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'Yo bro, nice bling, innit'

from Cathy (cathyvpreece@aol.com)

'Yo bro, nice bling, innit'

Jul 9 2004
By Vicky Wilks

South London Press

SOUTH London slang hit the headlines this week after it was reported a headteacher had banned it from his classrooms.

Headteacher of Lilian Baylis School Gary Phillips rubbished reports that pupils were being punished for using popular street talk such as "dat" and "innit" but said instead they were corrected.

Mr Phillips said staff at the Kennington school have noticed the standard of English used by pupils in exams was not as high as hoped and had held youngsters back from getting good grades.

He said: "Every child in South London speaks some version of South London slang. In class, if they are explaining work to each other they can explain it as they normally would.

"But when they are doing a presentation, taking part in a question and answer session, or talking to the whole class, children have to use formal English."

However, Mr Phillips emphasised pupils were not punished for using slang but rather prompted to use Standard English. The teacher will write the offending word such as "dat" on the board and explain what it should be.

Mr Phillips added: "You can't punish children for using what, to them, is almost their mother tongue."

There are 42 languages spoken at Lilian Baylis, including Portuguese, Yoruba and Somalian.

Some of the street talk has its origins in other languages such as Jamaican patois.

But Mr Phillips explained: "Most of the kids could not tell you its origin - it is South London youth talk.

"Children who have recently migrated from the Caribbean have very good formal language - they are taught it at school. Children who have grown up here in South London have never known anything else."

He also highlighted that children needed to be aware that they should use Standard English while on work placements or at interviews for college or jobs.

Parent Ricky Rennalls, who has a 14 year-old son at Lilian Baylis, said: "It is, of course, correct that children should communicate appropriately when they are doing exams or writing essays but at the same time we need to recognise an evolving urban language is part of our celebrated cultural diversity."

(posted 7202 days ago)

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