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Friday, January 16, 2009

Do you know how the term 'boycott' came about?

Do you know how the term 'boycott' came about?

Boycott means to abandon dealings with a person or organisation, or to refuse to buy a product , usually as a means of protest. It is a commonly used word born out of a moment in nineteenth-century Irish history. It is based on one Captain Charles Cunningham Boycott, an Englishman who was serving as an estate agent on the farming properties of Lord Earne in the late nineteenth century during a period of upheaval in the landholding system. He was a deeply disliked man, and campaigns organised by the Irish Land League, led by Charles Stuart Parnell, sought to force Boycott to heavily discount their rents. But Boycott was a stubborn character, and was having none of it. Parnell decided that there was only one way to persuade him to reconsider: refuse to deal with him!

Amazingly, everyone in the region agreed with Parnell and began to treat him like 'the lepers of old'. Soon enough, Boycott could not get anyone to do anything for him - shops would not sell to him, and his workmen quit. Any help he got came from those drafted in from elsewhere in the country. Boycott stood firm, but rapidly the practice became known as boycotting, and a new verb was born. His name became an instant word for mass abandonment - before life boycotted Boycott, he saw his name enter into the language as a standard term.

Extracted from March Hares and Monkey's Uncles by Harry Oliver.

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Reading: How the parent can help

Reading: How the parent can help

Teaching reading is an important and difficult job in which both the school and the parent can cooperate. Here are many ways in which you as a parent can help your child:

  1. Talk to your child. Almost from birth, a child is ready to express himself. At first, he will respond by cooing and gurgling. Later he will pick up a few words and sense the rhythm of language. Help him to add words to his speaking vocabulary. The more words he uses naturally in his ordinary conversation, the more words will have meaning for him when he sees them on the printed page.
  2. Listen to your child. Children have many opportunities to express themselves. Encourage your child to talk about things he has seen or done. Do pay attention when he is talking with you. Listen to your child read. Suggest that before he reads aloud to you, he should read the story to himself to be sure that he knows most if not all the words. This makes his reading to you interesting and enjoyable both to him and you.
  3. Read to your child. Every time you read to him, you are building an appreciation of books and reading. A child who has been read to is usually more anxious to read to himself. Reading becomes important. Remember, his listening and interest levels are above his reading level.
  4. Help him with his reading. Tell him the words if he is in the beginning stages of reading. Help him to work out the word if he is in a latter stage by looking at the picture, skipping over the unknown word and reading the rest of the sentence to see whether this suggests a new word, and checking to see whether the word makes 'sense' in the sentence. (e.g. 'I was a pig' or 'I saw a pig')
  5. Build a reading atmosphere at home. Have books, magazines, newspapers, etc. around the house. Let your child see you reading frequently. Tune in to thoughtful and meaningful programmes on the radio and television. Children tend to imitate the adults around them.
  6. Teach your child how to take care of books. He will learn to regard books as friends.
  7. Take him on trips. Even a short trip on the bus will excite his curiosity and interest in the world around him. Point out interesting things and give him new words and meanings for words.
  8. Encourage him to join the public library. Take him to the library at first but don't tell him what books to select. If he is a poor reader, he may choose easy books at first. As he gains confidence, satisfaction and improves in reading, he will choose more difficult books. Don't insist that he reads books which are of great difficulty to him because of his physical age.
  9. Buy books for your child. For birthdays and holidays, buy books when you can afford them. A child who owns a few good books is usually interested in reading. Try to get books at his reading grade level so he can read these books with fun and pleasure. Buy children's magazines too.
  10. Buy games and puzzles for your child. These help your child learn shape and form and help him relate words to things. Anagrams, letter games, Scrabble will help him with his spelling and reading. Jigsaw puzzles help a child recognize shape.
  11. Make games. You can make simple word games by cutting words from a magazine and asking your child to match these words to a picture. Make word cards for troublesome words (e.g. was, there, what, went) and play a game with your child. How quickly can he learn the word and how many word cards can be removed from the pack because he really has learnt them? What words should be added?
  12. Guide your child to better movie-going. Select radio or TV programmes which will give him worthwhile information as well as entertainment.
  13. Praise your child. Remember, reading is a difficult task. Don't forget to praise him when he succeeds. Don't expect him to know the word when you tell it once or twice or over ten or twenty times. Some children need to see a word many more times than this.
  14. Give your child responsibilities which he is capable of taking. This allows him to earn recognition and to get real satisfaction from accomplishments. In turn, this will build his confidence.
  15. Keep your child well and rested. A child who has stayed up late to watch television shows the effect next day in his schoolwork.
  16. See that your child attends school every day. When he is absent from school, he misses his work and may not be able to keep up with the class.
  17. Set aside a regular time for homework. Give your child a definite place in which to work. Keep that environment quiet and conducive. Do not keep a blaring television or radio set or entertain guests in that area. Help your child to develop the habit of daily attention to homework routines.
  18. Check your child's report card. If he is having trouble with reading or any subject, consult his teacher to find out why and how you can help. Don't leave the task of helping your child to the teacher solely. It is your responsibility so support your child's learning at home.
  19. Show a real interest in school. The parents' attitudes are usually the child's. You and the teacher are partners in the important job of teaching your child to read. An interested and helpful parent is most valuable co-worker and you are the partners we need.
  20. Accept your child as he is. Don't compare him with his sibling or friend. Encourage him to improve as much as he can.

Remember:Children learn to read by reading.

The more they read, the better readers they become!

Adapted from: Guiding the reading program: a reading consultant's handbook. (Robinson, H.A. & Rauch, S.J.)

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