Teacher with poor grammar

[Cortina]

My son's year 2 teacher has very poor grammar.

Am I being too precious and stuck up about it? Does it matter? I am not comfortable about it.

She says things like 'they is in their bags' 'they was going out' etc. It's actually very, very poor to the point that all the parents have noticed.

My son is copying her and I am concerned. If I am honest I worry about how educated she is etc. She is new to the school this year. Her written grammar is also poor from what I have seen so far.

I want to add she's very nice, friendly, warm and approachable in every other area. WWYD?

Complain

"If she is a great teacher then surely using her local dialect, or whatever this is, isn't going to harm the children"
Actually, it wouldn't do their attainment in Speaking and Listening any good whatsoever.

I think you should have a quiet word with the Head. I agree with a previous poster who said she could presumably pull up her level of grammar for interview - a reminder that she needs to do this in front of the children also would not go amiss.

"your son is not going to school for fun - he is there to learn"
That made me laugh! God forbid that we make any of our lessons fun.

RP is merely an accent. The national curriculum at KS 1-2 requires that children be able to use standard English: 'Pupils should be introduced to some of the main features of spoken standard English and be taught to use them'. It also talks about register: using different types of language in different settings (I said above that I thought this was a secondary requirement). Using 'local dialect', or just very informal language, is absolutely fine, except when your job requires you to teach a different type of language to your pupils.

The idea of teaching standard English is surely to enable peope to understand each other in a highly mobile society, and not to leave any social group at a disadvantage because they cannot speak the dominant dialect. If that's sometimes at odds with regional speech, surely it doesn't hurt to be bilingual?

I agree. As a linguistics graduate, I LOVE dialect and accents and do not think Standard English is better

BUT

Right now, you are judged on your dialect. I want to equip the children I teach with the choice and ability to use standard or non-standard/dialect and know all the implications in their choice. It is interesting how children who I would imagine speak/write standard Turkish/other language at Year 7, pick up non-standard English because they are learning from other children in the playground. If the teacher does not present Standard English, it will be much harder for them to learn that option. For that reason, I have always insisted on standard English in the classroom (though I beg the kids to teach me all their wicked sick new vocab ).

I think it really really matters a lot and should be pointed out to the headteacher asap.

"they was going out" is not a dialect and not at all comparable to someone who is speaking English as a second language.

Feenie - what I meant was that she might be lovely/great with the children but that isn't the point - she is there to teach them.....

(of course I think that school can/should be fun......at times!)

Er... it is found in North/East London dialect, yes. And people learning a second language will pick it up if they are learning from people 'what speak like dat, innit?'.

I want the children I teach to be aware that they will be judged (rightly or wrongly) if they use non-standard English and it's all about the context.

Those mistakes are certainly not a "dialect" issue - just incorrect grammar, which is appalling for a teacher!

People wouldn't think twice about complaining if she was saying 2+2 = 5. This is no different IMO

Are you not reading my posts? Even if it is a dialect issue, it is still not on. All teachers should be able to differentiate between context where it is appropriate to use regional dialect and context where you should use SE. If she is unable to use SE that is a big worry.

I would insist on standard English in the classroom - and would def speak to her about it first (as someone else suggested, initially saying 'ds seems to use a lot of non-standard english, can you pick him up on it?' etc). Though obviously if she doesn't realise, then someone else will have to help her .

I love it when the teachers get home and join in!

MakemineaGandT I know, it just made me smile!

Yes - give her benefit of the doubt!

She's still in a formal work setting if she's speaking to parents. And I think the OP believes her dc is copying her.

Isn't southern british standard, or its use one of the standards teachers?

Please don't hurt this poor woman's feelings by going to tell her about it. Imagine if someone said that to you. I would be devastated if someone said that to me.

I'm afraid elocution lessons aren't a requirement to teacher training and this sounds like a regional accent.

It is thoughtless of you to want to go and speak to someone about the way they speak, especially as you have acknowledged that she is a lovely person. Teachers are human beings with feelings.

Think about it.

Ooh, trickerg, for the first time ever I disagree with you. I knew it would happen eventually!

I agree that we are human beings though , but I do think it needs addressing. I just don't think it's acceptable to use incorrect grammar in front of children, full stop.

This doesn't sound like regional accent - sounds like poor grammar.

I am going to sound 101 years old, but I often interview apparently very well-educated, bright young aspiring lawyers for jobs and the standard of their grammar is WOEFUL. They don't check a single thing they've written, even on application forms, and as for the dear old apostrophe, w'ell, youd migh't as' well, not bother ditto, comma?

I think a teacher should be able to communicate orally and in writing in SE however she wants to speak when she's off duty. It's hard to blame them though as this is endemic among anyone under about 25, present company excepted of course

Tiger, I hope you got your telegram from the Queen last year. In Standard English, of course!

She just about passed the Tiger test for Queen's English, Edam . Oh dear, just read that back, bet they all think I am an old cow at work.

So, what was it like the first time you saw one of those newfangled motor cars, dear?

That was ok. I ordered my coachman to run the fellow with the red flag into the ditch. I found Mr Marconi rather terrifying though.

I am a teacher (secondary school, independent) and I would complain to the Head. How on earth did she pass the literacy test all teachers have to sit? At secondary school level, at least your child would have other teachers to set a better example. At primary school level, I presume it's just the one so she could have more of an impact on the children she teaches. I'm sure she's lovely but teachers are meant to be properly educated and she is clearly not.

I shall be on the warpath about precisely this sort of thing when my child starts school. I will probably be the parent from hell, but I don't care. Thick teachers give the profession a bad name.