82 replies to this topic

[yorkshirechris]

My parents aren't particularly bright but I didn't do too bad my mum went to college to do nursery nursing (she's the cleverer one) and my dad left school at 15 with no qualifications... saying that though he's the most sucessful out of him and his 7 siblings, half of the others are in prison or have been

It's not necessarily about the parents being bright, but them putting in the effort to spend quality time with their kids. Clever, sucessful parents with money who spend no time with their kids and fob them off onto other people are just as bad!

[Mutley_RIP]

I dont just mean getting shot of SATS to make school fun - they need to change the way they teach full stop!

Thank god my daughter's school have never done them.

I loved Junior school - it was fun. We were allowed to get dirty, have fun and played games which actually educated us.

Secondary school was a whole different kettle of fish mind you - Im the dim one of the family!

[Mutley_RIP]

It's not necessarily about the parents being bright, but them putting in the effort to spend quality time with their kids. Clever, sucessful parents with money who spend no time with their kids and fob them off onto other people are just as bad!

Bloody excellent point! I think you hit the nail squarely on the head.

[Ethel]

Burned is the past tense of to burn: burnt is the past participle.

Sorry, you have to have at least one post like this in any "the trouble with kids today" topic, it's a TMF tradition

[rocketbabydolls]

I dont just mean getting shot of SATS to make school fun - they need to change the way they teach full stop!

Thank god my daughter's school have never done them.

I loved Junior school - it was fun. We were allowed to get dirty, have fun and played games which actually educated us.

Secondary school was a whole different kettle of fish mind you - Im the dim one of the family!

I think that Mister Health and Safety has ruined this aspect of childhood...

You learn through DOING... don't they UNDERSTAND!

[sweetser]

My little brother does this some times, hes 7 or 8 and will occasionally say ''alrite blud'' or something along thoses lines to me, he gets evils and a slap round the head, that sorts him out for a while

[Ethel]

Education is what's left when you've forgotten what you were taught.

[rocketbabydolls]

Education is what's left when you've forgotten what you were taught.

I love this ^

[GreaseMonkey]

When my father came to this country many years ago he didn’t know much English at all, he taught himself through reading, watching Tv and trying himself. He really took to reading and when I was young I remember being drawn to books as they were basically all around me, I used to see my dad reading before going to sleep and this encouraged me to start reading myself. I remember picking up books which were way beyond my capability and understanding but through trying and receiving tips like “read slowly and twice if you have to” I slowly started to manage and progress and I learnt. I really appreciate my dad for encouraging me with books as they have taught me a lot. I think today children should read more even through secondary school as when you read you pick up words and understanding and it influences the way you write making you a better writer.

Edited by GreaseMonkey, 18 April 2009 - 10:50 PM.

[BiMU]

I teach college students and when they use slang to each other I leave them be, but when I question them or when they then need to describe something they may come up with: "Dat design is HARD!" (That is a good piece of design) I ask them again to repeat what they said and ask them what they wanted to say and then make them describe what they are trying to say in a more professional way. I tell them that they where even trying to get a job, using slang would not acceptable in the working environment. My students come up with new slang every week! They do not even know about cockney rhyming slang!

Edited by BiMU, 18 April 2009 - 10:52 PM.

[jayare]

noooo... you are forcing me into rant mode!!!!!

I got accused of being racist when i tried to correct someone who kept saying "i've been Arksing for ages, go over there and arks him, don't arks me." i was completley wound up and let rip at the bloke.

I thought I was the only one! This REALLY winds me up - it's spelt A-S-K - why the hell would you pronounce it A-R-K-S???

When my father came to this country many years ago he didn’t know much English at all, he taught himself through reading, watching Tv and trying himself. He really took to reading and when I was young I remember being drawn to books as they were basically all around me, I used to see my dad reading before going to sleep and this encouraged me to start reading myself. I remember picking up books which were way beyond my capability and understanding but through trying and receiving tips like “read slowly and twice if you have to” I slowly started to manage and progress and I learnt. I really appreciate my dad for encouraging me with books as they have taught me a lot. I think today children should read more even through secondary school as when you read you pick up words and understanding and it influences the way you write making you a better writer.

Absolutely - one of the phrases I picked out earlier in the thread was 'my parents always reading to me as a kid' - the encouragement to read back is just as important - it starts at a really early age too - my nephew was bringing me books (that my Mum picked up from charity shops) when he was less than a year old. I read them to him, pointing out the words as we went. He's now nearly 6 years old and still enjoys me reading the books to him but he recognises most things and he can read them to me. My niece, who is 8 has difficulty with a lot of words, but that's understandable as she is partially deaf, but the same applies - we let her try to read the words, and if she struggles, we'll help her out.

I'm not sure that TV would be such a good source of education these days, though - there's far too much carp on there to be of much use!

On the other hand I work with a colleague who at 28 years of age has to be constantly corrected when she uses 'street' rather than English! It's a source of constant amusement amongst the other people I work with that she can't use language that's easily and readily understood by others - maybe by *extracting the urine* enough we will make a difference!

JR

[kez_19]

i am glad that some has taken up this subject after having lived away from England for nearly 10 years i have noticed a lot of the written language mentioned as well as talking to my sister (who is only 1,5 years younger than me) and my cousins on msn that i have great difficulty in understanding anything that they type and in the end i have to make some sort of excuse to switch off my msn because i am fed up of reading a sentence and wondering what it says and feeling like i need to get a dictionary out to translate back in to English.

One other thought that i have had the kids here are taught a very old fashioned English and i have to wonder how do they cope when they use these on-line games such as world of war craft when they talk to kids in England and they get back text language that even i cant understand and i was born in England and lived there 20 years.

*rant over*

michael

[erica]

noooo... you are forcing me into rant mode!!!!!

I got accused of being racist when i tried to correct someone who kept saying "i've been Arksing for ages, go over there and arks him, don't arks me." i was completley wound up and let rip at the bloke.

I thought I was the only one! This REALLY winds me up - it's spelt A-S-K - why the hell would you pronounce it A-R-K-S???

I have a problem with people who pronounce words incorrectly like this. I cringe! One that really gets me is 'preformance'.
I have a lecturer who is quick to pick out the spelling and grammar mistakes in his colleague's lecture notes, in front of the whole class, but then proceeds to pronounce performance as preformance! I find it so irritating!

I also can't stand it when people say words like 'somethink' instead of 'something'. They are simple, everyday words, and the kind of words people should know how to pronounce. I can cope with it when difficult words are not pronounced correctly, eg: Antidisestablishmentarianism (It is the most extreme word I can think of at the moment!). But everyday words!

[BigEnd]

They're, their, there. Three different words, three different uses. Why is they never get used correctly any more?

[Dan]

There is neither a B nor an L in the word chimney.