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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

Teacher with poor grammar

97 replies

Cortina · 16/09/2009 10:52

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?

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

trickerg · 17/09/2009 00:08

lol feenie

Nah I'm expectin a pairan to walk in tomorra mow-ning abart me norf kent common tork.

thirtypence · 17/09/2009 00:38

A teacher I know would say

"It needs watered." about a plant if she was at home (I think it's a Scottish thing - though we are very far from Scotland).

In front of the class she would say "Please water the plant."

I had a terrible time when I noticed a child chewing gum while I was teaching - I pointed at the rubbish bin, looked at him and said "Bin!" He pointedly ignored me and continued chewing. I pointed again and said "Bin NOW!"

After a 30 second staring competition he said "But my name is John." (ie not Ben)

We are in NZ, I don't have a NZ accent. Goodness only knows what else I say that sounds wrong.

I would be mortified and more than a little annoyed if one of the parents complained I couldn't speak properly as a result of that incident.

I would be tempted to just repeat back what she says calmly with correct grammar. "Oh, I see, the children are outside". And judge from that where to go next.

Rafi · 17/09/2009 09:47

I'd speak to the head too...

Living with a literacy teacher & an editor, my DD (9) might not comment on the teacher's grammar but she'd definitely notice it was wrong & that would do nothing for their relationship.

And if your DD says "Mummy, Miss said 'we was going out', she's wrong isn't she?" what do you say that doesn't undermine Miss?

ButtercupWafflehead · 17/09/2009 10:56

Oh gosh, I never know what to do about this very issue.

At the end of term, DSs teacher had pointed out whenever he had done a piece of work with no assistance.

Each time she had written "Independantly done".

She also has toy boxes clearly labelled "car's" etc.

As other posters have pointed out, however - she is a person and I would feel terrible in pointing out something that would make her feel bad, and in other respects she's wonderful!

Luckily for me, DS isn't yet of the apostophe-noting age.

Katisha · 17/09/2009 10:59

Schools are the LAST places there should be rogue apostrophes - the children will just come to view them as normal...

I would def point that out - wouldn't be able to stop myself.

ButtercupWafflehead · 17/09/2009 11:01

I know, but I'd feel like such a meanie

I'll watch and see how the OP gets on!

Pyrocanthus · 17/09/2009 11:08

One day I'm going to pluck up the courage to start a thread entitled 'The apostrophe: time to ditch it?' but I fear the consequences...

campion · 17/09/2009 11:14

You answer truthfully, Rafi,that ' we was going' is wrong but it isn't going to help matters for a nine year old to point this out ( to the teacher).

You could put a gloss on it for your child by saying the teacher was possibly distracted / maybe she misheard etc. Don't make a big deal of it to the child but make a mental note all the same. Any teacher should be capable of basic grammar - spoken or written.

Anyway, most teachers have a thick enough skin to withstand being corrected by a nine year old.

edam · 17/09/2009 11:26

If you were to ditch the apostrophe, how would anyone know whether the word was plural or possessive? Or whether you were indicating that it was abbreviated?

Learning is a good thing, and it doesn't stop when you leave school. If someone doesn't know how to use an apostrophe, they can look it up. If they don't, then they have to accept that people will think they are careless or even a bit dim (although I would always bear in mind that the person responsible may be dyslexic).

edam · 17/09/2009 11:27

(For example, most people manage to learn how to drive. I am sure anyone with a driving licence can equally learn how to use the apostrophe.)

lisianthus · 17/09/2009 11:46

Crumbs, I'd love to have some of you as clients - my clients take the view that they are paying for me to do a competent job and would hit the roof if I made obvious mistakes like this in documents as it would reflect badly on them. They would not pause to think "oh lisianthus is a nice person, I'll let it slide as I don't want to hurt her feelings". (FWIW, I believe that they are entitled to expect high standards and would be embarrassed myself if I let them down.)

This teacher is a professional whose job is to teach correct grammar. If she speaks like this in front of them, it will make their job of learning grammar harder than it needs to be, and as Tiger points out below, will make it harder for them to get jobs and to do those jobs if they wind up working for people who expect high standards of grammar.

[Beetles off on zimmer frame to join Tiger in OAP corner.]

Bucharest · 17/09/2009 11:56

I was course director for a language school this summer and employed 15 teachers, 2 of whom were NQTs. They were lovely too, and I shall remember one of them forever, as I had to rewrite all her reports after she'd left, changing all the "should of" and "could of" comments, not to mention altering her "vocabularly" to vocabulary.

