accent article

 

Teacher ‘told to sound less northern’ after southern Ofsted inspection

 

A school in Berkshire have argued that accent should change when there is interaction with students. I believe that, having read this article ,that this should be the rule for teachers when in the class room. Standard English must be spoken in classrooms.

Teachers are role models to students, the way they speak holds a huge influence on their students, your children. It is an outrage to learn that teacher’s regional colloquialisms and personal pronunciations are being passed on to their younger students. As an adult role model their school teachers has an extreme impact on the way each and every student speaks.  From the age of 4 children are pushed into a schooling environment where they will begin spending at least 5 hours of their day with the same teacher. Allowing teachers to pronounce words with a regional accent encourages the idea of speaking words which are native to the area which only the older generation of the region would understand. How would you feel if you knew that your 4 year old child was being indoctrinated with words that you yourself weren’t familiar with? 

The way teachers pronounce their words has a larger impact than most parents would initially think. Think about it, teachers educate your children on how to spell, with a thick accent how can we expect our children to grasp the correct spelling for wide vocabulary they’ll pick up off of their older peers whilst being in the schooling environment. Let’s say were in the Essex region, in a small country primary school , the teacher possess a thick Essex accent and is simply discussing topics with the children , she mentions the word ‘water’ in her distinctive regional accent , clearly missing out the ‘t’ and the ‘r’ , how do you think your child will spell this word? This is just one example of the abundance of impacts a simple accent can have.

I completely understand that accent is a form of identity but the idea of teaching is based on the ethos that each teacher is there to help and guide the student and to educate them not only their subject but to develop them as a person. What the children learn in school essentially sets them up for their future, whether its learning how to spell accurately at the age of 5 or developing their speech skills at the age of 10, at each stage of their academic life they learn another skill which will become beneficial to them in the future, at each stage they should be provided with the best chance of learning and I believe that this can only be done by the correct manner of teaching.

However, if there is a small part of you that would wish for your child to speak with an accent in order to fulfil your pride within your region then they will still subconsciously obtain that, but it just will not be taught within the classroom environment. As a child they will all have an abundance of friends which they will surround themselves with 24/7, each one of those children will obtain an accent they have developed within their family home, local community or with their circle of friends.  It is vital that within the classroom we’re they grow and develop academically, that they are spoken to in Standard English were all words are fully pronounced in order to allow a quality standard of English to be spoken and spelt. It sets the same high standard of literacy for students nationwide. The idea of diluting accents is only for the benefit of your children and their learning.