I sometimes feel that it is a pity that eleven plus children
are not encouraged to learn a language. Would there be a huge outcry? I wonder.
Exercise One
Translate some of the following:
Germani cum Romanis
fortiter pugnarverunt. Milites audacious
resitere ac fortius incipunt.
We know that pugnacious
is something to do with being ready to fight. We can probably also guess that
the German tribes and the Romans were unhappy with each other.
We also know that audacious means very bold or daring. There
is also the word resitere which may have something to do with resistance. Could
milites have a connection with military?
Put an eleven plus child onto the trail – and excite the
child with the possibility of discovering and deciphering words – and then sit
back and enjoy the enthusiasm. This may be a lot more interesting than asking
for the anonyms of a series of ten words.
Example Two
Translate some of the following:
Metode: 1 koppie gesnayde artapples. 4 koppies warm melk. 2
eetlepels botter, 1 teelepel sout, 1 eatlepel meel, a paar stukkies uie, peper
en sout. Kook alles saam.
Translating this passage may challenge some children – but
if they were helped with understanding where words come from, then new worlds
may open up.
What, for example, could the word metode be? Of course, method.
`koppies warm melk’ – would this be something to do with
cups of milk?
Could we guess at `peper en sout’?
Much of the present eleven plus
seems to be a series of exercises aimed at imparting knowledge. Why can’t the eleven
plus child enjoy learning without being burdened with a large number of
explanations and cautions?
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