Grammar ...Shmammer!
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But first....Sorry I didn't post yesterday...the last two times I've tried to post anything...blogger was "Closed"!!!
There is very little I can't tolerate when it comes to my kids and I am infinitely more patient when it comes to other people's children. BUT..you knew that was coming didn't you? I. can't. stand. babytalk!! My son says Yewwow (yellow) and wowwipop (lollipop) you get the idea, pronouces L's with a W sound. He's three..it'll come. But if I repeat "Yellow" the way he says it, he gets angry and says "No, Mommy it's "Yewwow!" Still comes out with the sound mix up, but he knows my pronunciation is incorrect. My point here is that even though they may be saying a word incorrectly, they are hearing it properly. So when I hear mom's and dad's saying "Banky" and "Baba" for "blanket" and "bottle" it drives me a little nuts. How the hell are they supposed to pronounce it correctly if you don't?
Now, this is not to say I don't love to hear them speak this way when they are little. It's the cutest damn thing on the earth when they try to say words like "hospital" and "helicopter" and add about 20 extra syllables to it. But to hear a grown up speak this way...well I've made my point.
Grammar is quite another issue. I hated diagramming sentences in school. I never understood more than the basic parts of speech and although I try very hard to speak correctly...it's not always the easiest thing for me. When I do learn certain things, however, they have a tendency to stick.. For example...did you know that you feel bad? Not badly? You wouldn't go around saying "I feel sadly." or "goodly" or "angrily" would you? Bad apparently is a feeling and not an adverb in this case. You can "do badly" however, just in case you were interested ;0)
So, one of our first lessons was a grammar lesson of similar quality. As we were finishing our art projects kids would raise their hands and say "Done!" or " I'm done!" and to these statements I would calmly say "Cakes are done, people are finished." For three days, time after time, I would repeat this, to the point where I began to think they weren't listening to me because no one had changed their phrasing. Until I heard this story from my assistant.
"Done!" said Emma.
"Cakes are done, people are finished." I replied.
"That really bugs you doesn't it?" said Mrs. L.
"No, not really. I'm just aware of it so why teach them incorrectly? We started that on Monday when you weren't here. Sorry, I should've told you." I said
"Oh, don't worry, I figured out quickly when I asked Robert if he was done and he replied:
"I'm not a cake!"
I love teaching.
There is very little I can't tolerate when it comes to my kids and I am infinitely more patient when it comes to other people's children. BUT..you knew that was coming didn't you? I. can't. stand. babytalk!! My son says Yewwow (yellow) and wowwipop (lollipop) you get the idea, pronouces L's with a W sound. He's three..it'll come. But if I repeat "Yellow" the way he says it, he gets angry and says "No, Mommy it's "Yewwow!" Still comes out with the sound mix up, but he knows my pronunciation is incorrect. My point here is that even though they may be saying a word incorrectly, they are hearing it properly. So when I hear mom's and dad's saying "Banky" and "Baba" for "blanket" and "bottle" it drives me a little nuts. How the hell are they supposed to pronounce it correctly if you don't?
Now, this is not to say I don't love to hear them speak this way when they are little. It's the cutest damn thing on the earth when they try to say words like "hospital" and "helicopter" and add about 20 extra syllables to it. But to hear a grown up speak this way...well I've made my point.
Grammar is quite another issue. I hated diagramming sentences in school. I never understood more than the basic parts of speech and although I try very hard to speak correctly...it's not always the easiest thing for me. When I do learn certain things, however, they have a tendency to stick.. For example...did you know that you feel bad? Not badly? You wouldn't go around saying "I feel sadly." or "goodly" or "angrily" would you? Bad apparently is a feeling and not an adverb in this case. You can "do badly" however, just in case you were interested ;0)
So, one of our first lessons was a grammar lesson of similar quality. As we were finishing our art projects kids would raise their hands and say "Done!" or " I'm done!" and to these statements I would calmly say "Cakes are done, people are finished." For three days, time after time, I would repeat this, to the point where I began to think they weren't listening to me because no one had changed their phrasing. Until I heard this story from my assistant.
"Done!" said Emma.
"Cakes are done, people are finished." I replied.
"That really bugs you doesn't it?" said Mrs. L.
"No, not really. I'm just aware of it so why teach them incorrectly? We started that on Monday when you weren't here. Sorry, I should've told you." I said
"Oh, don't worry, I figured out quickly when I asked Robert if he was done and he replied:
"I'm not a cake!"
I love teaching.
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