'back to school' for parents ~ and blooper of BBC presenter

In our early years, we were taught to read  ‘The Hindu’ newspaper for honing our English language skills – many of us used to read the penultimate page, for it was Sports page,  i.e., Cricket to us.  Perhaps, the standard is not the same now !!  ....     In BBC -  ‘World in the News’   is a weekly news video section. In each episode, the  presenters tells  a story from the week's news – and they also  teach five useful words and phrases that  can be used in daily life.

Singapore ranked first in the world for maths and science in the latest OECD tests. That academic excellence is a great source of pride - and also anxiety.  Many parents feel they need to invest in tuition to give their children a head start.  It's early on a Sunday morning but "students" in Singapore are buckling down to solve mathematical problems as they prepare for primary school exams.

"There is a total of 5,421 cows and goats on the farm. If three quarters of the cows and 60% of the goats are sold, there will be an equal number of cows and goats left," the teacher says. "How many cows and how many goats are there on the farm?" A dozen pupils diligently work on the problem. But these are not children cramming. They're adults.

Many parents in Singapore find it difficult to keep up as their children are inundated with homework and exams in a highly demanding and competitive state-school system. To help their children, some parents go back to school themselves, attending workshops offered by schools and private tuition centres.  .... it is ‘back to school’  for them !!

As one knows it well, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is the UK's public-service broadcaster, headquartered at Broadcasting House in London. The World’s  oldest national broadcasting organisation is  the largest broadcaster in the world by number of employees.  BBC was established under a Royal Charter  and operates under its Agreement with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.  Its work is funded principally by an annual television licence fee,  which is charged to all British households, companies, and organisations using any type of equipment to receive or record live television broadcasts.  No need to add that it is renowned, the English News is much admired, so also are its presenters.

B u t ... bloopers do occur everywhere – and ... MailOnline and other newssites report of the  BBC Presenter spelling ‘education ‘wrong !! as he reported live from classroom.

BBC presenter Charlie Stayt has been blasted after he misspelt the word 'education' during a live report on the issue. Viewers took to Twitter to complain after he missed out the letter 'c' when he scrawled the word on a whiteboard at a primary school in Southampton, Hampshire.  Viewer Hardy Lion tweeted: '#bbcbreakfast ha ha spelt education wrong!!!   Back to school!'

Eagle-eyed viewers spotted Charlie Stayt's embarrassing spelling error during a live broadcast.  The presenter left out the letter 'c' when he wrote the word for the third time on the whiteboard this morning. The presenter later described the gaffe as 'one of those things,' after being alerted to it by colleagues

Some said, Stayt caused a Twitter frenzy in two-and-a-half minutes. Stayt was discussing the issue of education at Highfield Primary School as part of the programme's UK sofa tour in the run up to the election.  Afterwards, colleague Bill Turnbull made red-faced Stayt spell the word 'education'

US politician Dan Quayle was mocked when he misspelt the word 'potato' on a school blackboard on June 15, 1992 when he was visiting a school in Trenton as part of his official duties. He took part in a spelling bee when students had to write words on a blackboard. When it was 12-year-old William Figueroa's turn he had to write the word 'potato'. But Quayle pointed out: 'You're close, but you left a little something off. The e on the end'.  In December last year, police in South Yorkshire were left embarrassed after taking delivery of a new patrol car with POLCE emblazoned on the side.   In April 2013, council workmen somehow managed to spell 'school' wrong outside Innellan Primary School, near Dunoon in Scotland. They painted 'sckool' on the road instead.

You can add many more bloopers to this list, if you notice the name boards of the Streets and the names written on the boards of Shops and establishments here. But some error  by BBC naturally attracts more !!

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

22^nd May 2015