To think most 10 year olds wouldn't know what trafficking is?

[emkana]

came up in a verbal reasoning practice paper the other day

[nickelbabe]

I would hope they wouldn't know what it meant.
But maybe they learn about these things these days....

[feckwit]

They probably would if they watch the news? My children all watch the news and discuss it, I think it is the greatest way to gain a good general knowledge...

[DoMeDon]

I would hoe they wouldn't - why would they need to. But then I think DC are over-exposed to sex/violence and adult content regularly. I had a at a mum telling her son off for 'flirting with all them women' today.

[ObiWan]

Mine would have a vague idea.
How was the question phrased?

[emkana]

You had two find the two words out of six that would together make a new word.

So traffic
And king

[WeirdAcronymNotKnown]

What was the actual question?

I think my 13yo (but young 13 IYSWIM) DSDs would understand the concept when told, but they would not recognise the word or be able to define it themselves. Maybe they could work it out from a multiple choice though?

[WeirdAcronymNotKnown]

Oh I see x post. So it doesn't involve knowing the meaning... I guess DCs hear lots of words they don't understand, but they'd still think "yes, I've heard that word before, so it must be the answer"

What were the other 4 word segments?

[emkana]

Can't remember sorry!

[ObiWan]

Yes, I would think that most would recognise the word, especially if it was for an 11+ type exam.

[feckwit]

I think in that context, children who have the natural ability and are the right children to pass the exam (ie have not been hothoused) would recognise the correct word, yes.

[emkana]

No hope for my dd then...

[ObiWan]

Do you allow her to read broadsheet newspapers and keep up with current affairs etc?
What feckwit says is right, and reading widely and being exposed to literature of all genres is the sort of long term prep that encourages success in situations like this.
Even if the context escapes them, they are less likely to be wrong-footed and panic if they can even dimly recall having come across a particular word before.

[ObiWan]

Which is a long-winded way of saying that it helps if your child is a bookworm !

[DoMeDon]

missed the point entirely here! I think some DC would be aboe to construct the word, agree with obi that reading (appropriate) adult literature and broadsheets is good set up for this.

[IndigoBell]

Unless you got the answer wrong

[animula]

I may be completely wrong but I think that "trafficking" is an old worls - people have "trafficked" in various goods, for a long time. So long that it had certainly acquired a sort of slippage by the time I was a youngster, so that, for example, poets "trafficked in images", and so on.

The current slippage, to human trafficking and sexual trafficking (I'm only guessing here, but I think that is why you are doubting that an 11 year old might have come across the term??) is pretty recent - and is a slippage that is intended to "shock" - ie. highlight and foreground the idea of humans as commodities, crossing borders.

I think that usage has kind of "kleenexed" older usages ...

[emkana]

Dd reads a lot of books but not the newspaper

[ZZZenAgain]

I assumed drug trafficking actually

[ZZZenAgain]

yes agree with you animula

[CogitoErgoSometimes]

I remember being given a reading test when I was about six or seven. I was a good little reader and rattled through all the lists, no problem. Then I hit the word 'champagne'. I think I'd heard of champagne but never seen it written down before. Of course, standard english phonic rules don't apply to french words so that was the end of my reading test. Similarly, I expect some 10 year-olds will have come across the word 'trafficking' before and some won't. No biggie, is it?

[suwoo]

My DD is very bright and well read (and watches/listens to the news) and I would doubt if she had heard of the word but would possibly be able to put the two shorter words together through a process of elimination. She is year 4.

[meditrina]

What were the other words? I might try this out on my 10 year old this evening.

[emkana]

I'm sorry I really can't remember, it's somewhere on the website www.chuckra.co.uk if you want to look for it.

[CoffeeIsMyFriend]

Is this part of non verbal reasoning for 11+? There are 'rules of thumb' for making words, cant remember the 'rule' at moment, will try to remember to ask DS in morning.

Something along lines of you wouldnt get a noun and verb to make 1 word or a moun and adjective... sorry, trying to recall and cant - tried my best to block it all out!

[CoffeeIsMyFriend]

bloody hell, MUST read OP properly, apologies, you have already said it was for a VR test.

have you tried elevenplus.co.uk website for hints and tips?