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Thursday, October 07, 2010

Eleven Plus Interests

The interests of eleven plus children are changing all the time. The interests of bright and able children will cover diverse areas like T.V. programs, music, mathematics, art, dance, literature and science. It would be wonderful for many children if more eleven plus questions could touch on some of these areas.

Many, but not all, eleven plus questions seem to follow a fairly rigid formula. Just because questions from major publishes seem to follow a remarkably set pattern, so the myriad of teachers, tutors and smaller publishers have churned out eleven plus questions that all seem to be remarkably similar.

If we asked children to devise their own tests for entry to grammar school we could conceivably be enchanted by questions that do not fall into the present categories.

Chatting to an eleven plus child a teacher could conceivably ask:

Which would you prefer?

a) Going to school
b) Visiting an art gallery
c) Going to an adventure centre.

What is most important when you are studying towards the eleven plus?

a) Keeping fit
b) Working through eleven plus papers
c) Being the best you can at school

The responses of some child would naturally follow a desire to answer in a manner that would please the teacher. Other children would answer for themselves. Others would enjoy the whole experience and offer unexpected and delightful answers.

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