Travel

The Ultimate Guide for Kids to Pack Your Own Suitcase

Welcome to our ultimate guide for kids to pack your own suitcase!

When I was a kid, my parents were Scout leaders and one of their rules was that kids should pack their own suitcases. My mum always said that if the kids packed themselves, they knew what they had in their bag or rucksack and how to find things. And they were able to pack to go home.

Now I have my own kids, I can see exactly what she meant. My kids have been packing their own suitcases since they were little. In the beginning, I’d check to ensure that they didn’t have 12 t-shirts and one pair of trousers for a week-long holiday but now I just remind them to take their toothbrush and any vital pieces of kit.

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Language & Literature

The Doncaster Book Awards – By Kids for Kids

Doncaster Book Awards Shortlist 2018

There are lots of children’s book awards, but the Doncaster Book Awards is special. That’s because children decide not only which books they want to win, but even which ones are on the shortlist.
Doncaster is in Yorkshire, in the north of England. Lots of schools in the area, alongside many home-educated kids, register and take part in the awards. First, the children select the shortlist for different categories of books, and these are then voted on by all the schools and the children. Sometimes book publishers ask to get their books on the list, but the answer is always no. This one is by children, for children!

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News & Politics, Popular

The US Election – An Explainer for Kids

US Election

The voting system in the US election often confuses people. What is an Electoral College, and what is the difference between the ‘popular vote’ and the ‘electoral college vote’? Who are the people who work in Congress, and what is the difference between the Senate and the House of Representatives? We take a closer look and answer these and other questions, in a kid-friendly way.

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Language & Literature, Written By You

My Multilingual Life – Written By You

‘Do you speak English?’
For British and American girls who travel to a different country, that question is often the first sentence we learn.

 

‘Sprechen Sie Englisch’

‘Parlez-vous Anglais’

‘habla usted Inglés’

‘Вы говорите по-английски’

‘您说英语吗’

 

What is it like for the estimated two thirds of the world’s population who speak at least two languages? The people who we refer to as ‘bilingual’, if they speak two languages, and sometimes as ‘multilingual’, if they speak more than two languages.

The researcher and writer David Crystal estimates that of the approximately 570 million people in the world who speak English, over 41% are bilingual in English and some other language.

Today’s contributor knows all about speaking more than one language.

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