Grammar

We're sort of fighting a losing battle with this one, aren't we? I know my grammar's not perfect, but I do try. I never learnt grammar at school until I started doing MFL and then things started to click. A lot of parents are going to be in exactly the same boat as I was when I left school - clueless about grammar...this, therefore, impacts on the children.

Dialect also has a part to play, doesn't it? If children are allowed to get away with talking gramatically incorrectly, then surely, they're going to write it? I don't think that we need to correct dialect all of the time though...after all, that is how they talk and their parents and grandparents and so on...we're not out to change dialect, but their writing. We should make it clear to the children that there is a difference between written and spoken language as early as we possibly can. Exercises where children notice the difference between written and spoken language could also be of benefit.

So...any bright ideas on how to get the children writing in a grammatically correct way?

Eeeekkk...tough task ahead I sense! **~jog_on**

Interesting one! We went to a Big Writing day last term and one of the things that had most impact on me was the idea that it is unreasonable to expect children to write anything they can't speak - obvious really, but I'd always assumed that getting them reading was the key. I think 'Fred-talk' - 'posh' talk or talking like the Queen was the idea (that's from memory - I need to look into it a bit more). I'm thinking about having a notice over the classroom door promoting 'posh' talk or perhaps 'writing talk?' - to encourage the idea that playground/home talk is fine out of the classroom, but in the classroom we need to practise talk for writing. It sounds rather elitist - but maybe it is elitist to do the opposite - ie make non-standard English so acceptable that some children never get access to anything else. I suppose the key is how you put it over. I did like the idea of 'speaking like the Queen' and making deliberate mistakes for the class to pick up on. Talk homework was another idea we really liked - athough that wouldn't necessarily help with grammar, depending on the home language, many of our children simply need more opportunity to talk to someone who is listening. (And as a parent, who was keen to listen to my children, I know it could be hard work to get persuade them to turn the TV/computer/etc off, so maybe some parents would welcome it?) But I agree - it is a tough task. **~greenhill**