DC's teacher says axing...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This week DC started school (K) at a supposedly good public school in NW, and I met and spoke with the new teacher a couple of times and she says constantly "axing". And I also had trouble with her pronunciation of other words. I am really stunned by this, especially by the 'axing' and actually think it's unacceptable that a teacher speaks anything else than grammatically correct English.
To me this is not an accent, it's incorrect English. The teacher is relatively new.
When I spoke with some friends about this, I get nervous reactions like I am not being PC.
How can I best address this? Talk to the teacher? Ask her about it? Talk to the principal?

It is doubtful that your five year old will start speaking this way if you don't speak that way at home, so chill a little. Different dialects are a part of life in the US.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This week DC started school (K) at a supposedly good public school in NW, and I met and spoke with the new teacher a couple of times and she says constantly "axing". And I also had trouble with her pronunciation of other words. I am really stunned by this, especially by the 'axing' and actually think it's unacceptable that a teacher speaks anything else than grammatically correct English.
To me this is not an accent, it's incorrect English. The teacher is relatively new.
When I spoke with some friends about this, I get nervous reactions like I am not being PC.
How can I best address this? Talk to the teacher? Ask her about it? Talk to the principal?

It is doubtful that your five year old will start speaking this way if you don't speak that way at home, so chill a little. Different dialects are a part of life in the US.

Really? Hearing it 7 hours a day vs how many with you in the evening?

[Anonymous]

Yes, really. My 5yo had a teacher with a foreign accent last year and no mimic there and it never crossed my mind to be worried. She even had some incorrect grammar (not DCPS, a private school), but his language skills were very well established at this point. With a 2 yo maybe more of an issue--and even then look at how many well-to-do mothers in this city with options leave their very young kids who are just learning to speak with nannies who REALLY cannot speak English properly. Would you be complaining about this if the teacher had a serious Southern accent and pronounced pen as "pin"? OP needs to chill. I do see this as a veiled fear/ form of racism, btw, and I am white.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This week DC started school (K) at a supposedly good public school in NW, and I met and spoke with the new teacher a couple of times and she says constantly "axing". And I also had trouble with her pronunciation of other words. I am really stunned by this, especially by the 'axing' and actually think it's unacceptable that a teacher speaks anything else than grammatically correct English.
To me this is not an accent, it's incorrect English. The teacher is relatively new.
When I spoke with some friends about this, I get nervous reactions like I am not being PC.
How can I best address this? Talk to the teacher? Ask her about it? Talk to the principal?

It is doubtful that your five year old will start speaking this way if you don't speak that way at home, so chill a little. Different dialects are a part of life in the US.

Really? Hearing it 7 hours a day vs how many with you in the evening?

I assume all of you supporting OP had nannies who were white Anglo- Saxon Protestants who spoke the King's English. Right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, really. My 5yo had a teacher with a foreign accent last year and no mimic there and it never crossed my mind to be worried. She even had some incorrect grammar (not DCPS, a private school), but his language skills were very well established at this point. With a 2 yo maybe more of an issue--and even then look at how many well-to-do mothers in this city with options leave their very young kids who are just learning to speak with nannies who REALLY cannot speak English properly. Would you be complaining about this if the teacher had a serious Southern accent and pronounced pen as "pin"? OP needs to chill. I do see this as a veiled fear/ form of racism, btw, and I am white.

You assume far too much when you "see this as a veiled fear/form of racism." I've been in the education field for a long time and have many African American friends (both from work and my neighbors) who feel the same as I do. It's not just an accent. Your example of the southern pronunciation of "pen" (or a northern pronunciation of "Marther" for "Martha") is not an appropriate analogy. If a child hears incorrect speech/grammar on a consistent basis, it can make a difference over a period of time. You noted that your child has "well established" language skills. As I'm sure you know, not all children do. FWIW, I know white adults who say, "had went" instead of "had gone." They're wonderful people, but that doesn't mean they should be teaching.

