DC's teacher says axing...

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[Post New]08/28/2011 00:09
Anonymous
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?
[Post New]08/28/2011 00:15
Anonymous
Uh oh, here comes ax vs ask part two. Here is the original incarnation of this question:

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/138663.page

You can't really speak to the teacher and get her to change the entire way she speaks. As you said in your OP, she's not just saying one word incorrectly according to standard American English, she's saying several, and she does so consistently.
[Post New]08/28/2011 00:17
Anonymous
What is "axing"? What word is she trying to say? Is that slang? Never heard of this before. Just curios. Thanks!
[Post New]08/28/2011 00:20
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:What is "axing"? What word is she trying to say? Is that slang? Never heard of this before. Just curios. Thanks!


She is saying "aks" in place of the word "ask." In AAVE (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_American_Vernacular_English) and sometimes Southern American English, metathesised forms are often used, and ask is pronounced "aks."
[Post New]08/28/2011 00:27
Anonymous
Unacceptable in a teacher. Who knows what other words she mispronounces.
[Post New]08/28/2011 00:34
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Uh oh, here comes ax vs ask part two. Here is the original incarnation of this question:

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/138663.page

You can't really speak to the teacher and get her to change the entire way she speaks. As you said in your OP, she's not just saying one word incorrectly according to standard American English, she's saying several, and she does so consistently.


Well. we don't want to go down the route of that inflamed debate. It's not about race. I learned English as a second language, and I was practically caned if there was any other pronunciation than proper English. And I cannot change the way this teacher speaks.... She can speak all the slang and dialect she wants at home. In the classroom it can only be correct American-English, and otherwise she shouldn't be a teacher. "Axing" is not correct and it's a word a teacher uses all the time... So seriously, how best to address this, still keeping some sensitivities in mind. But I think it should be addressed...
[Post New]08/28/2011 00:42
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Uh oh, here comes ax vs ask part two. Here is the original incarnation of this question:

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/138663.page

You can't really speak to the teacher and get her to change the entire way she speaks. As you said in your OP, she's not just saying one word incorrectly according to standard American English, she's saying several, and she does so consistently.


Well. we don't want to go down the route of that inflamed debate. It's not about race. I learned English as a second language, and I was practically caned if there was any other pronunciation than proper English. And I cannot change the way this teacher speaks.... She can speak all the slang and dialect she wants at home. In the classroom it can only be correct American-English, and otherwise she shouldn't be a teacher. "Axing" is not correct and it's a word a teacher uses all the time... So seriously, how best to address this, still keeping some sensitivities in mind. But I think it should be addressed...


I was trying to be helpful in my response and I didn't bring up race, actually. The thread I linked was a long debate, but intelligent points were made aside from the racial elements of the thread.

I wasn't telling you that you're stupid for your concerns. Just letting you know that discussing it with the teacher and/or the principal is unlikely to change the way the woman speaks. If she's speaking that way in an educational setting, it's likely not slang to her, but rather the way she learned English.
[Post New]08/28/2011 00:46
Anonymous
My son has a polish homeroom teacher with a heavy accent who mispronounces several words too. Schools should get rid of all teachers who do not speak with pure American accents and proper pronunciation. Frankly, I'm sick of cringing as I listen to him speak. Jars on my last nerve!! That "axing" nonsense would irritate me too. Could you ask the school to give her elocution lessons, and if that doesn't work, just get rid of her as a teacher. I'm sure if you get enough other parents behind you they'll listen. I'm thinking of doing that with said polish teacher!!
[Post New]08/28/2011 00:54
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:My son has a polish homeroom teacher with a heavy accent who mispronounces several words too. Schools should get rid of all teachers who do not speak with pure American accents and proper pronunciation. Frankly, I'm sick of cringing as I listen to him speak. Jars on my last nerve!! That "axing" nonsense would irritate me too. Could you ask the school to give her elocution lessons, and if that doesn't work, just get rid of her as a teacher. I'm sure if you get enough other parents behind you they'll listen. I'm thinking of doing that with said polish teacher!!


Is this your only issue with your son's homeroom teacher?
[Post New]08/28/2011 03:02
Anonymous
Is this DCPS? Are you forgetting that Kaya uses ain't with the press? If the leadership speaks like that, what do you think they will say to you? What school is this so I don't have it on my OOB list?
[Post New]08/28/2011 05:29
Anonymous
'Ax' her, I say!!
[Post New]08/28/2011 05:33
Anonymous
My boyfriend uses Axe body spray and it drives me wild! Just like the commercials say.
[Post New]08/28/2011 05:42
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Is this DCPS? Are you forgetting that Kaya uses ain't with the press? If the leadership speaks like that, what do you think they will say to you? What school is this so I don't have it on my OOB list?


Doesn't Palin use 'ain't' also? What is the world coming to (wringing hands)?
[Post New]08/28/2011 05:59
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:What is "axing"? What word is she trying to say? Is that slang? Never heard of this before. Just curios. Thanks!


She is saying "aks" in place of the word "ask." In AAVE (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_American_Vernacular_English) and sometimes Southern American English, metathesised forms are often used, and ask is pronounced "aks."


Why are you using the terminology "Southern American English" to answer the poster's question? To be politially correct? I would agree that other groups of people (southern and otherwise) also mispronounce words, but in the region of the south, it would be extremely rare (as in, almost never) to hear anyone other than an African American say "aksing."
[Post New]08/28/2011 06:41
Anonymous
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.
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