(by Dr. B. Spock)
1. What makes children unwilling or willing to be helpful around the house? The largest factor in a child's balkiness is his feeling that the job is basically unpleasant and oppressive. This feeling does not come from the nature of the chore itself, since under different circumstances he may be positively enthusiastic about doing the same thing (when visiting another family, for instance!). In most cases the cause is the tone of voice of the parent when assigning the job or giving; a reminder... Goodness knows there will be plenty of reasons why a mother will be irritable when asking her daughter to stop her play and clean up. But most often it seems that we parents easily fall into a kill-joy tone when assigning a duty. If I'm right about this, I think it's an attitude left over from our own childhoods. One of the commonest and most frustrating aspects of human nature is that what our parents did to us in childhood that made us cross we have a way of doing to our own children in turn—even though we disapprove of it. If we resented the way our chores were assigned to us in childhood, that irritable feeling is apt to creep into our directions to our children.
2. But there are more cheerful aspects to all of this. The first is, though it's hard to remember, that children want — more than anything else — to be grown up and do the grown-up thing, especially the things that their parents do. They not only want to do the glamorous things like drive cars and have babies, they want to do housework and mend the plumbing. You can hardly keep a two-year-old from sweeping, a three-year-old from making a cake when you do. A father has to push his own son away from the workbench when it's necessary for safety or efficiency.
3. Furthermore, children positively love to be helpful if their efforts have generally been appreciated. They feel particularly proud of themselves when they take the initiative in doing a job. Another favorable factor is that children, like adults, get tremendous satisfaction from bringing the job itself to completion—the joy of workmanship.
4. To keep children at such duties parents not only have to be reasonably agreeable about them, but should try to continue to perform them alongside their children as much as possible. You may be able to turn such duties over to children as they get older and more responsible, but if you try it too soon most of the enthusiasm goes out of the occupation. Of course even for grown-ups such chores will be not only less boring but positively enjoyable when done in company. Even a two- or three-year-old will have fun putting toys away if the mother is doing it too, and making a game of it! And dishwashing in some families is the most harmonious time of the day.
Notes
1. balkiness—разочарование; oppresive — тягостный; to assign — поручать Goodness knows — кто его знает! kill-joy — отравляющий удовольствие frustrating — разрушающий; cross — злой; to resent — негодовать;
apt to creep — склонный закрадываться
2. glamorous — пленительный
to mend the plumbing — чинить водопровод
efficiency — продуктивность
3. to appreciate—ценить
4. boring—скучный
Text 8
Speech Training
(from "Blond's Encyclopaedia of Education")
1. Speech and language training are today considered of vital importance in all branches of education and at all levels. The subject forms an integral part of schools' curricula, it is Studied and practised in the training of teachers in colleges of education, while courses in communication in industry, commerce and technology frequently appear in further education programmes. In addition, the status of speech is being raised by the setting of oral tests in English as part of some of the normal school examinations.
2. Oral communication is closely connected with the everyday needs of life, in work, social relationships and cultural activities. In educating people to take their place happily and successfully in the community, a basic need is to develop an ability to speak well and to communicate honestly, intelligibly, freely. Speech is not an end in itself, but is a means to a more complete existence for the individual and the community in which he lives.
3. Speech education is the responsibility of all teachers and lecturers concerned with training, even though a qualified speech specialist may be available. The "subject" may be taught in its own right, but should be extended into all forms of oral work in all subjects. There have been changes in attitudes and methods of teaching speech, and most teachers will have a highly individual approach. In schools, the work of the teacher is to provide situations closely related to the pupils' real or imagined experience which challenge them to use language well.
4. In planning a programme, it is the fundamental attributes of good speaking that must be considered. These may be summarized as first having something to say, next the ability to arrange one's thoughts before uttering them, then the imagination to choose suitable language, and finally the ability to speak clearly, intelligibly and agreeably, with sensitivity towards the listener. Speech is inseparable from the speaker. It is first a bodily activity, a product of the muscular and nervous system; it is an intellectual activity, for it demands clear thinking and the power to reason, finally it is bothanimaginative and emotional activity.
5. A variety of methods of speech training are adopted. Some teachers believe that the most powerful incentives to speech and language development in schools occur in movement and drama lessons and similar activities which capture the children's imagination. With older pupils, it is considered by some to be desirable to make a more specialized study of speech, of both the artistic and technical aspects.
6. No matter what method may be pursued, the intention of all educationalists should be to develop the child's or student's ability to express himself coherently, fluently, and concisely, in correct and pleasing English. These will always be diversity of accents, and many teachers consider that no standard should be set to which all must conform, but that the accent best suited to the needs of the speaker and the situation may be allowed, provided it can be understood and accepted by all who may use English as a first language.
Notes
integral—существенный, неотъемлемый;
in its own right— зд. независимо от других предметов
to utter—произносить;
incentive — стимул;
coherently—ясно, логически последовательно