully Kids it's skol. We looked it up online and all the pronunciation guides say \skül\ and so do the audio clips. DD says that all of the class say skol though and she is as confused as I am. We are in the SE of England if it matters.

School rhymes with pool.

skool (South East)

I hope the teacher helps your DD and tackles the bullies effectively.

I say skool

northern & proud

school should rhyme with pool IMO

Yes, it rhymes with pool. Your poor DD .

School is pronouced "skool"

You need to talk to the teachers, Bullying an EAL (English as an additonal langage) child about their accent is racism. Legally the school has to take this seriously.

Your poor DD
Yes you're right it is school. I grew up near Liverpool and it was skewel but in SE it's definitely schooool.

at those little sh1ts giving her grief over an accent. Horrible for her I bet.

It doesn't matter what the bullying is about. If she changed her (perfect) pronunciation, they would find something else to bully her about.

You are absolutely right to go to the school about this bullying!

'Skol' sounds mockney to me. Are you by any chance near (but not in) London. Do the kids imagine themselves to be at the height of gang culture when in fact they are just half a step from middle class?

'Skool' to their ears sounds posh,which is why they are being nasty. I wouldn't advise DD changes her pronunciation though its unlikely to help.

Skool (I'm Scottish but have lived in SE England and now NE England; it's always been skool and I've never noticed a different pronunciation). So not only is your daughter experiencing racist bullying (and do point that out to the school, as it is really Not OK), but she is also right!

Skool. Scotland. And English was not my first language either. 'Tis still skool.

Your poor daughter. That's so rotten. I bet her English is better than some of her classmates - I know mine was at times .

I hope you get the school/teacher to nip this ASAP.

This is bullying. Don't get distracted by the details of what they have picked on - if it wasn't this, it would be something else. What the hell does it matter how your dd pronounces any particular word? If 'school' were pronounced 'skol', would that make their treatment of your dd OK? Of course not! In fact, the 'leading' bullies may have persuaded the 'sheep' in the class to pronounce the word wrongly just to confuse your dd. Go in to see the teacher tomorrow (I find both parents going together if at all possible is particularly effective, and also is supportive to your dd). Ask how this is going to be handled and don't get distracted by the accent issues. Get a copy of the bullying policy and if what action is taken doesn't match the policy, get in touch with the Head/a governor. Good luck.

School rhymes with pool in my part of Essex. However, neither are pronounced how you would think here.

School = skohw. Sort of. It's hard to type the sound it makes in an accent that drops the 'l'.
Pool = pohw. Again, sort of. For the reason outlined above.

I type far better than I talk!

Skewel - NE England

Still bullying though. It shouldn't matter if your DD pronounces it skool, skoool, skol or sercahool! It being mocked is still bullying, and that needs to be dealt with.

And the kids picking and her are nasty little shits. With a double oo.

WTF? A skooool (rhyme with pool) here too. I am from Kent and have the blandest accent possible. I thought initially you were perhaps embellishing ala skoo-wul and they were saying skool, but skol is plain wrong.

The bullies sound like fuckwits to me.

Hmm... Couthy might have explained things. More often seen in an 'll' word; a 'w' sound. As in Miwhwawh (Millwall). If that's the case it sounds like the bullies are heckling your DD for talking properly poshly.

It's either skool or skewel here. I hear both regularly.

My family in Yorkshire pn it Skul (a really short sound between the 'k' and the 'l' sounds, if that makes sense).

It's all a bit irrelevant though because regardless of how your dd pn's it, she shouldn't be getting pulled up on it/picked on. It needs sorting. Good luck.

I'm guessing you're in SE London?

It should be skool, but I have noticed a lot of kids round here talking about 'skohw'.

FWIW, my daughter was imitated for her pronounciation of certain words when she first went to school/nursery. I have a very cut glass RP accent, she now has one that fits right in at school and makes me wince.

I hope the school take it seriously and clamp down hard - it is miserable for your poor DD and totally unacceptable.

We are not in London but very close. And yes Pyrrah and Couthy it sounds more like skohl, so a bit like the kids near you though an l sound is there. I can't wait to tell DD that she is correct. We have had problems like this before but this is the first time it has gone on continuously and DD is starting to hate going to school.

I told DD that I'm sure the Queen says skool but with a sad face and teary eyes she said that no one cares about the Queen .

I will speak to the teacher after school tomorrow and try to put things right for my little girl. Thank you everyone for saying it's skool for posting.

I was bullied at primary for my accent by one girl. I have the southern accent of my parents saying "b-arth" "gr-ar-ss". I was up north there they say "b-a-th" and "gr-a-ss".
This apparently made me "posh".
Very difficult to clamp down on because every time I said one of those words, I could feel the nudges etc. Rather strangely the teacher who seemed to have most success in stopping it was probably the most wishy-washy teacher I had. So speak to the teacher, make her see it really is a problem, it made me very self conscious.

At secondary there were far more accents, and I never got picked out at all for that.
I did meet a girl once who'd had the same problems as me in her Manchester school. Being a very determined character, she refused to speak in school for 2 years .

When I came down south as a student eveyone said I sounded "so northern"... couldn't win.

i'm in wales so it is "skoo-wul" :)

but it does rhyme with "poo-wul" (pool)