To think this English homework is ridiculously hard for a 7 year old??

[JulietBravoJuliet]

This is the piece of text they have been given to read. The questions are as follows:

1. Circle the pronouns
2. Underline the adverbs
3. What do you think the insect's message "As I die, and dying live, so he shall also die, and dying live" means? (Remember the message is from the moon)
4. How did the hare changing the meaning of the message? (Yes, it actually is worded like that!!!!)
5. Who do the Bushmen think brought death to all living things?

Now, ds says he's not learnt what a pronoun or adverb is yet; looking back at his previous homework, I can see there's been little tasks on nouns and verbs and I can't for the life of me remember if they are the same? Question 4 is very badly worded and I don't know if it means "How did the hare change the meaning of the message?" Or if there's some words missing!

I'm 35, pretty good at English as a rule, but this has flummoxed me, let alone the 7 year old I have sat here bawling his eyes out because he doesn't understand it :(

Pronoun is a word used to replace a noun - he, she, it. Adverb is a word used to describe a verb - quickly, slowly.

Those two tasks are quite straightforward, as is Q5.

Questions 3 & 4 are ridiculously difficult for a seven year old, even if Q4 made any sense at all, which it doesn't. If DS got that question, he'd be going into school with a note from me explaining why he didn't even bother to attempt that one.

1,2 and 5 seem fine to me.

4 doesn't make any sense so I'd be ignoring it. I don't think 3 is that bad but I wouldn't expect a 7 year old to be able to answer it without a decent amount of help.

Oops, sorry. Got my numbers mixed up. 3 doesn't make much sense to me either and I did English A-level not so long ago!

Sorry - didn't see you'd linked to the piece. Having read it, Q5 isn't straightforward either! I assumed it would be a normal comprehension question - but the passage doesn't say!

Ooh, I would be writing a very pissed off note to the teacher!

I think it's ridiculous and not in any way helpful to their learning. But this does seem to be the approach taken in the curriculum at the moment - sigh.

My heart would sink if DS got that homework because I know he'd need a lot of help with it. Is this year 3? Or year 2?

Yes, far too difficult. Ds, same age as yours, has had homework like that before and I've sent it home with a note saying it's too hard. I'm good at English myself so I understand the questions but there's no point me telling ds the answers when he doesn't understand them himself.

It's Yr 3. It just seems extremely difficult compared to what he's brought home previously and if I'm struggling, what chance has he got? I did an Access Course fairly recently, and did the equivalent to an English A-level, so I'm generally fairly competent, but question 3 in particular seems far too complex for a child of his age. He's crying his eyes out (had a meltdown over something else earlier and hurt me, so neither of us are in a good place at the moment anyway) and the temptation to send this homework back in tomorrow with a big "WTF???" Is fairly tempting!

FloozeyLoozey - that's my point exactly! If we do this, then realistically it will be me doing it, as no way on this earth is my son going to get his head round it, and I don't see how that is benefitting him in any way.

That's way too hard I think

Very difficult, esp the philosophical question. I presume they've gone through this in class, but it is still v hard for an 8 yo.

I'd be inclined to do qus 1 &2 and put a note saying the others were too hard ( and one didn't make sense!).

I'm an English teacher (secondary), btw.

1 and 2 fine. If 5 is comprehension from an age/level appropriate text, fine. 4 is ridiculous. 5 makes sense but astonishingly difficult for a 7 year old imho.

Looks like a lazy teacher picking a random thing off the internet and not thinking about it much, to me (am an English teacher).

What do the school tell you to do if your child finds a homework too difficult?
At ours, parents would just write a note on the top or in the homework diary explaining what the child could do independently, what parts required some support and what parts couldn't be attempted. each era would then understand the issue. If all parents do the same, the teacher knows the h/w was too much of a stretch. if other can do it, then they know your child needs a bit more support.
No need for tears etc surely?

#The teacher would...

Blardy hell

DD2 would be hours on the moon thing, trying to pin down the 'right' answer.

Blimey!

Half of my YEAR 7s would struggle with that homework.

1. Circle the pronouns
2. Underline the adverbs

Both fine, if they've covered what a pronoun and an adverb are. Otherwise it's daft.

1. What do you think the insect's message "As I die, and dying live, so he shall also die, and dying live" means? (Remember the message is from the moon)

Tough. Not sure if it's age appropriate or not but I'd say 'think about the moon and what happens to it over a month, but don't get stressed if you can't answer it.'

1. How did the hare changing the meaning of the message?

Very poor - language homework should be very carefully written and this obviously isn't. Apart from the glaring mistake it's an ambiguous question. 'How' could mean 'In what way did the hare's message differ from the original', or 'Why did it differ'. V poor question setting.

1. Who do the Bushmen think brought death to all living things?

Again, poor question setting. The text doesn't say, it only says what they think brought the message of death, which is a different thing entirely.

Just asked dd who is in year 6

Q1 and 2 straight forward

Q3 q4 no idea

Q5 chameleon.

She is by the way reasonably bright and in all the top sets.

"As I die, and dying live, so he shall also die, and dying live"

Am I right in thinking that the message is that we are all living but at the same time dying.

But the moon is always there. It waxes and wanes, but it is always there. So does that mean that the cycles of nature, of time are an endless cycle of living and dying.

The perspective of the insect is interesting - the insect cannot conceive of the immensity of time, it may only live for a day, so when considering the moon, the moon appears to always be there. Yet we know the moon 'dies' though the month, it affects the times, it affects moods, it affects life and death. Yet we know it is always there.

Which then begs the question:

What if we are like the insect looking at the moon, our understanding of time and space focused on a tiny part of time, unable to conceive the immensity of life and existence.

Wtf. Way too hard. Send it back. Tell your DS that the teacher seems to have given him the wrong homework so he stops stressing about it.

That passage in itself is difficult for a 7 year old to understand. Words such as miscarriage, karos and inquisitive might be unfamiliar. I wonder how many children could do this with no support.

I can understand the 'tears'Sleepy, many children want to feel they can do the work set! have listened in class etc? They expect to be set homework they can do.