It's not pedantic, it's not harsh. It's a fvcking embarassing indictment of the system we live under. The fact that the (French) students would of have noticed (and probably asked for their money back) shows how far we have come to no longer even dare to demand anything good/decent/even adequate out of our school system. It almost seems part of nanny-state-itis...the fact that we even need to ask if we should complain about such a thing....

Katisha · 17/09/2009 13:16

SleepingLion · 17/09/2009 13:33

Everyone can make all the excuses they want about dialect and nice people. The bottom line is that this woman is a qualified teacher who should be setting an appropriate example to those she is teaching. That means accurate Standard English.

phlossie · 17/09/2009 13:47

I'm quite well-spoken and middle class and all that and think speaking properly is very important and writing properly is even more important. My DH, who has a strong regional accent and poor written English (much better now - self taught) feels that not being able to speak well has held him back in work.

People, rightly or wrongly, make assumptions about you based on the way you speak. When you're in a job interview for any kind of office based, service led or customer focussed job you will be judged on the way you speak. Even more importantly, those who can write well are much more likely to get job interviews in the first place.

It would be unreasonable to have expected my DH's parents to teach him something close to Received Pronounciation, but his school should have. And they should also have taught him to spell and form sentences properly. He's found it a real problem.

Don't get me started on apostrophes. Or should I say apostrophe's. Ha.

Bucharest · 17/09/2009 13:58

Ah, but RP is something completely different...(it's been proven by linguistic analysis that not even the Royal Family, bar the Queen's generation and older, use that any more)
I'm certainly not advocating anyone (heaven forbid) should go down the "hie nie brine kie" route....simply that they speak (and write) grammatically correct English, whether that be with a Newcastle accent, a Liverpool accent or a Cornish one.

troutpout · 17/09/2009 14:10

i would not complain

ZZZenAgain · 17/09/2009 14:13

accents are a minefield in Britain being one of the major class determiners in the eyes of many people. Personally, I am not bothered about accents at all. However, I am concerned about the usage of non-standard English in schools.

It does not bother me if my dd hears regional or any other kind of accent at school. I am not that worried about her picking up or losing a particular accent. I also have no problem at all with regional dialects in an non-educational context.

In order not to have utter chaos reign, we have what is called standard English which is nothing to do with how words are pronounced. It is a matter of defining what is correct (i.e. generally accepted) language usuage. It is the language we will (hopefully) find used in school textbooks, for instance.

I am a bit torn on this one because I definitely welcome teachers coming from all sorts of different backgrounds. In particular I would like to see more men from working class backgrounds teaching. However they should know how to use standard English at school. I really don't see how this can be negotiable. Otherwise I see a downward spiral of ability developping. If a teacher cannot spell and generally use English grammar correctly, how can they mark essays effectively? Just as one example. How well will the pupils go on to master written English and in their turn teach it?

How many judges do you think we'll have in 20 years times who say, "so you was going out when it happened?". My guess is zero.

ZZZenAgain · 17/09/2009 14:15

ha ha ha love all my tipos (oh the shame) when I am ranting on about correct language...

Katisha · 17/09/2009 16:41

"Typos" surely??

Or maybe Typo's...

(Could that be technically correct in that you have missed out a chunk of the word?)

Pyrocanthus · 17/09/2009 16:44

'Eaven 'elp us.

ZZZenAgain · 17/09/2009 17:02

actually I have no idea, I always write tipos, rightly or wrongly. Haven't a clue. I think it's a carry-over from German tippen - to type.

Let's see if I can get away with that now...

Teach me to rant anyway!

Katisha · 17/09/2009 17:05

It's short for typographical error. So you need a "y".

ZZZenAgain · 17/09/2009 17:08

a-ha got it.

That's what comes of travel (and general random ignorance I suppose). I never heard the word before I went to Germany so I thought it meant typing error- tippen -) tipo.

Please everyone under the flag relax, I am never going to be a school teacher.

Move over a bit too, I'm squashing myself in under the flag

edam · 17/09/2009 18:55

@ ZZZ.

I think we can already see the results of an educational system where grammar became somehow unfashionable. Teachers today were educated under that system, and some are passing on their own ignorance to their pupils. (One of my friends at senior school had had the misfortune to be taught the Initial Teaching Alphabet in primary and was completely unable to spell. And her mother was a teacher!)

However, even if you have been badly taught, if you then choose a career where an understanding of and ability to use correct English is a basic requirement, it is down to you to brush up.

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