At Jenner Park primary School in Wales, pupils between the ages of seven and nine are writing letters to residents of a local care home. The initiative sees children and their elderly pen pals(笔友) exchange updates about their lives,helping to build relationships between generations while also giving the children an understanding of the value of writing letters by hand—an activity that's becoming less and less common.
Laura Johnson,the teacher who coordinates(协调) the scheme at Jenner Park,says:"All of our writing is for a purpose. That's the key in getting children to value handwriting. "As soon as you put an audience there, knowing that someone out there is going to be reading it—whether that's parents or another group of children—there's always the real sense of pride to go along with it,"says Johnson.
The school maintains a focus on handwriting throughout the years,from dedicated handwriting classes in the prep school to a calligraphy club offered to the older groups. It has created something called the pen license. It allows younger children to move from using a pencil to pen once they've reached a certain standard. "There's a lot of excitement about reaching that pen licence stage," says Johnson.
Johnson adds that developing students' writing in this way matters for their life after school:"For us, it's important that we create citizens of the future who have a set of life skills that can make them successful." The dominance of technology is a challenge,she admits, but she also believes both tools have their place."Obviously we're competing with technology continuously."she says."And I know there are people there saying you don't need to bother about handwriting because tech is out there. But we don't see it as competing. We're trying to get pupils to realize that there's a place for handwriting and to know when it's important to use each."
24. Why does the school launch the initiative?
A.To help children to find the meaning of handwriting. |
B.To encourage children to show pity for the aged. |
C.To persuade children to choose proper courses. |
D.To urge children to acknowledge the audience. |
25. What does Paragraph 3 mainly tell us about the school?
A.Its after-class activities. | B.Its practice in handwriting. |
C.Its academic achievements. | D.Its innovation in technology. |
26. What can we infer from the last paragraph about handwriting?
A.It will win against technology. | B.It will give way to technology. |
C.It will co-exist with technology. | D.It will cause confusion to people. |
27. Which can be a suitable title for the text?
A.Handwriting promotes the pen pal scheme |
B.Slow communication reduces misunderstanding |
C.Creative ideas for dealing with challenges gain popularity |
D.Putting pen to paper contributes to a love of the written word |