These children are taught to survive

Task 1. Read the title of the article. What do you think it could be about? Skim read the article and see if your prediction was correct. What view of the travelling way of life is expressed? Do you agree with it?

The criticism generally levelled at ''New Age travellers" who do not send their children to school every day is that somehow we are unfit to teacln our own children. That we are depriving them of a "proper" education and a "normal" life.

In fact, while some of us have been made homeless or unemployed and taken to the road as a survival tactic, many have made a conscious and positive decision, to live in this way, not because "the system" has failed us personalty (many of us are well-qualified) but because it is clearly misguided and is failing so many. It would be foolish to disregard everything taught in schools. Our children need to know how to read and write, handle numbers, and experience music, sports, art and craft work. But I cannot agree that all children should know certain prescribed facts and acquire certain prescribed skills at certain ages.

Our way of education is a kind of insurance. If we accept that adult life may involve having at least some periods with very little money, with a lot of time on our hands, perhaps without a secure place to live, that skills have to be adapted and developed to compete in the job market, then our children are equipped better than most. They may not all know what happened in 1066 by the age of eight and three-quarters, but most understand how to light a fire, build a tarpaulin shelter, find cheap food and clothing, saw and chop wood, handle and care for animals and deal with other children and adults in a variety of real situations.

Visitors unused to life on site are often struck by the "adultness" of our young children. Three- and four-year-olds mix freely with adults, pay social calls without their parents, might get involved in feeding chickens, milking goats, mending engines, making pastry, jewellery and wood burners. As well as learning "skills" and "information", they learn to accept a lot of people and their different behaviour. The feeling of common shared humanity that we are all part of one "family", is important in the travelling community, and instead of striving to conform to a norm or compete for position, children are encouraged to accept that we are all different but all due respect in our own way.

Task 2. You are going to listen to a radio news broadcast in which the newsreader is talking about a recent clash between travellers, the police and local residents. Before you listen, read through the incomplete notes below and think about the type of information you will need to complete each gap.

Now listen to the broadcast. Fill in the missing information with no more than three words in each gap. Listen to the tape once only!

BROADCAST NOTES

Update on summer solstice celebrations:

travellers heading for (1) __________

police report build up of traffic

Situation in Shepton Mallet:

travellers are (2) __________

north of the town

Complaints by local residents:

(3) __________

gardens trampled

(4) __________

Traveller's claim:

(5) __________

vehicles not (6) __________

How would you feel if a group of travellers came and set up camp near you? What would be the attitude of other people you know? In groups, discuss how the situation could best be handled.

9 LISTENING