X Y Zee, or X Y Zed? What do teach your children?

LordSutch

I never really encountered Zee (instead of Zed) until very recently, then a friend of ours was teaching her child the alphabet in our kitchen with the aid of the alphabet song (courtesy of Youtube) and there they were singing along only for the song to end with a Zee instead of a Zed! :eek: :mad:

I queried this US version, and the Mum saw nothing wrong with it, sure why not she said? all the other kids we know say Zee these days. . .

So am I old fashioned by insisting that my kids say ZED, or what?

Is Zed still the norm in Irish Pre & Primary schools? or is it X,Y Zee nowadays?

huskerdu

LordSutch wrote: »

I never really encountered Zee (instead of Zed) until very recently, then a friend of ours was teaching her child the alphabet in our kitchen with the aid of the alphabet song (courtesy of Youtube) and there they were singing along only for the song to end with a Zee instead of a Zed! :eek: :mad:

I queried this US version, and the Mum saw nothing wrong with it, sure why not she said? all the other kids we know say Zee these days. . .

So am I old fashioned by insisting that my kids say ZED, or what?

Is Zed still the norm in Irish Pre & Primary schools? or is it X,Y Zee nowadays?

Most kids hear Zee on Barney and other US TV shows, and Zed from Granny or the creche. Its a bit irrelevant when it comes to school.

Irish Primary schools all use Phonics, not the alphabet, so they learn the sound zzzzz, not the letter Zee or Zed.

LordSutch

So they don't learn the alphabet anymore! How times change.

Then again I guess the 'times tables' are also gone, so I should'nt be surprised.

Big Bag of Chips

"times tables" aren't gone. They're still in our school anyway.

Kids will still learn the alphabet. They will learn it from telly, from parents. I'm in my 30s and remember zee & zed from my childhood. It never confused me or had me wondering whether to say sneakers or runners

And I turned out ok in the end

LordSutch

Thanks for that illuminating reply, and glad to hear that you turned out ok in the end.

huskerdu

LordSutch wrote: »

So they don't learn the alphabet anymore! How times change.

Then again I guess the 'times tables' are also gone, so I should'nt be surprised.

Tables still exist. My kids spend months on them.

The phonics is interesting, They learn the sounds a,b,c etc but also sh, ch, th, ee, oo, oa,. Once they learn the phonics, they start to read really quickly.

Big Bag of Chips

LordSutch wrote: »

Thanks for that illuminating reply, and glad to hear that you turned out ok in the end.

You're welcome

My point is, over 30 years ago we were interchanging zee and zed, so it's nothing new. When we sang the alphabet we sang zee because it rhymed with "t, u, v" and "now I know my a, b, c", but when we were spelling we would say zed.

Why would you insist on one or the other? Why try to stop your child learning something extra? You could just explain to your kids that the letter has 2 names, but in Ireland people generally say zed.

LordSutch

Well it is close on thirty years since I was in school, which would explain why I wasn't aware of 'Zee' being interchangeable with Zed.

Back in my school days "ZEE" was strictly part of American lingo.

Many thanks 4 your replies.