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sixthchild · Joined: 18 Apr 2012 Posts: 298 Location: East of Eden

Apparently there is at least one headmaster who is concerned about the increasing use of "slang" or informal and non standard English in the classroom. Is he right to knock kids back for using everyday speech that will keep them on a par with their peers? Or is he out of step with the way the language is evolving and text book English is only for foreign language students?

Sashadroogie · Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2013 2:23 pm Post subject:

What is text book English?

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

BBC ran a story last week about a school or maybe the Education Authority in Middlesborough weriting to parents urging them to use "Standard English" A can of worms there ! What is an acceptable regional variation and what is not ?

The reality is that those who cannot or will not use Standard English disadvantage themselves in the world of work.

sixthchild · Joined: 18 Apr 2012 Posts: 298 Location: East of Eden

I doubt if many parents (in that part of the country at least) know what "Standard English" is, let along actually use it. The kids of course are just repeating the language they hear in everwhere and popular use. I think they call it evolution. What was once considered slang terms are now part of everyday speech. Progression or something else?

Qaaolchoura · Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2013 1:59 pm Post subject:

@sixthchild: Indeed.

You can still find claims by older British grammarians that "different to" and "at the weekend" are improper English. Yet nowadays I get to read stories, here and elsewhere, of British TEFLers "correcting" such horrid Americanisms as "different than" and "on the weekend" in their classrooms. Today's "bad" language is tomorrow's proof of erudition.

~Q

Qaaolchoura · Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2013 2:17 pm Post subject:

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

I continue to be puzzled that I cannot understand large chunks of what is said on TV in the UK. Inarticulate, un-educated, underclass with regional accents !

Lord Reith would not be amused !

sheikh radlinrol · Joined: 30 Jan 2007 Posts: 1222 Location: Spain

The Head Teacher concerned was working in Middesborough and objected to his pupils saying things like ��Gizit�� instead of ��Give me it��. He also complained about adolescents responding to thanks with ��safe��.
Here in Spain I teach two well-educated young women who use ��like�� as in ��it was, like, raining��. Should I tell them not to say this simply because it gets on my wick? Maybe, it�s an age thing. Their generation think it�s normal. Sad

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

Thats like awesome.

crewmeal1 · Joined: 08 Jul 2010 Posts: 75

"I've gotten in the habit of telling students....."

I often wonder what the word 'gotten means

sixthchild · Joined: 18 Apr 2012 Posts: 298 Location: East of Eden

Yes, and so it goes on and on. The other side of all this is the inescapable fact that "standard English" is fast becoming an endangered form of speech. It would be comforting to know that today's younger generation across the socio economic spectrum have at least an understanding and can in fact make use of said standard English, but can also move between the soup that passes for our native tongue in not only some parts of the world but also (god forbid) in our own back yard.
I do feel generally though that the grammarians have made their obsessive traits with correct usage and pronunciation a bit of a heavy burden for the young (foreign) learner.

Qaaolchoura · Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2013 12:42 pm Post subject:

crewmeal1 · Joined: 08 Jul 2010 Posts: 75

'' it's the past participle of "get."

I have also heard it used in the present perfect as well as the past simple form. Forget forgot forgotten. Mind boggling to say the least.