Sacred Heart Primary School in Middlesbrough wants pupils to stop pronouncing “work” as “werk” and “shirt” as “shert”.
Pupils were given a list of examples of incorrect grammar or pronunciation to watch, such as “gizit ‘ere” and “yous”.
Headteacher Carol Walker said she wanted to teach standard English, not to remove the Teesside accent.
The letter lists several common Teesside phrases – some distinct from Geordie on neighbouring Tyneside and some common to children across the country.
It includes examples of incorrect usage, such as “could of”, “I seen that”, “it’s nowt”, “butta” and the use of “f” instead of “th” at the beginning of words. More.
The translation workplace 
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Spain
Local time: 06:07
Spanish to English
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I had the same thing - the value of standard English - taught to me when I was growing up in Glasgow. I slightly resented it at the time but now appreciate that if you want to get ahead in the world and be understood outside your own little community, you need to use language appropriately.
France
Local time: 06:07
French to English
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...if you want to get ahead in the world and be understood outside your own little community, you need to use language appropriately.
This is true, but I think it's mostly up to teachers to inculcate this into children (if only because they can't assume that every parent knows how to switch on the RP when needed). If children are corrected on their language at school then this should reinforce the idea that we use different registers of language in different situations.
As an aside, I had to wait until I saw red pen appearing all over my essays at uni before I realised that only Geordies use the past simple as the past participle in English (e.g. "I have went", instead of "I have gone", etc.).
United Kingdom
Local time: 05:07
French to English
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I seem to remember a story last year about a Primary school in Essex giving elocution lessons to its pupils, and as a result their spelling improved almost exponentially!
However correcting local accents seems a bit extreme to me, when that is what adds to a sense of local identity.
Local time: 05:07
English to Portuguese
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I totally agree, as I lived a few years in the area, (Thornaby on Tees) and although with a good command of English, I often found myself in difficulty as I could not understand what locals were saying.
But I think it is the teachers' role as probably parents or relatives will have the same accent.
Netherlands
Local time: 06:07
English to Afrikaans
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I had the same thing - the value of standard English - taught to me when I was growing up in Glasgow. I slightly resented it at the time but now appreciate that if you want to get ahead in the world and be understood outside your own little community, you need to use language appropriately.
Absolutely. It would be wrong of the school principle to belittle the local accent or to expect children to stop using the local accent in all walks of life, but in the school subject "English" it would be proper to learn proper English and to use proper English and be evaluated on how well you can use it.
Local time: 06:07
Swedish to English
I remember with gratitude my father's encouragement to look things up in a dictionary or Pears' Cyclopedia.
Parents' help is essential.
[Edited at 2013-02-07 17:06 GMT]
[Edited at 2013-02-07 17:06 GMT]
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