Every week there will be a link or a text that I would like you to read and comment.
Chit-Chat students level B1, B2 and C1 are supposed to read the article and write a composition about it. Other native people from around the world are welcome to comment on the article, it can be useful to see how other people write and find out what they think.
It can be interesting to have a very international debate.
Students should give me the composition on paper when they come to class (100 words for B1 and 140 for B2 level) Natives can comment on this blog directly.
Here is the link for this week's article:
CHILDREN NEED TO BE EXPOSED TO RISKY PLAY
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/oct/14/risk-essential-childhood-children-danger?CMP=share_btn_link
1-How much risk should parents introduce to children's lives?
2-Will children look for a needed degree of fear on the internet if they can't fiind it in the real world?
3-What activities should children experience outdoors?
4-After watching the video, what outdoor activities could be introduced in Solsonès for kids?
I think this is a really interesting subject. As someone who grew up in the countryside in England and was allowed, as a child, to experiment with the fun and 'dangers' of the outdoors I learnt the hard way about the dangers of things like fires (they are hot and can burn you) and falling in streams (you get wet and cold) and I think being exposed to this as a child helped me be better placed to evaluate risk as I grew older.
ResponEliminaIt is also a very timely discussion. I read on the BBC website today about the very unfortunate death of 3 children on a farm in Canada which you can read about here http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34611879. I also grew up on a farm in England and it was usual for children to be involved in the day to day activities of the farm and it's true, accidents did happen. For my part when I was about 4 I was watching my father milk cows and trying to reach for a hosepipe I fell and smashed my head on the concrete floor and was in hospital for a few days - I don't think it had any lasting effect although maybe Montse would disagree!
I would be interested to know what the experiences of people in Solsona are as with so many working farms I wonder if it's also common for children to be involved around the farm?
I also really like this quote which is attributed to Albert Einstein and is, for me, a good summary of risk. He said “A ship is always safe at the shore - but that is NOT what it is built for.” and I think the same is true for all of us, especially as children and only by pushing ourselves and discovering new things, sometime making mistakes in the process, do we give ourselves the opportunity to grow and develop.
John
Thank you John for such a long comment, concerning your question about what people did on farms, I'll ask the students in class this week.
Elimina