School Holidays.

[Streetcop]

You can tell the kids are on holiday and that the school runs aren't taking place;

I've not seen a BMW X5 in weeks..



Street

[towman]

Yeah - but my son had his bike nicked, I`ve had my car nicked and the village centre looks like beiruit! Get the little buggers back to school I say.

[Streetcop]

I'm also in favour of that..>I have to work lots of afternoon shifts so I can look after the kids in the mornings..(less £££ to the childminder)...

7 weeks away from education is far too much..The bloody teachers don't teach them enough as it is...

I wont go into all the extra subjects my wife and I had to teach our 13 year old daughter whilst away on holiday. It's like 'The Weakest Link' in the car. Capital cities, royal family, etc etc

Street

[Peter Ward]

I have sympathy, Streetcop. We're doing remedial spelling, reading and writing with our 6-year-old. Teachers don't correct spelling any more, and the Oxford Reading Tree books are so banal it's no wonder nobody learns because nobody wants to read them. We're actually making some progress, but not without tears.

[Streetcop]

Hi Peter..
Thanks mate.
It's embarassing at times hearing the answers which come from my daughters mouth, and she's considered 'bright'...
My son is 7 years old and seems to be more in touch. I believe that junior schools seem to take more interest, yet senior schools seem to let the kids disappear amongst the hundreds and thousands..

Anyway, rant over...motoring/law issues..

cheers,
Street

[WildCat]

Peter Ward said:

I have sympathy, Streetcop. We're doing remedial spelling, reading and writing with our 6-year-old. Teachers don't correct spelling any more, and the Oxford Reading Tree books are so banal it's no wonder nobody learns because nobody wants to read them. We're actually making some progress, but not without tears.

Had this conversation once with FIF. Cousin is teacher. She is 11-18 Maths, Science and Languages (on account of being Swiss). Her first ever lesson in school she is currently Deputy Head in - she dared to correct a child's English spelling - and got told off for it by the English teacher. She was teaching a routine languages class - buying food for a picnic or something. The kids copied the foreign word down correctly and then gave English equivalent at the side (which were not given - cous' assumed they could spell words such as "chocolate" at age of 12-13). Few kids managed to spell any of these simple words properly and so cous' corrected them. She then got told off for this by so-called head of English (she was in more senior position ), who informed her that "she was denying them their right to self expression!" She was outraged - and if you think I have claws - Poor man did not stand a chance .....Trouble is - too many of that type and not enough who actually insist on accuracy.

My own kittens? Encourage them to learn, place the means in front of them, spend fair amount of time with them as well. Can only encourage them to make mostest of ability.... One is studious, twins are tedious, six year old is a "scream", foster kids are quirky, and goodness knows what kitten number five will be like - but think he or she will be lively little muppet given what I am experiencing here.

Und Strassen - teacher Madam PyschoPuss reckons she needs her 7 weeks off to recover from other people's kids who give her a right headache. She does spend fair chunk of these hols planning the next year's scheme of work, devising worksheets and sundry teaching materials, the curriculum for following year and she does mark A level/GCSE scripts. She will be present with tissues on results day! When she goes on hols (and she has been on hols with me in past - she is always on look-out for something which can be used in a lesson. Her language classes - for example - makes use of "safe driving/highway code adverts" from EU, science - kinetic force/energy of speed etc, and she includes road safety across curriculum in various guises. But - you have to bear in mind - family of absolute petrolheads Not quite what you might think - but then your job is more complex than those outside it think.

>> Edited by WildCat on Saturday 14th August 23:17

>> Edited by WildCat on Saturday 14th August 23:19

[CB-Dave]

I worked in a school for a year and the lack of correction in spelling and grammar was terrible.

I'm not old, by a long shot (I'm 23) but I remember being corrected by teachers in both spelling and grammar - and on every occasion I learned something. It seems like schooling now is just something you do when you're a kid - and nobody cares if you come out of the other end knowing jack all...

Call me a cynic but I think it's a ploy by the government to create a generation of illiterates simply to allow the 'educated' immigrants higher placings in society!!

[james_j]

I've been to a number of non-English-speaking countries and, generally, everyone can speak English better than many English people.

This country really is becoming an island of peasants and it's mainly down to "trendy" (but dull) do-gooders who seen intent on dumbing-down everything (and that includes driving skills).

[percy]

Not again....
Teachers DO CORRECT spelling, and yes, we have weekly spellings/X-tables/mental arithmetic etc. I think some people here just like to wind teachers up because we're an easy target and have our hands tied by government 'initiatives'. I have been a primary school teacher for 15 years now and in that time have seen teachers held responsible for all of the evils in the world!!
Oh, and if you think that Oxford Reading Tree is poor, you want to see some of the alternatives! At my son's school, he still has 1,2,3 and Away (Roger Red Hat etc)and that is appalling.
Sorry for the rant, but I've only got 2 weeks of my unnecessarily long holiday left

[Streetcop]

What end of holiday? Back to extended coffee breaks and monitoring the dinner queue?

I take my hat off to your profession, I couldn't do it...I really couldn't..I'm dyslexic...

No, joking apart, I couldn't do it as I couldn't put up with the hassle and cheeky/abusive kids. At least in my profession, I do generally have the last say..

Street

[percy]

Streetcop - looks like you're trying to have the last say on every topic today

[Streetcop]

percy said:

Streetcop - looks like you're trying to have the last say on every topic today

It's not intentional mate...I have bursts of free time between studying and like to have a full house at the side of the page once a day..

Street