The Importance of Children's Play
The first article is about the importance of children's play. The article has 16 paragraphs, which can be divided into three parts: the first part introduces the importance of the past games; The second part introduces the changes of the times, people no longer pay attention to games; The third part introduces the latest academic research results for games. The following is the translation of each paragraph.
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The importance of children's play
The Importance of Children's Play
Cambridge IELTS 14 Test1 Passage1 Reading original translation
Paragraph 1
Brick by brick, six-year-old Alice is building a magical kingdom. Imagining fairy-tale turrets and fire-breathing dragons, wicked witches and gallant heroes, she’s creating an enchanting world. Although she isn’t aware of it, this fantasy is helping her take her first steps towards her capacity for creativity and so it will have important repercussions in her adult life.
Block by block, six-year-old Alice is building a magic kingdom. Imagine the tower and fire breathing dragon in the fairy tale, evil wizard and brave hero. She is creating a fascinating world. Although she did not realize it, this fantasy is helping her take the first few steps towards creativity, which will have an important impact on her adult life.
Paragraph 2
Minutes later, Alice has abandoned the kingdom in favour of playing schools with her younger brother. When she bosses him around as his ‘teacher’, she’s practising how to regulate her emotions through pretence. Later on, when they tire of this and settle down with a board game, she’s learning about the need to follow rules and take turns with a partner.
A few minutes later, Alice gave up her kingdom and began to play pretend school with her brother. When she plays the role of a teacher and commands her brother to move around, she is exercising how to manage her emotions through this behavior. Then they got tired of role playing and began to sit down and play board games. At this time, she is understanding the need to follow the rules and take turns with her peers.
Paragraph 3
‘Play in all its rich variety is one of the highest achievements of the human species,’ says Dr David Whitebread from the Faculty of Education at the University of Cambridge, UK. ‘It underpins how we develop as intellectual, problem-solving adults and is crucial to our success as a highly adaptable species.’
"Games with extremely rich forms are one of the greatest achievements of mankind", said Dr. David Whitebreak of the School of Education, Cambridge University, UK. "It lays the foundation for us to grow into intelligent adults with the ability to solve problems, and is also crucial to our success as a highly adaptable species".
Paragraph 4
Recognising the importance of play is not new: over two millennia ago, the Greek philosopher Plato extolled its virtues as a means of developing skills for adult life, and ideas about play-based learning have been developing since the 19th century.
It is nothing new to realize the importance of games: more than 2000 years ago, the Greek philosopher wrote an article from the old roast duck, Esther Plato, praising its advantages and thinking that it is a means to develop various skills for adult life. The concept of education and entertainment began to appear in the 19th century.
Paragraph 5
But we live in changing times, and Whitebread is mindful of a worldwide decline in play, pointing out that over half the people in the world now live in cities. ‘The opportunities for free play, which I experienced almost every day of my childhood, are becoming increasingly scarce, ’ he says. Outdoor play is curtailed by perceptions of risk to do with traffic, as well as parents’ increased wish to protect their children from being the victims of crime, and by the emphasis on ‘earlier is better’ which is leading to greater competition in academic learning and schools.
But we live in an era full of changes. Whitebreak noted the decline in the importance of games worldwide, pointing out that more than half of the world's population now lives in cities. "The opportunities for free play are becoming less and less, and I can experience it almost every day in my childhood," he said. The outdoor play is restrained due to the following reasons: people's worries about traffic risks, parents' hopes of gradually climbing, protecting children from crime, and the emphasis on the idea that the earlier the better (which leads to more intense competition in academic learning and schools).
Paragraph 6
International bodies like the United Nations and the European Union have begun to develop policies concerned with children’s right to play, and to consider implications for leisure facilities and educational programmes. But what they often lack is the evidence to base policies on.
The United Nations, the European Union and other international institutions have begun to formulate some policies concerning children's right to play, and consider the impact on leisure facilities and educational projects. But what they lack is the basis for making policies.
Paragraph 7
‘The type of play we are interested in is child-initiated, spontaneous and unpredictable – but, as soon as you ask a five-year-old “to play”, then you as the researcher have intervened,’ explains Dr Sara Baker. ‘And we want to know what the long-term impact of play is. It’s a real challenge.’
"The types of games we are interested in are children's own creation, spontaneous and unpredictable - but as long as you let a 5-year-old child play, then you, as a researcher, have been involved in it", explained Dr. Sara Baker. "What we want to understand is the long-term impact of play. This is the real challenge.".
