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Children will be taught to speak formal English
Danny Brierley27 Apr 2009
An overhaul of the schools curriculum for seven to 11-year-olds will see pupils given lessons on how to speak proper English in formal settings.
Children would be taught how to "recognise when to use formal language, including standard spoken English", how to moderate tone of voice and use appropriate hand gestures.
The proposals from Sir Jim Rose, a former head of Ofsted, were drafted in response to concerns that an increasing number of children are unable to string a coherent sentence together.
In some areas up to 50 per cent of the school-age population has speech and language difficulties.
A draft copy of the Rose reforms says primary children should learn to "adjust what they say according to the formality of the context and the needs of their audience".
It is intended to help children who may start school already having to play catch-up because they do not have the right vocabulary. That can have a severe effect on children's ability to learn and make friends.
Sir Jim's review is expected to be published on Thursday. He said: "I will be making a very strong play on this. There's more and more evidence to establish the need for support for children from certain backgrounds that don't offer the right kind of development of speaking and listening. "
The review will also say that information technology should be given the same prominence as literacy and numeracy.
Reader views (20)
well im a teenager (14) and im afraid to admit that I myself cannot speak proper English. I speak slang to my friends. I find this a way to communicate with my friends, as this gives us a better understanding of other people. When Im at home speaking to my mother I forget about the slang world and come back to whats called standard English. So I find this kind of useful as this 2 ways of speaking help me in 2 different ways...... 
- Nathaniel, Ilford, London, England, 27/02/2011 18:07
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I am forty-five years old and was bought up to believe that the English language was part of our national identity, something that we all had a duty to use to the best of our ability. Something that did not stop developing when one left school but which was worked upon throughout life. I am not an academic or particularly well qualified man and doubtless my grammar and spelling still have room for improvement but I am absolutely appalled by the inability of most teenagers to put together a grammatically correct sentence. I live in Southampton, Hampshire and every day I struggle to ensure my six year old son grows up to speak his mother tongue correctly, against an education system that has given up on teaching children to talk properly or grammatically and an always close at hand culture of ignorant, brutish yobbishness. Someone please tell me I am not as alone as I feel.
- Simon Lucas, Southampton, Hampshire, England, 21/10/2009 21:22
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Its pretty bad when the BBC has to subtitle its own shows, in English...
- Trunk, US, 21/10/2009 20:22
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It beggars belief that this Labour government who have spent MILLIONS of tax payers money on ill conceived,& in the view of many classroom teachers,doomed initiatives to tackle literacy, should now be promoting a policy of language development that encourages, wait for it, active interaction with a child !
Labour ministers would not listen to the objections to the politically correct inspired drivel that centred upon tick boxes & a formulaic style of teaching, & which ultimately bored & drove many of our youngsters from literature & social interaction. They bulldozed ill conceived programmes such as SATs & Literacy hour in secondary schools based upon a rigid, unimaginative & barren interpretation of the National Curriculum. Ed Balls exemplifies the narrow stubborn deluded politicians who listen to nobody. Let them be damned at the next election !
J of Westbourne
- Julian Shore, bournemouth England, 21/10/2009 20:22
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"Standard Spoken English" are the magic words there - or Received English as it used to be called: practically wiped out in an effort to promote the diversity of the English language on television by using presenters with loads of different accents. How can a child learn to read by the preferred phonic method if the way they pronounce the word is not the same? Received English was percieved as 'posh' and was accordingly flagged for eradication by the PC Brigade. Wiv ow' i' da kidz ain't gonna no ow da real world werks! (As at least 2 of my neices would type it on Messenger).
- Roz, France, 21/10/2009 20:22
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Congratulations Ofsted. You have caught up with the rest of us, who have noticed a decline in standards over the last 12 years.
- Dave Davies, Basingstoke, 21/10/2009 20:22
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If children are taught to speak proper; phone text messages will cost a fortune.
- Mickyinlondon, london, 21/10/2009 20:22
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That rules out Sir Alan Sugar for Mayor then...
- Beatriz, London, 21/10/2009 20:22
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It is not just children who need to be taught how to speak proper.
- William, London, 21/10/2009 20:22
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william; should that not be "properly" or were you making a point?
- Ron Oliver, Edinburgh Scotland, 21/10/2009 20:22
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Isn't this just common sense and how things used to be? The whole purpose of going to school is to learn to read and write the English language properly - after all, this is ENGLAND !!
- Kay, London, 21/10/2009 20:22
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I'm all for a return to teaching correct diction, pronounciation, spelling and grammar. I can't wait to see what is considered appropriate by Sir Jim though...we musn't make anybody feel bad so I'm sure it will be nice and wooly or 'ethnocentric', whatever that means! If parents spent time actually having a conversation with their kids they'd realise that's the best way to teach them how to communicate.
- London, London, 21/10/2009 20:22
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Another Labour initiative innit? Our generation was taught to speak properly, write properly and communicate properly. The Labour ignoramuses threw it all away.
- Judith C, London, 21/10/2009 20:22
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I'm not a parent, so I haven't needed to pay much attention to what is taught in schools, but I didn't realise that it had got quite this bad. I noticed that school uniforms had almost gone.
- Martin H. Watson, Teddington, 21/10/2009 20:22
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This is amazing, truly amazing for the once center of the Empire. I emigrated to the USA some years ago, it is a true shock to discover that kids over there speak better English than we do here. They know how to use an apostrophe and more.
My wife (from the US) is working here in the UK and she majored in languages, she is stunned to hear stuff like this in an office setting:
"I were just sat there",
"We was only stood there for a minute",
"He's the one what said it",
and so on. This is nothing to do with accent, this is all to do with basic grammar AND these are adults.
Did anyone else notice how the TV show "The Speaker" has carefully avoided any mention of these sorts of errors?
It seems it might not be politically correct, but do tell me how one can teach and learn public speaking, when these errors of grammar and diction are excused, as they routinely are in that TV show.
- Hugh, Birmingham, UK, 21/10/2009 20:22
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itz gotta be done, innnit doh, y'nah waht im saying?!!!
- Kh, London UK, 21/10/2009 20:22
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How about simply teaching them to speak proper English the entire time?
- Marianne (Uk National And Tax-Payer), SW France, 21/10/2009 20:22
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12 years too late.
- Frank, Home Counties, England., 21/10/2009 20:22
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Gosh, what a brilliant idea! Teach English children how to speak English! I wonder if it might catch on?
Only under NuLabour could we find ourselves in a position where after 12 years in power, destroying the fabric of our society, dismantling our United Kingdom, wrecking educational standards by allowing children to do what they want rather than what is good for them and the country in the long term, suddenly they rediscover basic standards.
You really could not make it up.
I am aghast at the appalling standard of spoken and written English, which is in evidence every day in shops and on many web comments.
And frankly given the number of Labour Ministers who are unable to speak correctly themselves, then it is hardly surprising that they have presided over such a debasing of standards.
Millions of children have been let down and their whole lives will be blighted by the failure to teach them good English and the 3 Rs at school. I hear MUCH better English spoken in most European countries by young people who have learnt it as a second or third language.
By comparison my young relatives were all allowed to give up foreign languages altogether. It is truly MAD!
The sooner we are rid of this entire Labour shower the better.
- Mike, Guildford, 21/10/2009 20:22
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I'm just wondering how long it will be before one of the PC brigade - most likely Harriet Harmon or the big chief stirrer herself Chami Shakrabarti - starts whining that it'll descriminate against the parents of the little darlings if the kids are taught to talk differently to the rest of their pig ignorant famerlees.
- M Farbiash, Highgate, 21/10/2009 20:22
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