Trainee teachers told to tone down their accents

[Tringa]

Just heard this story on the TV (although it has surfaced before) - http://www.theguardian.com/educatio...northern-england-told-to-modify-their-accents

I could understand this about 200 years ago when there was less movement of people around the country than there is now and there was no mass communication so experience of other accents was limited but it seems odd and potentially insulting now.

I agrre there will be some with very strong accents who cannot be understood by others but I think the majority of those with an identifable accent can be understood easily.

I wonder if the tutors that suggested these trainee teachers should tone down their accents would suggest foreign teachers change their accents to make them more understandable.

Dave

 

[Lynton]

what a load of cock..........

Best mate, lives down in kent but from yorkshire... as soon as he went back to yorkshire for a weekend, was a much stronger accent than he had.

Also a bit odd, been to SA a few times, and end up leaving with a SA accent for a few weeks.. seems some people pick up the accent and change, whereas another mate from Ireland, no change whatsoever.

 

[nilagin]

Seems perfectly reasonable if people have difficulty understanding what they were saying. When my son was at college, he had an Indian maths teacher, no-one in the class could understand most of what he was saying and their work was suffering as a result. They had to complain to the college and they found them another tutor.
Some people have a "thick accent", for others who aren't used to hearing it, it can be pretty much just a noise. You could end up using all your concentration trying to interpret what is being said rather than learning what is being taught.

 

[scottduffy]

I can watch tv with my wife and understand everything i'm watching and i kid not when it's Brummie accents, Irish accents or just about anything other than Scottish she'll ask me to put on subtitles. God knows why as she's an intelligent woman she just doesn't understand what they're saying. It's crazy.

 

[LongLensPhotography]

I think it is totally fair. Kids need to grow up being able to speak fluent Queen's English. They get plenty of exposure to local accents presumably from parents or their peers. So don't worry they will not "miss out" on that form of "local heritage". Some accents can cause trouble even to native english speakers such as some Americans, etc. That is not very good in my view. It can also affect job prospects so if I ever have kids I want them properly educated.

 

[Graham W]

I think it is totally fair. Kids need to grow up being able to speak fluent Queen's English. They get plenty of exposure to local accents presumably from parents or their peers. So don't worry they will not "miss out" on that form of "local heritage". Some accents can cause trouble even to native english speakers such as some Americans, etc. That is not very good in my view. It can also affect job prospects so if I ever have kids I want them properly educated.

Can I ask what your accent is?

 

[BBR]

Well my accent is East London (not estuary) and I believe it has held me back. I tried speaking 'properly' but just sounded like an affected knob. Fortunately my wife has educated our children to speak with less of a regional accent. Personally I don't like accents, I think we should return to received pronunciation.

 

[Dale_tem]

I work in education and accents and ways of saying things really affect spelling and grammar. I'm from sarf London and 10 years after leaving I'm still say 'Going Tescos' dropping the I'm' and 'to'.

This does effect children's learning, it is not made up