ABSTRACT
Teachers do not automatically correct spoken regional deviations from generally accepted forms, as they are aware that these are neither slipshod nor lazy but part of the grammar of the district. Nor do they object to vocabulary which is part of that tradition. The word ‘belly’ is normal speech
in the home city of one of the writers. It was good enough for Shakespeare….More seriously, schools and teachers as part of their English policy are aware of and sensitive to children’s huge achievements in language acquisition outside school and the need to see parents as partners in further developments.
