Apostrophes' dont matter! Or do they?

http://metro.co.uk/2009/01/29/birmingham-bans-apostrophes-from-road-signs-406036/

Can you see the very small difference between the two signs above?

The top sign has an apostrophe (')  between Paul and s.  The bottom sign doesn't have the apostrophe.

Changes like these to signs are being made in cities in the UK.  "Moving with the times" defenders would say.

"Dropping standards" and "dumbing down" the English language are claims being made by critics of the scheme.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/images/newsgraphics/2013/0808-tests/0808-tests.png

An expert from Cambridge English Language Assessment – provider of over 4 million English language exams each year around the world – comments:

“Dumbing down the standard of English is not the road we want to go down, but you have to put this decision into context,” says Roger Johnson, Acting Chief Executive of Cambridge English Language Assessment.

“Lots of people do struggle with using apostrophes, and it’s important that learners are taught how to use them correctly but removing apostrophes from street names in Cambridge is unlikely to have an effect on English learning standards worldwide. Interestingly, we tend to find that students learning English as a foreign language master the apostrophe remarkably well. This is also true of some other complicated grammar rules, which is really encouraging. I’d be much more concerned if there was a proposal to stop teaching grammar in classrooms around the world.”

The apostrophe is a powerful punctuation mark that can have a huge impact on the meaning of a sentence. It was first introduced into English from French in the 16^th Century and is used to indicate either possession or the omission of letters.

Where do we need apostrophes in this sentence?

Charlies dogs eating its bone because its very hungry and hasnt eaten anything today.

(The spellchecker as I'm writing this only picks up on two missing apostrophes - but there are 4 needed in their sentence!)

What do you think?  I wonder how many times we actually think about the fact that a person lies behind the name of the street?  I mean, if we see the signs below on a door, we know that Daniel, Nicholas and  Suzie sleep in the room behind this door and we would no doubt think we have an idea as to how old they are, things they (don't) like, etc.

http://www.etsy.com/market/super_hero_boys

http://decalpitstop.com/ca/daniel_room2.jpg

http://www.etsy.com/es/listing/107862295/dormitorio-puerta-signo-bebe-guarderia

But most of the time, if we see

or

http://vipticketsandcorporatehospitality.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Lords.jpg

we do not think about the person (Thomas Lord) (or newspaper in the first case) behind the name.  

And I wonder what changes will appear if the guidelines on street signs are carried out to the end:

The naming policy also bans street names which would be "difficult to pronounce or awkward to spell"

Will this mean that Leicester Square, Marylebone Station, Greenwich Park and Tottenham Road will disappear????

Correcting Writing on the Cambridge ESOL Support Forum

In my last post, I brought up the issue of what colour pen teachers choose to use for correcting written work.

I've been away for a few days, but wanted to come back to the subject of correction.

When catching up on emails, I was reading through the Cambridge ESOL Teacher Support Ezine and after following a link, I ended up reading the contributions to the debate about how best to correct writing.

Forum Index » Solving your Problems
Subject:  Correcting Writing

Messages: 134 
Offline 

Dear Colleague, I find teaching the essay, composition quite difficult, students do not seem to want to check their own compositions eagerly, they feel shy or uneasy, embarrassed with comments, do not want to evaluate their work. 

Do you have any hints or tips that can help encourage students to identify their writing errors? 

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 02/12/2011 11:52:46

Looking through the replies to this request for suggestions for encouraging students to identify their writing errors, I felt that some very useful advice was given (see here)
For example: using a correction code; giving students model answers to help them see what is needed and how to organise the content; correcting essays with the student present and discussing the mistakes; highlighting typical mistakes that students make so that they are aware of them.  


And last but not least, the fact that good language should be highlighted and not just errors!


As you are probably aware, Cambridge ESOL has recently updated all its Handbooks for the exams.

In the handbooks for Cambridge English: Key, Preliminary, First, Advanced and Proficiency, you can find the Assessment Scales used by Writing Examiners when assessing the answers to the different Writing tasks.  


The same areas are assessed in all five exams:


Four subscales are used:  Content, Communicative Achievement, Organisation and Language.

Content focuses on how well the candidate has fulfilled the task, in other words if they have done what they were asked to do.

Communicative Achievement focuses on how appropriate the writing is for the task and whether the candidate has used the appropriate register.

Organisation focuses on the way the candidate puts together the piece of writing, in other words if it is logical and ordered.

Language focuses on vocabulary and grammar. This includes the range of language as well as how accurate it is.

Responses are marked on each subscale from 0 to 5.

In the Handbooks, model answers are given marks for each of these subscales. (I personally find that the fact the there is no longer one overall mark at the end of each sample makes the assessment very clear).
 Maybe one answer will contain very few mistakes and a wide range of language, but has omitted one of the content points.  Another sample answer may communicate the message but be full of spelling mistakes.

I find that making students aware of what the criteria for marking is helps tremendously.  Showing students that the skill of writing is much more than correct spelling, punctuation and grammar usually makes them think more about the message and content.  Demonstrating to them that if they use paragraphs and linkers and think about style and register, the message is clearer is an important step towards better writing skills.

Do you still use a red pen?

I was following a link from one of my subscription emails to a Forum Debate on tes.co.uk.

The question being discussed is:

Do you still use a red pen?

Here are a few of the comments posted in reply to this question from tes.co.uu:

We have to mark in green because, apparantly, the children get upset if their work has red marking on it! Now green is the new red!  Having marked in all the other colours of the rainbow over the years, we now HAVE to mark in red... I mark in black or blue for positive comments and in red to highlight the mistakes the students makes and my feedback, otherwise they would not take notice of what  they have done wrong and why. I mark in both green and red. The more the green the better the work, the more the red, the more mistakes they have made. I think its right to highlight the negative elements so that they know what to fix for next time. The worst thing I think is when kids don't review their homework and this is likely if the marking is monotone and uninteresting ... http://www.eltvista.com/2011/07/using-correction-codes-saving-your-students-from-going-down-with-their-slips-in-a-sea-of-red-ink/ What about you?  Do you use a particular pen for marking students' written work?  Do you think it makes a difference? We will come back to the subject of correcting written work in another post! http://www.getfreeimage.com/image/15/check-and-cross-marks-icon