Poor Grammar!!!!!!!
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pushymother
- Posts: 303
- Joined: Tue Dec 06, 2011 12:23 pm
- Location: Essex
Poor Grammar!!!!!!!
Hello,
I have just returned from my DS parent teacher meeting for year 1. His teacher is young and new to the school. Since starting school this autumn both my husband and myself have noticed DS saying "done" instead of "did," such as, " I done that already." We have been constantly correcting him and even told him to always choose "did"!
I started to suspect that he might be picking it up from school as many adults and children use poor grammar in our area, but he never had this issue in reception.....
Soooo as we were waiting in the hallway his teacher came to the door to fetch the next parents and apologised for running late and said,(let me try and use phonics) "Sorry, once my mouwf starts talkin' it don't stop."
My DH looked at me, and I said, "I knew it was the teacher! I am going to speak to the head, I will not have our son taught poor grammar at six, this is appalling!"
DH said what are we going to do? Pull him out of school and pay for private?
I said, I want her to be retrained, I will put up with the accent and dropped consonants (although her teaching phonics must be interesting) but poor grammar is unacceptable.
In the actual meeting she said, " We was doing maths," and said again during the 10 minutes "We was...."
Help me!! Any suggestions?
I have just returned from my DS parent teacher meeting for year 1. His teacher is young and new to the school. Since starting school this autumn both my husband and myself have noticed DS saying "done" instead of "did," such as, " I done that already." We have been constantly correcting him and even told him to always choose "did"!
I started to suspect that he might be picking it up from school as many adults and children use poor grammar in our area, but he never had this issue in reception.....
Soooo as we were waiting in the hallway his teacher came to the door to fetch the next parents and apologised for running late and said,(let me try and use phonics) "Sorry, once my mouwf starts talkin' it don't stop."
My DH looked at me, and I said, "I knew it was the teacher! I am going to speak to the head, I will not have our son taught poor grammar at six, this is appalling!"
DH said what are we going to do? Pull him out of school and pay for private?
I said, I want her to be retrained, I will put up with the accent and dropped consonants (although her teaching phonics must be interesting) but poor grammar is unacceptable.
In the actual meeting she said, " We was doing maths," and said again during the 10 minutes "We was...."
Help me!! Any suggestions?
Last edited by pushymother on Thu Oct 25, 2012 9:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Poor Grammar!!!!!!!
Hello Pushymother,
I'm afraid this happens quite a lot in the school I work in. I am a teaching assistant and some of the teachers I work with do not use the correct grammar or even the correct spelling a lot of the time. I find it quite frustrating at times but I can't find a solution. It may be helpful to inform the teacher that recently your child has not been using the correct grammar and give examples. It may be enough to make them think twice about the way they speak in front of the children.
I'm afraid this happens quite a lot in the school I work in. I am a teaching assistant and some of the teachers I work with do not use the correct grammar or even the correct spelling a lot of the time. I find it quite frustrating at times but I can't find a solution. It may be helpful to inform the teacher that recently your child has not been using the correct grammar and give examples. It may be enough to make them think twice about the way they speak in front of the children.
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pushymother
- Posts: 303
- Joined: Tue Dec 06, 2011 12:23 pm
- Location: Essex
Re: Poor Grammar!!!!!!!
I did say in the meeting that we needed her help with one issue. I said that DS is using poor grammar lately and keeps saying, "I done that," to which she interjected, "instead of had done." And I said, "no, instead of I did that."
I said we are correcting him at home and I would very much appreciate it if she would correct him in class
She noted it down and I have a feeling I saw a wheel turn in her head.
When walking out to the car my DH said he liked my approach but said she can't be taught to speak properly at this point so we are stuck!
I said we are correcting him at home and I would very much appreciate it if she would correct him in class
She noted it down and I have a feeling I saw a wheel turn in her head.
When walking out to the car my DH said he liked my approach but said she can't be taught to speak properly at this point so we are stuck!
Re: Poor Grammar!!!!!!!
"My DH looks at me and I said,"
Physician, heal thyself.
Physician, heal thyself.
Re: Poor Grammar!!!!!!!
At least she said 'maths' and not 'numeracy' 
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MyUniMoney
- Posts: 50
- Joined: Fri Sep 28, 2012 1:14 am
Re: Poor Grammar!!!!!!!
Lol, this is a funny thread.
I'm a non-native speaker, English is my 3rd language. I actually finished my PgCE right after Uni and one of the reasons why I ended up not teaching in a school was the exact scene Pushymother just described!
Reading it here now seems funny, I don't know if I should be glad ( I knew that would happen! ) or be sad because I let a little thing like that stop me. But it all turned out as a blessing in the end, I decided to read postgrad degrees and my PgCE actually secured an offer for a lectureship position from a university abroad, which I enjoyed ! Over there, everyone thought I spoke the Queens English! I never had to constantly worry about my English.
I'm a non-native speaker, English is my 3rd language. I actually finished my PgCE right after Uni and one of the reasons why I ended up not teaching in a school was the exact scene Pushymother just described!
Reading it here now seems funny, I don't know if I should be glad ( I knew that would happen! ) or be sad because I let a little thing like that stop me. But it all turned out as a blessing in the end, I decided to read postgrad degrees and my PgCE actually secured an offer for a lectureship position from a university abroad, which I enjoyed ! Over there, everyone thought I spoke the Queens English! I never had to constantly worry about my English.
Last edited by MyUniMoney on Sun Oct 28, 2012 1:08 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Poor Grammar!!!!!!!
Sadly I have come across this too and had to speak to the head (a few years ago) without resolution.
In my opinion accents are fine as long as they are not so strong that the teacher can not be understood. However, grammar should be spot on in all teachers and TA's too. I fail to see how a teacher can teach a child to say "we were" when they constantly use "we was" themselves.
In my opinion accents are fine as long as they are not so strong that the teacher can not be understood. However, grammar should be spot on in all teachers and TA's too. I fail to see how a teacher can teach a child to say "we were" when they constantly use "we was" themselves.
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pushymother
- Posts: 303
- Joined: Tue Dec 06, 2011 12:23 pm
- Location: Essex
Re: Poor Grammar!!!!!!!
I completely agree. I tolerate the accent which has declined further since moving to the area twelve years ago, but the grammar must be in place if one is teaching.laretta wrote:Sadly I have come across this too and had to speak to the head (a few years ago) without resolution.
In my opinion accents are fine as long as they are not so strong that the teacher can not be understood. However, grammar should be spot on in all teachers and TA's too. I fail to see how a teacher can teach a child to say "we were" when they constantly use "we was" themselves.
I am not perfect and my written English is poor in comparison to my verbal skills but I am not teaching for a living!
Re: Poor Grammar!!!!!!!
This is an interesting thread in light of the announcement this morning that the government are proposing to make the QTS tests for trainee teachers more rigorous, perhaps they should have spoken test too!
