General Chat

Tooty, just shows you have to press the right buttons or you get nowhere. A book about something they are interested in is a great help.

I agree time should be limited for computers and game consoles but the are a useful tool to encouraging children to read.

My son was 7 when he learnt to read and it wasn't a lack of trying on my part. I had read to him moving his finger along with the words before he went to school. He loved his bedtime stories. In fact I taught my friends children to read using the same method but my son was not interested. When he was 7 his uncle bought him a playstation and a role play game which meant he had to read the instructions to progress in the game. Within 2 weeks he could read almost as well as the child at the top of the class. Now he reads a book every couple of days. Favourite authors Terry Pratchett, Terry Goodkind. He loves Japanese manga and has recently taken up learning Japanese.

I went to a Grammar School way back in 1971. In my second year, I opted to study Latin and Greek (both of which require an understanding of how to compose a sentence).

We spent the first year studying English grammar, which entailed understanding the forms of verbs, nouns etc., as essential grounding to learning a classical language - i.e. how to parse a sentence.

Having said that, all languages move on, or we'd all be speaking like Jane Austen or Samuel Pepys,

Sue x

to Chris of Wessex-..... it was called parsing and it was where every word in the sentence was analysed.
I so wished at the time I could do it ,as it seemed such a structured lesson only dealing in facts, unlike having to write an essay which relied on an imagination, which unfortunately I haven't got. -Jle

I agree a degree does not guarantee a good teacher. The best "teacher" my son had was a teaching assistant.

I think grammar along with education as been dumbed down in a bid to hit targets.

My son's friends never swear in front of me since I told them swearing in every sentence was an indication of a lack of vocabulary.

Apart from spelling errors one of the concerns that I have with many young people today is the lack of vocabulary.
Out of interest I just searched for an answer and discovered that there are 1033322 words in the the English Language,updated on 27.09.2010.

I do agree that a good foundation in learning grammar and spelling is essential to all aspects of work and learning, and the pleasure of reading. Young people have frequently had their own language but that does not mean that they should not have a good grounding in their native tongue.

On a similar vein, Tooty, when I was a Learning Assistant at a comprehensive school, Iwalked into a classroom to see, on the board, a list of things the children should have done by the end of the month.
I kid you not, it was 10 lines, all starting:
'You should of.....'
When the teacher came in (a wonderful teacher - and he 'only' had a cert ed) I just pointed at the board and asked 'Surely not your handywork?'
He looked at it and wiped it off - it was the work of the student teacher (degree level - a tad 'above' cert.ed level) who had been in the class before him.
A degree doesn't guarantee a good teacher - or good grammar!

When my son was at primary school, he brought home ten words to learn how to spell. Three of these words were misspelt. I thought he had copied them down incorrectly and taught him the correct spellings. The following day I went into school to discover that the words where misspelt on the board. I pointed this out to the teacher who disagreed. However after checking the dictionary she apologised.

What is the point of teaching a child to spell words incorrectly. She should have checked the dictionary before putting the words on the board.

It was the Teaching Assistants (not the teachers) at a junior school in Havant :
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-11470998

I feel they should have a good grasp of grammar - otherwise they are instilling bad habits that could affect the child later on in life.

My great niece teaches English at GCSE level. She left one school because she was tired of teaching children who didnt want to learn.She is teaching at a college now and is much happier. And, we did not swear when I was a teenager, nor did I do it in the army. My dad said once, he didnt know how I managedit, but I was taught to express myself without swearing. Of latter years, I am afraid I have lapsed a bit!

I seem to remember doing 'parsing' - which was to do with grammar. Then my mother used to jump on us like a ton of bricks if we were ungrammatical

I don't remember ever being 'taught' much grammar...I still couldn't tell you if something was a 'past participle' or a 'reflexive noun', but I think it is something you just learn from reading really, and from decent teachers who correct you if you've written something incorrectly .

Doesn't surprise me at all. I had a wonderful English teacher who inspired in me a love of literature that I still have now but grammar was barely on the curriculum and I'm never sure what I'm doing with it:)

I agree with Julie, most of us swore all the time when we were at school, amongst ourselves - it's a sort of rites of passage thing and generally you learn when and where you can and can't use it.

My apologies Julie, I have not meant to offend you. I will happily delete my post, or at least the reference to your name right now.

It wasn't me that 1st brought up about the way people speak....my reply was to the people that did

And yes i agree about Grammar & haven't said that i don't...just wish people when quoting my name actually read what i have said & not accuse me of something that i haven't.

My grandchildren use text speak and when I text them so do I. My daughter and sister don't on the whole and when I text them neither do I, unless in a hurry when u for you and 2 for two come in handy.

I love to hear different accents and local ways of speaking. But good grammar is an entirely different thing. Simple things like when to put a comma so whoever is reading can take a breath, apostrophes in the right place etc and correct spelling are important if children want to get on, get a good job.

I can't remember which company it is, may be one of the banks but one firm is sending all their trainees for English lessons. That shows that the schools/universities are not teaching correctly. I seem to remember these were all graduates.

The computer has a lot to answer for, it makes us lazy. I used to be really good at spelling. While on holiday we went to a quiz night and one of the rounds was spelling and I was rubbish. We get so used to spell check doing it for us it no longer comes naturally.

I would doubt it Rita, I've found those for whom English is a second Language take the time to learn it correctly.

It always astonishes me that in news reports those who live in Europe , Africa etc speak much better English than many of 'our own'.

well when i was growing up, i never heard either of my parents swear and therefore neither do i. i have a 13 and 15 yr old and am pleased to say, both never swear. yes its true, but maybe thats just the way i was brought up. a child will only use bad language if he hears it and copies and that can probably be said of bad grammar being used.

i am not being snobby or putting down on where anyone comes from, but at school we all have the same english being taught and therefore, there is no excuse for bad grammar.

i take on board today about teachers not using correct grammar, but is this a new thing as i have not heard about it until now?
florence

You can swear grammatically :) I don't think that topic has anything to do with grammar? It's being able to string a sentence together so it can be clearly understood whether written or spoken. I would have hoped teachers would be able to do that adequately before they left training.

Not in the manner and way it is now, otherwise a belt around the backside would have happened.Its also said that Children tend to emulate their parents in manner and attitude.**M**.