Paragraph 8
Dr Jenny Gibson agrees, pointing out that although some of the steps in the puzzle of how and why play is important have been looked at, there is very little data on the impact it has on the child’s later life.
Dr. Jenny Gibson agreed with the above view and pointed out that although some stages of the puzzle of how important games are and why they are so important have been studied, data on their impact on children's future life are still scarce.
Paragraph 9
Now, thanks to the university’s new Centre for Research on Play in Education, Development and Learning (PEDAL), Whitebread, Baker, Gibson and a team of researchers hope to provide evidence on the role played by play in how a child develops.
Now, the university has set up a new "Educational Development Learning Game Research Center". Whitebreak, Baker, Gibson and a research team hope to provide relevant evidence for the role of games in children's development.
Paragraph 10
‘A strong possibility is that play supports the early development of children’s self-control,’ explains Baker. ‘ This is our ability to develop awareness of our own thinking processes — it influences how effectively we go about undertaking challenging activities.’
"It is very likely that games promote the early development of children's self-control ability," Baker explained. "This ability makes us aware of our own thinking process - it affects the effect of our engaging in challenging activities.".
Paragraph 11
In a study carried out by Baker with toddlers and young pre-schoolers, she found that children with greater self-control solved problems more quickly when exploring an unfamiliar set-up requiring scientific reasoning. ‘This sort of evidence makes us think that giving children the chance to play will make them more successful problem-solvers in the long run.’
Baker found in a research on children and preschool children that children with stronger self-control can solve problems more quickly when exploring unfamiliar fields that need scientific analysis. "Such evidence makes us believe that, in the long run, giving children the opportunity to play will make them more successful problem solvers".
Paragraph 12
If playful experiences do facilitate this aspect of development, say the researchers, it could be extremely significant for educational practices, because the ability to self-regulate has been shown to be a key predictor of academic performance.
Researchers believe that if play experience can really promote the development of this aspect, it is crucial for educational practice, because there is evidence that self-control is the key factor for good or bad academic performance.
Paragraph 13
Gibson adds: ‘Playful behaviour is also an important indicator of healthy social and emotional development. In my previous research, I investigated how observing children at play can give us important clues about their well-being and can even be useful in the diagnosis of neurodevelopmental disorders like autism.’
Gibson added: "Play behavior is also an important indicator of the normal development of social and emotional abilities. In previous studies, I have investigated that observing children in play can provide us with important clues about their health status, and even help us diagnose mental disorders such as autism.".
Paragraph 14
Whitebread’s recent research has involved developing a play-based approach to supporting children’s writing. ‘Many primary school children find writing difficult, but we showed in a previous study that a playful stimulus was far more effective than an instructional one.’ Children wrote longer and better-structured stories when they first played with dolls representing characters in the story. In the latest study, children first created their story with Lego*, with similar results. ‘Many teachers commented that they had always previously had children saying they didn’t know what to write about. With the Lego building, however, not a single child said this through the whole year of the project.’
Whitebreak's recent research includes the development of a play based approach to promote children's writing ability. "Many primary school students find it difficult to write, but a previous study showed that play based stimulation is much more effective than educational stimulation.". When children play with dolls representing the characters in the story for the first time, they can write longer and better structured stories. In the latest study, children who first used Lego toys to create stories also showed the same results. "Many teachers said that they always had children who said they didn't know what to write before. But after using the method of building Lego blocks, no child ever said that again for a whole year.".
Paragraph 15
Whitebread, who directs PEDAL, trained as a primary school teacher in the early 1970s, when, as he describes, ‘the teaching of young children was largely a quiet backwater, untroubled by any serious intellectual debate or controversy.’ Now, the landscape is very different, with hotly debated topics such as school starting age.
Whitebreak, director of the PEDAL Center, received training from primary school teachers in the early 1970s. He described the situation at that time as follows: "Early childhood education is like a backwater, and will not be affected by any serious academic discussions or disputes". Now the situation is completely different, and controversial issues such as school age have arisen.
Paragraph 16
‘Somehow the importance of play has been lost in recent decades. It’s regarded as something trivial, or even as something negative that contrasts with “work”. Let’s not lose sight of its benefits, and the fundamental contributions it makes to human achievements in the arts, sciences and technology. Let’s make sure children have a rich diet of play experiences.’
"Somehow, game play has become no longer important in recent decades. It is regarded as an insignificant thing, or a negative behavior contrary to 'hard work'. But we can't ignore its benefits. It has made an important contribution to human achievements in art, science and technology. Let's ensure that children have a rich experience of play.".
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