Hitting a moving target

English Today ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 55-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurie Bauer
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Primary School ◽  
School Children ◽  
Recent Survey ◽  
Primary School Children ◽  
Moving Target ◽  
New Words ◽  
English Speaking

How rapidly our vocabulary can change, and how yesterday's expressions can vanish without trace. Even words which were used by people the age of the author's children just a few years ago have vanished without trace: untold had a brief flourishing in Wellington as a term of approval, but has vanished completely; grouse, a rather older term, still survives but again not among the young. If old words go, new words come. In a recent survey of the language of primary school children in New Zealand, a word was discovered that all the children knew and virtually none of the teachers knew. To understand the expression, one has to understand something about the games played by children in English-speaking countries.

scholarly journals The Historical and Psychological Significance of the Unorganized Games of New Zealand Primary School Children

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Brian Sutton-Smith
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Primary School ◽  
Small Group ◽  
School Children ◽  
Primary School Children ◽  
The North ◽  
Psychological Significance ◽  
East And West ◽  
Recurrent Motifs ◽  
East West

<p>In the Spring of 1948 while teaching at a primary school, I observed a small group of girls playing a game called "Tip the Finger". During the game one of the players chanted the following rhyme: "Draw a snake upon your back And this is the way it went North, South, East, West, Who tipped your finger?" I recognized immediately and with some surprise that this rhyme contained elements which were not invented by the children and were probably of some antiquity. I knew, for example, though only in a vague and unlearned manner, that the four pattern of the North, South, East and West and the Snake symbolism were recurrent motifs in mythology and folklore. I was aware also that there did not exits any specialized attempt to explain the part that games of this nature played in the lives of the players.</p>

Can we watch regional dialects developing in colonial English?

2002 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurie Bauer ◽  
Winifred Bauer
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Primary School ◽  
School Children ◽  
Regional Variation ◽  
Regional Distribution ◽  
Regional Homogeneity ◽  
Primary School Children ◽  
Regional Dialects ◽  
Australian English

The regional homogeneity of New Zealand English is frequently commented on. Similar observations on varieties such as Australian English were simply precursors to the discovery of regional dialects. In this paper a report is given of a survey of New Zealand primary school children, which showed that in the vocabulary they use in the playground there is considerable regional variation. This might be taken as evidence of the inception of regional variation in New Zealand. However, it is argued that the birth of regional dialects cannot be perceived by the analyst; rather the analyst can observe a stronger or weaker regional distribution of variants. It is also pointed out that the spread of innovations does not always happen in the same way in modern societies as has been reported in traditional dialectological studies.

scholarly journals The correspondence system of teaching primary school children in New Zealand : an account of its evolution and a comparative study of the methods applied and of the standards attained

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Eric Norman Le Petit
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Comparative Study ◽  
Primary School ◽  
School Children ◽  
Educational Needs ◽  
Primary School Children ◽  
Reliable Estimate ◽  
Subsequent Growth ◽  
Method Of Instruction

Following on a visit paid by the Director of Education for New Zealand to some of the Australian states where Correspondence Classes had already been in operation for some years, it was decided to introduce on a much smaller scale a similar method of instruction to serve the educational needs of the very isolated families in New Zealand. A sole teacher was appointed to initiate the scheme but it is evident that, from the beginning, the Department had no reliable estimate of the subsequent growth of the institution nor of the work which it was later to accomplish.

scholarly journals The Historical and Psychological Significance of the Unorganized Games of New Zealand Primary School Children

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Brian Sutton-Smith
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Primary School ◽  
Small Group ◽  
School Children ◽  
Primary School Children ◽  
The North ◽  
Psychological Significance ◽  
East And West ◽  
Recurrent Motifs ◽  
East West

<p>In the Spring of 1948 while teaching at a primary school, I observed a small group of girls playing a game called "Tip the Finger". During the game one of the players chanted the following rhyme: "Draw a snake upon your back And this is the way it went North, South, East, West, Who tipped your finger?" I recognized immediately and with some surprise that this rhyme contained elements which were not invented by the children and were probably of some antiquity. I knew, for example, though only in a vague and unlearned manner, that the four pattern of the North, South, East and West and the Snake symbolism were recurrent motifs in mythology and folklore. I was aware also that there did not exits any specialized attempt to explain the part that games of this nature played in the lives of the players.</p>

scholarly journals The correspondence system of teaching primary school children in New Zealand : an account of its evolution and a comparative study of the methods applied and of the standards attained

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Eric Norman Le Petit
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Comparative Study ◽  
Primary School ◽  
School Children ◽  
Educational Needs ◽  
Primary School Children ◽  
Reliable Estimate ◽  
Subsequent Growth ◽  
Method Of Instruction

Following on a visit paid by the Director of Education for New Zealand to some of the Australian states where Correspondence Classes had already been in operation for some years, it was decided to introduce on a much smaller scale a similar method of instruction to serve the educational needs of the very isolated families in New Zealand. A sole teacher was appointed to initiate the scheme but it is evident that, from the beginning, the Department had no reliable estimate of the subsequent growth of the institution nor of the work which it was later to accomplish.

Bullying among primary school children in New Zealand: relationships with prosocial behaviour and classroom climate

2010 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliana L. Raskauskas ◽  
Janet Gregory ◽  
Shane T. Harvey ◽  
Fathimath Rifshana ◽  
Ian M. Evans
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Primary School ◽  
School Children ◽  
Classroom Climate ◽  
Primary School Children ◽  
Prosocial Behaviour

scholarly journals Effect of Schoolbag Weight on Musculoskeletal Pain among Primary School Children in Yaounde, Cameroon: A Cross-sectional Study

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wiliam Richard Guessogo ◽  
Peguy Brice Assomo-Ndemba ◽  
Edmond Ebal-Minye ◽  
Jerson Mekoulou-Ndongo ◽  
Claude Bryan Bika-Lélé ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Primary School ◽  
Musculoskeletal Pain ◽  
School Children ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Primary School Children ◽  
Sectional Study ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
French Speaking ◽  
English Speaking

Background: Heavy schoolbag is known to cause health problems for school children. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of carrying heavy schoolbags on the musculoskeletal pain among primary school children of the two subsystems in Yaounde, Cameroon. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out in primary schools in Yaounde. A total of 457 school-children (8.2 ± 2.2 years) were included, 202 from the French-speaking subsystem, and 255 from the English-speaking subsystem. Parameters studied included weight, height, and schoolbag weight. A questionnaire was used to collect socio-demographic information and potential musculoskeletal pain in three regions: back, shoulders, and neck. Results: The mean weight of children and their bags was 28.4 ± 8.2 kg and 5.2 ± 2.3 kg respectively. More than 50% of schoolchildren in the two subsystems carried a schoolbag weighing more than 15% of body weight. The back (38%) was the least affected area in comparison to the shoulders (58.6%) and neck (42.4%) (p < 0.001). Carrying heavy bags and walking to school was associated with pain in the back, shoulders, and neck. School-children in the French-speaking subsystem had lower risk (adjusted Odds Ratio 0.438, 95% CI = 0.295-0.651; p < 0.001) to develop a sore neck compared to peers from the English-speaking subsystem. Conclusion: Carrying heavy schoolbags is associated to musculoskeletal pain in schoolchildren. The means moving to and from school is a main risk factor of developing musculoskeletal pain. French-speaking schoolchildren develop less neck pain than English-speaking schoolchildren.

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