[Anonymous]

Why is pen/ pin not an appropriate analogy? It is the same issue: dialect. "Axing" is not incorrect grammar, it is incorrect pronunciation of a word. And unless your child is special needs, I would argue that by K most children DO have well established language skills.

[Anonymous]

OP, aside from "axing", would you say this teacher is mediocre, good, or great? If teacher is great, I'd ignore "ax".

[Anonymous]

BTW, I am not arguing that this ideal. But I think that the reality of public schools in particular is that wherever you are is that some of the teachers are going to use a regional dialect or accent. If my child's teacher were explicitly teaching the class that "had went" was the correct usage, I would be upset. But this seems to be less of a concern to me, but perhaps not for you. I think this does pertain to comfort level as a parent, but give the teacher a chance--perhaps she was hired bc she is a strong teacher.

[Anonymous]

We know a DC librarian who says "li-berry"! I kid you not.

Anonymous wrote:Almost as bad as our lOcal DC librarian calling "Anansi" the spider "A Nazi" the spider. It's awful. I'd talk to the principal gently.

[Anonymous]

op-I had the same reaction this week from my DD's class teacher. My mom was horrified when I told her (same mom who was a stickler for correct pronunciations when I was a child.) I don't think there's anything we can do about it except maintain correct pronunciations at home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why is pen/ pin not an appropriate analogy? It is the same issue: dialect. "Axing" is not incorrect grammar, it is incorrect pronunciation of a word. And unless your child is special needs, I would argue that by K most children DO have well established language skills.

Often, and certainly not always, "axing" is prefaced by "be," as in "I be axing you . . ." Although some of you may want to distort my comments as a form of racism, they're not. I've taught in both private and public school settings. I'm committed to giving all children, regardless of race or background, the best opportunity possible to succeed in life and get a strong education. Students deserve no less, whether they attend a private school or a public school. It does not enhance their education to pretend that it doesn't matter what they hear, read, and study.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why is pen/ pin not an appropriate analogy? It is the same issue: dialect. "Axing" is not incorrect grammar, it is incorrect pronunciation of a word. And unless your child is special needs, I would argue that by K most children DO have well established language skills.

Do you intend for your comments to suggest that Ted Kennedy's pronunciation of words represented a dialect?

[Anonymous]

Is this teacher new to the system, or to your child? If new to the system, it means the teacher audition isn't picking this up. If this is a more experienced teacher, it suggests that the IMPACT evaluation doesn't consider that this interferes with teacher effectiveness.

There's another thread about this from about a year ago. I'm of the opinion that teachers should use standard English at school. Any educated person can learn to do it.

Lots of people have trouble pronouncing certain words and can practice and learn work-arounds. For a teacher, the word "ask" is very important and should be addressed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unacceptable in a teacher. Who knows what other words she mispronounces.

Oh Stop. People today would rather have 'teacher-bots of perfection created in Bill Gates lab' than real, warm-blooded humans. I mispronounce lots of words--sometimes my students correct me. Especially the names of esoteric dinosaurs which they are much more versed in. Sometimes we actually discuss how we think words are pronounced and go and look them up, versus me just telling them. Sometimes, oh my, we discover words that people like you are probably pronouncing incorrectly-- like 'forte'.

Your child knows that what her teacher means is 'asking'. You have modeled it in your home for years. You can gently highlight the different forms to your child, so she knows yours is standard English. You can explain regional differences and dialects. As they say in linguistics, "A dialect is a language without an army". Think about it.

Most language is learned from friends on the playground anyway. Teach your child to talk about language, and think about standard and non-standard usages and situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:op-I had the same reaction this week from my DD's class teacher. My mom was horrified when I told her (same mom who was a stickler for correct pronunciations when I was a child.) I don't think there's anything we can do about it except maintain correct pronunciations at home.

Why? Why isn't there anything parents can do about it? They complain about so many other things. IMPACT demands all sorts of behaviors from teachers, why not proper pronunciation and grammar. It seems more important than writing the objective on the board and mentioning it three times in 30 minutes.

We're not talking about an accent here. It's one word, frequently used by teachers, that is mispronounced.