Following The Homework For A Six Year Old...

[ferlew]

My 8 year old grandson was asked to do some homework on 'fronted adverbials'.
My son rang me to ask what they were as he had no idea, neither did I, since looking them up I feel it's a load of bliddy rubbish, folks just do not talk like that.
"As fast as he could, the rabbit hopped"
Sounds more like Yoda than a lesson for an 8 year old.

[jim360]

As strange as it may seem, fronted adverbials are rather common. That's a rather clunky example, but other as more natural:

"Wherever you are, I will find you."

"Twice a year, I visit my parents."

"Suddenly, I saw a light in the distance."

"Perhaps you will find fronted adverbials less surprising in future."

etc etc

[sunny-dave]

I'd go for the Winston Churchill response ...

"Up with which I will not put"

[jim360]

Oh yeah, while I'm at it, here's another example:

"Following the 'homework for a six year old' thread, my grandson was asked to do some homework on 'fronted adverbials'."

[Prudie]

Well ferlew I have to agree - for that age seems way over the top - plus ironically it doesn't even have an adverb in any of the sentences. I work with real people, men who can fix the weapon systems or difficult mechanical problems in a main battle tank but I doubt 5% could tell me what an adverb is never mind an adverbial phrase, fronted or not.

[roopower]

It's a bit like teaching split digraphs instead of the good old 'magic e'

[jourdain2]

Just spotting the adverbs will do at that age!

[dannyk13]

Churchill once famously said " nonsense, up with which I will not put".English can be a very quirky langasge.

[jno]

Surely the issue is whether your grandson had been told what they were? If so, the ignorance of his parents and grandparents is irrelevant. Parents aren’t supposed to know anything, and grandparents are supposed to provide sweets.

[Jackdaw33]

In all my years of education and teaching I have never come across such a term. In any case, it is totally inappropriate for a child of that age.

[murraymints]

I think , although it may be a tad too early, it is good to hear that sound teaching of the good traditional solid type is still happening...

[Tilly2]

It's all in the National Curriculum now, Jackdaw.

When are fronted adverbials taught in KS2?
Children are taught what a fronted adverbial is and how to use it correctly in their writing in Year 4.

In Year 5 and 6 children will continue to practise using adverbials in their writing and be encouraged to identify them in their reading, considering the effect it has on the sentence.

Fronted adverbials in primary school
The national curriculum states that grammar should be taught explicitly and children must learn the correct terminology.

Teachers will introduce children to fronted adverbials by showing them examples and modelling how to use them in their writing. They will explain what they are and encourage children to use the terminology. Children will then be given activities to complete in small groups or individually, for example:

Playing games (possibly using ICT) to change adverbials
Identifying and highlighting the fronted adverbials in texts
Cutting up sentences to move the adverbials to the front and discussing the effect on the text.

[Jackdaw33]

Bleedin' Norah! I'm glad I'm well out of that game. What a load of....

[murraymints]

that's good to hear Tilly

[Tilly2]

I think so too, Minty.


Things have altered a lot since you were at the chalkface, Jackdaw.

[Prudie]

Yes Jackdaw, pupils are leaving school so much more literate and numerate than they did in your day................

[murraymints]

Prudie...duck ! Lol... I have long lamented the loss of good solid 3 rs type education ... I could read and write before starting school..which really was not unusual then, give a young child a firm grounding and thirst to learn..a lot down to home environment of course...

[Old_Geezer]

It's my view that they are unlikely to be more numerate, relying on PCs and calculators; and whilst one might try to push more detail in at an early age it doesn't necessarily mean it is retained. I'd be concerned that memorising descriptions for parts of a language that seem more appropriate being introduced at secondary school or even Uni.

[Prudie]

with heavy sarcasm, she added dots

[fiction-factory]

We recognised the sarcasm Prudie- but it'll be 8 or maybe 10 years before the students being taught this will leave school, so maybe we should judge it in maybe 10 years' time rather than on those who left school after we left school and who wouldn't have followed this aspect of the curriculum that people on here seem to be mocking

[jim360]

Funny you should say that about calculators, OG -- I would have been happy to agree with you, but a recent study suggests that, in fact, calculators improve numeracy skills, rather than harm them.*

*With the caveat that this only applies if calculators are seen as a tool to complement numeracy, rather than as a replacement for it altogether.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-43500274