There is a lot being said about the damaging effects of alcohol on the young mind in the press right now.

According to the team at Murdock Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne, teenagers who drink even small amounts of alcohol have significantly higher risk of developing alcohol abuse or risky sexual behaviour as a young adult.

So what can a parent do to educate their child on responsible use of alcohol?

As part of its latest campaign – KIDS AND ALCOHOL DON’T MIX – DrinkWise has launched a brand new fully interactive website,  designed especially to help parents access facts and expert advice about kids and drinking, as well as have their say about the issues.

Parents are invited to select their child’s age and review a comprehensive list of common questions and discussion points, related to the child’s particular age group.

Parents have the option to vote on a particular issue such as “Do you think your alcohol consumption affects your kids?” and the results are updated instantly to reveal the consensus from the active online parent community.

They are also invited to register to become an active contributor and receive invitations to upcoming events.

Highly respected and authoritative experts, including Royal North Shore Hospital’s Emergency Registrar and What’s Good For You host, Dr Andrew Rochford, and family and child psychologist, Dr John Irvine, then provide professional advice on these issues and more.

Chris Watters, CEO of DrinkWise Australia, said the website was developed in direct response to research  which showed that over half (51%) of parents indicated they had insufficient tools, knowledge and support to delay the age at which their child first started drinking alcohol. “We’ve created a place for all parents, no matter what age their children, to go with questions and concerns related to kids and drinking. From pregnant mothers through to parents with teenagers, it’s a dynamic on-line community offering expert advice but also the opportunity to share opinions and initiate parent-to-parent conversations.”

I’ve found it to be a highly informative website. To me, knowledge is power.

Please visit it and share your thoughts here. Either about the website or other information that can help us as parents, help our teenagers become responsible drinkers, now and as adults.

They have a range of programs including

• Passport to English where you experience what it’s like to sit a formal English Language interview for assessment purposes. You will experience a simulation of the IELTS speaking test. For more information on IELTS click here.
• Nexus is a collection of stories about Australian life and culture. Be sure to check out the  archives which give  transcripts of each video and  learning notes including vocabulary building and grammar.
• English Bites is an informative and entertaining way to improve your knowledge of the English language. It also includes a multiple choice quiz, story spotlight as well as transcripts and story notes.
• The Business of English is a 15 part series for intermediate to advanced English language learners which looks at the language used in every day business situations such as meetings, presentations and negotiations.
• Study English - IELTS preparation, for intermediate to advanced learners draws on authentic material that you can watch, read, listen to plus study notes, tips and activities for practice and consolidation.
• Living English is for the English language beginner. The 42 part series looks at the English language used in everyday situations such as checking into a hotel or describing people.

Find them on   You Tube here.

The Australia Network broadcasts Learning English programs around the world for free.

When teaching your child about patience, it’s good to have thought through what it means to you. When I try to define patience I like to quote Popov,

Patience is quiet hope and expectation based on trust that, in the end, everything will be OK. It means waiting. It’s enduring a delay or troublesome situation without complaining.

What does patience mean to you?

Hokey Pokey

Happy and You Know It

Incy Wincey Spider

Thanks for watching, we hope you enjoyed the live broadcast

Below you can access more information and resources about 21 September,

International Day of Peace

International Day of Peace

Peace Building

Peace One Day Educational Resources

Image: Mike Kline

Today we expand on that theme and answer the question, “What do you do when your child stumbles over words or stops and looks at you, wanting you to supply the word they can’t read?”

Do you just tell them the word? In most cases, my answer will be no. Why not?

What you are trying to achieve when teaching a child to read is independence. Simply, telling a child the word they don’t know takes away that independence. It get’s them looking towards you for the answer, not into the text. It doesn’t get them thinking. It doesn’t help them solve the problem.

So what do you do instead?

• Wait - count to five in your head
• Point to the initial sound and run your finger along the rest of the sentence
• Wait again
• Say, “Let’s read that sentence again and see if the word will pop out. The first sound is… (let them say it)… “OK let’s read from the start of the sentence…” You will be amazed by how well this works     or
• Give a clue about the context. For example, “They are on a farm, an animal on the farm starting with h is ….”   or
• Read on, til the end of the sentence. Then read back over the sentence.
• If the other strategies haven’t worked, tell your child the word. Then read the sentence and talk about the meaning of the unknown word in relation to the sentence.

