Kids English homework
Discussion
Doing some English homework with my daughter yesterday, She is year 4 primary school.
This got me thinking, as it was all around grammar adjectives, nouns, common nouns, proper nouns etc.
I don't have any recollection of ever having learned any of this. Now I have forgotten plenty of stuff, but recently doing her maths work it triggers memories.
I have a very, very good memory generally speaking.
I don't suppose there was a random period during the curriculum where they just scrapped teaching of grammar in primary school? I was born in 1986 if anyone of similar age can recall.
The alternative is I am just thick.
This got me thinking, as it was all around grammar adjectives, nouns, common nouns, proper nouns etc.
I don't have any recollection of ever having learned any of this. Now I have forgotten plenty of stuff, but recently doing her maths work it triggers memories.
I have a very, very good memory generally speaking.
I don't suppose there was a random period during the curriculum where they just scrapped teaching of grammar in primary school? I was born in 1986 if anyone of similar age can recall.
The alternative is I am just thick.
Its an odd one, but my friends and i do not remember studying grammar either. Sentences are just put together on "well that sounds about right".
When coming to learn a foreign language there is so much emphasis put on the correct grammar and how to apply it.
In fact speaking a romance language and not knowing grammar is a recipe for disaster.
Conversing with the tutors and teachers here, they tell me the majority of english students had no idea about grammar and learning a foreign language is the first time they believe they are studying it.
When coming to learn a foreign language there is so much emphasis put on the correct grammar and how to apply it.
In fact speaking a romance language and not knowing grammar is a recipe for disaster.
Conversing with the tutors and teachers here, they tell me the majority of english students had no idea about grammar and learning a foreign language is the first time they believe they are studying it.
Same for me… started primary school in 1981.
I’ve mastered what a noun is but other things like adjectives, verbs and adverbs I have an understanding of but it doesn’t trip off like other concepts.
Generally I regard myself as fairly intelligent, backed up by exam passes, other’s feedback and psychometric tests etc but it is definitely a black hole in my intellect!
I’ve mastered what a noun is but other things like adjectives, verbs and adverbs I have an understanding of but it doesn’t trip off like other concepts.
Generally I regard myself as fairly intelligent, backed up by exam passes, other’s feedback and psychometric tests etc but it is definitely a black hole in my intellect!
There were some very wired things going on back then. In the seventies I remember being taught ITA which was a completely different alphabet and no mention was made of any grammar. It was completely phonetic.
There was a lot of painful catching up needed when it was finally revealed that no one would understand a word or what you wrote outside of the school. I remember it completely scuppering any chances of getting into the top set when I changed schools until I coudl prove I was in the wrong sets later on.
The people responsible for teaching children that should be shot.
If anyone wants a laugh
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Initial_Teaching_Alp...
There was a lot of painful catching up needed when it was finally revealed that no one would understand a word or what you wrote outside of the school. I remember it completely scuppering any chances of getting into the top set when I changed schools until I coudl prove I was in the wrong sets later on.
The people responsible for teaching children that should be shot.
If anyone wants a laugh
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Initial_Teaching_Alp...
I don't remember being taught grammar during English lessons but primary school French certainly introduced the ideas of grammatical structure because you learned to decline verbs, you learned adjectives and adverbs as collections of related words ... "It's hot", "it's mild", "it's cold", etc.
Aged 11 (first year of middle school) we started being taught Latin from scratch. It was 100% not taught as a spoken language. It was taught entirely based on understanding grammatical structure and then applying those rules to figure out what on earth a Latin sentence meant. It was like being taught to solve puzzles. "Find the verb!" That is a very useful way to learn how languages in general work, but it is a mighty odd way to learn any one language. All my basic knowledge of grammar comes from Latin lessons. Any English-specific grammar I've grasped is based on applying that understanding and looking at it in large part by how it deviates from Latin.
Aged 11 (first year of middle school) we started being taught Latin from scratch. It was 100% not taught as a spoken language. It was taught entirely based on understanding grammatical structure and then applying those rules to figure out what on earth a Latin sentence meant. It was like being taught to solve puzzles. "Find the verb!" That is a very useful way to learn how languages in general work, but it is a mighty odd way to learn any one language. All my basic knowledge of grammar comes from Latin lessons. Any English-specific grammar I've grasped is based on applying that understanding and looking at it in large part by how it deviates from Latin.
In Ireland in the 1960s (when I started primary school) we most definitely learned the fundamentals of grammar. England in particular decided that teaching children how to speak and write their own language wasn't that important.
A disaster, in my view.
By the way, there is a missing apostrophe in your thread title
It should either be "Kid's homework" (for one child) or "Kids' homework" for more than one child.
A disaster, in my view.
By the way, there is a missing apostrophe in your thread title
It should either be "Kid's homework" (for one child) or "Kids' homework" for more than one child.
JimmyConwayNW said:
Doing some English homework with my daughter yesterday, She is year 4 primary school.
This got me thinking, as it was all around grammar adjectives, nouns, common nouns, proper nouns etc.
I don't have any recollection of ever having learned any of this. Now I have forgotten plenty of stuff, but recently doing her maths work it triggers memories.
I have a very, very good memory generally speaking.
I don't suppose there was a random period during the curriculum where they just scrapped teaching of grammar in primary school? I was born in 1986 if anyone of similar age can recall.
The alternative is I am just thick.
Op I'm the same age as you and I remember doing it. Don't question me on it, but I remember doing it. I think you need to come to terms with the realisation of your alternative. This got me thinking, as it was all around grammar adjectives, nouns, common nouns, proper nouns etc.
