• User AvatarMiriam McKenzie
  • 11 Feb, 2019
  • 0 Comments
  • 40 Secs Read

Our children’s literacy levels…and why they are a problem

New Zealand’s literacy levels are at the lowest they have been in 20 years. Why? Multiple reasons, but the one of the biggest factors in how children learn is by copying what they see. As in, we (the adults) are their role models.  Lately, in various marketing arenas, I have noted countless examples of poor spelling. Especially, ‘kinda’ and ‘gonna’. If we, professionals, spell in this lazy way, how do we expect our children to learn? Perhaps it’s a marketing gimmick to appear cool or relaxed or something – I really don’t know – but let’s raise the bar, please. If we are able to demonstrate the correct way to spell that most definitely flows down to our children. Learning how to spell in English is complicated enough, let’s not make it harder for our children.