Always encourage your child. If you are frustrated with their slow progress, think of how frustrating it is for them.

If you have any strategies or comments you’d like to share please do.

Next time we’ll talk about a simple little exercise you can do at home called transformations, great for readers at all levels.

Storytelling is a tradition we must keep alive to preserve our culture.

1. Independence -  Let your child have as much control as possible. They should hold the book, turn the pages and point to the words (if necessary). It’s best to sit side by side so you can look at the book together.

2. Engage the mind - Ask your child if they’ve read the book before. If so, ask what type of book is it? Is it funny, sad …? Ask a couple of quick questions to activate prior knowledge. If not, then look at the cover and then through the pictures and ask, “What do you think the book’s about?” or “What do you think is going to happen?”

3. Talk about it first - While your child is looking though, see if you can spot some difficult words that may trip them up and make reading  more difficult. For example, if the text reads “gigantic dinosaur” and there’s a picture of a large dinosaur you could say, “That dinosaur looks gigantic.” Then when your child comes to that word it will be easier for them to read.

4. Be fully present - Your child will pick up on your feelings. Choose a time when you can give them your full attention and if you are frustrated with your child’s reading progress stay calm, express it later to an adult (your child’s teacher).

5. Make it fun - Keep it light and full of encouragement. Tell your child a joke or read something funny. Children love nonsense rhymes and funny stories. If there’s people talking in the story, you could get your child to read in different voices for each character, or you could read one.

The time you take and the atmosphere you set, will have a lasting impact on your child’s learning and to your relationship so enjoy listening to your child read.

Next, we’ll talk about what to do when your youngster stumbles or stops when reading at home.

Photo credit: Dan Bennett at Flickr

If your child gets stuck with their homework a free online tutoring service may be just the thing. They offer free help in English, Maths, Science and assignments for years 4 - 12.

It’s a one to one service so your child connects directly to a qualified tutor online where they can chat, draw on the whiteboard and send in their assignments or share a website.

You can connect to Your Tutor through most public libraries in Australia, you just enter your library card number and you are instantly connected to the tutor.

Available after school and on Sunday evenings. There’s a link on the bottom of their page which gives you a walkthrough.

Let me know what you think of it and if you know of other services to help children with their homework.

If you have a teenager at home you’ll know deciding things for themselves is very important to them. Just telling them doesn’t work anymore, does it?

Here’s a way for them to discover that getting organised, setting goals and planning time are vital skills if they want to have choices when they leave school.

I’ve used this technique successfully, both at home with my own teenager and at school with teenage students.

Start a discussion that goes like this: Suppose you were told in 12 months time to the exact day, you had to attend a meeting at 5:00 p.m. at a location in a town 100 kilometers away called Goals. You were given a car and knew how to drive. You were told that it was vitally important that you arrived to the meeting on time because at the meeting, you had the opportunity to sign up for things you wanted to do for the rest of your life. If you missed the meeting, you would have to settle for the things the other kids didn’t want.

Kids from all over would be at the meeting. Only those who were on time would be able to have some choice. It wasn’t that you were guaranteed to have all your choices honoured, it was just that if you arrived late or missed the meeting, then your future would be less positive.

Now for the next 11 plus months or so, you thought about that meeting and you knew you’d better find out where it was and what roads to take to get to the town of Goals. You knew others had already planned out their schedule and route.

On the morning of the meeting, you awoke with a start knowing that you hadn’t read the map yet to see where you needed to be and you didn’t know if you had enough time to get there. You were panicking as you jumped into your car and headed in the general direction of Goals. As time ticked by, you nervously looked for signs of Goals. Driving at the outer edge of the speed limit, you started to feel faint when, at 4:45 p.m., the town of Goals appeared ahead.

Ask your teenager whether they think the person in the car will make it to the meeting on time? Do  they think  that if he’s late, he’ll be allowed to participate in the meeting? Would they like to be that person?

And then, what would you have done that they didn’t do (locate Goals on the map, figure out how to get there, and schedule enough time to get there)?

In this way your teenager may discover for themselves the value of being organised by setting goals and planning time.

This technique was shared with me  by Dr Michael Bernard, Professor, College of Education, California State University. Photo credit: Eamon Curry at Flickr