I don't have any recollection of ever having learned any of this. Now I have forgotten plenty of stuff, but recently doing her maths work it triggers memories.
I have a very, very good memory generally speaking.
I don't suppose there was a random period during the curriculum where they just scrapped teaching of grammar in primary school? I was born in 1986 if anyone of similar age can recall.
The alternative is I am just thick.
The current curriculum (or curricula?) in primary school is far more structured and formal than my experience in the 80s.
Some say it's too formal, and some say that phonics doesn't work for everyone (it did for my youngest but not my eldest) but I am pretty impressed at the use of cursive writing, grammar and maths (at least at their school).
Some say it's too formal, and some say that phonics doesn't work for everyone (it did for my youngest but not my eldest) but I am pretty impressed at the use of cursive writing, grammar and maths (at least at their school).
dave123456 said:
Same for me… started primary school in 1981.
I’ve mastered what a noun is but other things like adjectives, verbs and adverbs I have an understanding of but it doesn’t trip off like other concepts.
Generally I regard myself as fairly intelligent, backed up by exam passes, other’s feedback and psychometric tests etc but it is definitely a black hole in my intellect!
Same here - though I'm a little older than you. When taught German at Secondary school (I'll show my age as we started German as a Fourth Former- no year 14 nonsense) it was all about noun, verbs, adverbs, adjectives etc. and I was fairly clueless in their application. Just hadn't been taught sentence structure and grammer. Admittedly I was taught to count Ace, 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10, Jack, Queen, King before I went to primary school so had a bit or re-learing to do first (as well as Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Payday, Saturday, Sunday) I’ve mastered what a noun is but other things like adjectives, verbs and adverbs I have an understanding of but it doesn’t trip off like other concepts.
Generally I regard myself as fairly intelligent, backed up by exam passes, other’s feedback and psychometric tests etc but it is definitely a black hole in my intellect!
JimmyConwayNW said:
Doing some English homework with my daughter yesterday, She is year 4 primary school.
This got me thinking, as it was all around grammar adjectives, nouns, common nouns, proper nouns etc.
I don't have any recollection of ever having learned any of this. Now I have forgotten plenty of stuff, but recently doing her maths work it triggers memories.
I have a very, very good memory generally speaking.
I don't suppose there was a random period during the curriculum where they just scrapped teaching of grammar in primary school? I was born in 1986 if anyone of similar age can recall.
The alternative is I am just thick.
I was in school in the 60's and early 70's and have always joked that I wasn't in school the day we did this.This got me thinking, as it was all around grammar adjectives, nouns, common nouns, proper nouns etc.
I don't have any recollection of ever having learned any of this. Now I have forgotten plenty of stuff, but recently doing her maths work it triggers memories.
I have a very, very good memory generally speaking.
I don't suppose there was a random period during the curriculum where they just scrapped teaching of grammar in primary school? I was born in 1986 if anyone of similar age can recall.
The alternative is I am just thick.
montymoo said:
Its an odd one, but my friends and i do not remember studying grammar either. Sentences are just put together on "well that sounds about right".
When coming to learn a foreign language there is so much emphasis put on the correct grammar and how to apply it.
In fact speaking a romance language and not knowing grammar is a recipe for disaster.
Conversing with the tutors and teachers here, they tell me the majority of english students had no idea about grammar and learning a foreign language is the first time they believe they are studying it.
That was my experience also. When coming to learn a foreign language there is so much emphasis put on the correct grammar and how to apply it.
In fact speaking a romance language and not knowing grammar is a recipe for disaster.
Conversing with the tutors and teachers here, they tell me the majority of english students had no idea about grammar and learning a foreign language is the first time they believe they are studying it.
We weren't taught grammar at primary or secondary school as part of the English curriculum, when I came to study languages at secondary school it was my first introduction to nouns, adjectives and verbs.
julian64 said:
There were some very wired things going on back then. In the seventies I remember being taught ITA which was a completely different alphabet and no mention was made of any grammar. It was completely phonetic.
There was a lot of painful catching up needed when it was finally revealed that no one would understand a word or what you wrote outside of the school. I remember it completely scuppering any chances of getting into the top set when I changed schools until I coudl prove I was in the wrong sets later on.
The people responsible for teaching children that should be shot.
If anyone wants a laugh
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Initial_Teaching_Alp...
Blimey, that was my experience too, I knew the alphabet when I started primary school, but was labelled a dummy as I couldn't get on with the ITA way of learning.There was a lot of painful catching up needed when it was finally revealed that no one would understand a word or what you wrote outside of the school. I remember it completely scuppering any chances of getting into the top set when I changed schools until I coudl prove I was in the wrong sets later on.
The people responsible for teaching children that should be shot.
If anyone wants a laugh
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Initial_Teaching_Alp...
I started school in the late 1970's, so I guess our little village school was stuck in the 1960's.
Edited by PH5121 on Tuesday 5th December 10:09
I went to private school in 80s and 90s. No formal teaching of grammar, you picked bits up during normal english lessons but not formally taught. Latin however and later German lessons taught a lot of technical grammar which made sense in english.
My mum however, state educated in the 60's did do formal grammar lessons so it must have deliberately stopped at some point.
Some grammar stuff my daughter does sounds like it is made up.
My mum however, state educated in the 60's did do formal grammar lessons so it must have deliberately stopped at some point.
Some grammar stuff my daughter does sounds like it is made up.
vaud said:
Tom8 said:
Some grammar stuff my daughter does sounds like it is made up.
Phonics was a learning curve for me when my daughters started reading and they were pointing out split digraphs...Gassing Station | The Lounge | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff