15 March 2012 / by Radmila Gurkova

iPhones - easier than tying your shoelaces

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzi2RIt8_nk

Did you know that children today find it much easier to use an iPhone than to tie their shoelaces? A report shows today that as many as 45 per cent of children in the UK aged between five and 13 cannot tie their shoelaces but 67 per cent know how to use their iPhones and DVD players.



Simple things like – reading a map, making a cup of tea and even repairing a bicycle puncture are difficult tasks but using an iPad or a complicated TV remote comes naturally and easy to use for most children.

Is modern day technology taking over traditional past times and everyday tasks or are children just ‘moving with the times’?, making children ill-equipped to deal with more practical things in life.

Clare McDougall, from npower, said: "These figures show that there has never been a better time to teach our young people some great new skills.

"We really believe that if young people spend more time outdoors they will learn to love and respect the environment and they'll want to preserve it for future generations.

DEBATE



  • Can your child tie their shoelace?

  • At what age did you use your first piece of technology?

  • How many hours a day do we spend using technology?


KEYWORDS




































































Word Image Definition Example Listen
Shoelaces  
A string or lace for fastening a shoe.
He couldn't tie his shoelaces Listen
Tie To fasten by tightening and knotting the string or strings of To tie one's shoes. Listen
Outdoors Out of buildings and into the open air I like to go camping in the great outdoors Listen
Bounce Deflection (physics), the event where an object collides with and bounces against a plane surface The ball bounced on the floor Listen
Ill equipped Badly or inadequately equipped An ill-equipped army. Listen
Puncture A hole in the tyre I got a puncture in my tyre when I drove over broken glass on the road Listen
Preserve To keep alive or in existence; make lasting We need to preserve this species Listen
Repair To restore to a good or sound condition after decay or damage The technian repaired the printer. Listen

How about a little song to help you tie your shoelaces in the morning...

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MI4WCpcFWfE&feature=related

 

 

 

 

 

P2 Grammar Structure: Click here to learn about Pronouns

P4 Grammar Structure: Click here for verbs with fixed prepositions

20

January 2012
Friday Fun: The History of English #3
by Radmila Gurkova
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMkuUADWW2A&feature=relmfu The series of posts about the history of the English language continues with this video about Shakespeare and his impact on the development of English. Have you ever seen a Shakespeare play? Can you recognise any of the roots of the words?...

13

January 2012
Mystery “GOLD BARS” Found on Paris Train are Fake
by Radmila Gurkova
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apD5cPVsDjc A suitcase containing an estimated $1 million in gold bars was abandoned on a commuter train near Paris, but police now say the 20 gold bars were fake. The ingots would have been worth around 800,000 Euros ($1m; £670,000) if they had been genuine. The bars, made from a base metal were l...

13

January 2012
New Year’s Resolutions – Can You Keep Them?
by Radmila Gurkova
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVA9IOMKl-A&feature=fvst “I love a good checklist. A to-do list starts my day off on the right foot. So when it comes to creating New Year’s resolutions, I take it pretty seriously. I mean, it’s a year-long to-do list, it better be a good one.” Resolutions are what you make of them. Without some thought...

13

January 2012
Can...Auxiliary Verb subject + can + main verb
by Radmila Gurkova
Can is an auxiliary verb, a modal verb: talk about po...

13

January 2012
Talking about likes and dislikes.... I love ice cream
by Radmila Gurkova
We use the present simple tense to express likes and dislikes in English. For Example: I like chocolate I don't like chocolate. I like cycling I...

13

January 2012
softEST and most valuable.... Comparison of adjectives
by Radmila Gurkova
(See if you can spot the mistakes in the picture - scroll down to check for answers) Suffixes are groups of letters added to the end of other words t...

13

January 2012
I am going to......do more exercise
by Radmila Gurkova
I AM GOING TO - Future simple to express things in the immediate future. So when we make New Year's Resolutions we normally use GOING TO to express actions in the nea...

13

January 2012
Friday Fun: The History of English... #2
by Radmila Gurkova
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1B8TwBrCIEY Another fun post for a Friday at the end of a busy week... this continues the history of English series that is produced by the Open University in the UK. This short clip talks about the Norman Conquest in 1066 and the influence of French on the development of English. How many of these words do ...

06

January 2012
Elephant Poaching: 'Record Year' for Ivory Captures
by Radmila Gurkova
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbMNaGt8qjc Charity organisation TRAFFIC said that 2011 it had seen high numbers of large ivory captures. TRAFFIC represents the support of Illegal ivory trade. Illegal ivory trade has increased since 2007, the increase is over 800 kg in weight. But in 2010 they only had 10 large captures. There...

06

January 2012
FOR years TO stop
by Radmila Gurkova
FOR & TO ...