To ask all Chaletians to get ready for Madame's birthday?

[LonnyVonnyWilsonFrickett]

Pop to the splasheries my lambs and after you've brushed your hair till it shines we'll have a quick practice of 'I sing of Margaret so fair'.

Once we've finished casting the movie, that is....

[NellWilsonsWhiteHair]

DeWee, but wouldn't the answer (in ye olden prehistoric imperial times) have been given simply at 4/3, rather than converted to decimal? In which case, provided the teacher has chosen agreeable fractions (like 12/9) which simplify quite nicely, it is nice and easy.

[RobinHumphries]

In a Leader at the Chalet School, part of Jacks homework is to convert fractions into decimals.

Didn't EBD start off as a governess? So she must have been an all rounder. Judging from the books I would have said English was her specialty followed by History and French. I suppose as a governess she wouldn't have taught much chemistry, at least not the practical side?

[DeWee]

Well I think the most obvious is she either was history (like Jo loving history) or she was literature (like Madge-does Miss A teach literature as well as scripture too?).

But when I thought about it I can think of more geography "facts" given than any other subject. She mentions thing around other subjects-like the simultanious equations, but not actual information. I can think of occasional Biddy history lessons she does a little, but the literature lssons are just mentioned in a "Madame does tophole ones" type.
Geography we have Jo Scotts howlers in the test, the information in Lavender laughs, I'm sure there's someone else (Carola?) who does some geography howlers, I think there's a few bits of Kathie's lessons, and not just in New Mistress. That's off the top of my head withough thinking too much.
However I've no idea on the geography facts whether they're true or not. . It may be that she had a book with facts in that she could reproduce without worrying. Obviously things like maths are harder to do that.

[RobinHumphries]

Hmm I can't remember all her geography facts but I know she didn't explain volcanos correctly like someone has said on the last page (it was explained as something about underground seas and lakes and sometimes the water leaks through cracks deep in the ground where the heat from the core causes the water to turn into steam which expands and causes a volcano). She lost me on underground seas and lakes.

[mummytime]

I'd have thought she would have been pretty much a generalist, maybe biased to Humanities. I think she admired or knew those who taught Science, but hadn't taught it herself. One description of a Science of a science lesson going wrong, had me grinning because it really wasn't that big a deal to anyone who has learnt science to a high degree of taught it.

[EElisavetaofBelsornia]

Joey has just offered a fourteen year old boy a cigarette!

[mummytime]

I think Joey had some particularly horrible ones (like giving a child v. strong whiskey to put them off alcohol). However this isn't modern parenting advice any more than smacking a toddler in a tantrum/meltdown - and if it ever brought about instant stop of crying I would be amazed.

We could make some nice MN stickers "Careful possibly bad parenting advice within".

[NellWilsonsWhiteHair]

Which book? (It shouldn't be hard to guess, I suppose - there aren't a lot of 14yo boys cluttering up the series...)

In any case, I don't think it's wise for Joey to be smoking herself. Her earphones must pose a fire hazard.

[Vintagejazz]

Been browsing through some websites and find it hard to understand the pricing of the second hand books. Three Go and Highland Twins cost a fortune but Goes To It (which was also written in the 40s and covers quite an important period) is quite reasonable, even for 1st editions.
With the Swiss books New Mistress seems to be considerably more expensive than most of the others.

[MooncupGoddess]

Probably straightforward supply and demand, Vintagejazz. Maybe not as many hbs of Highland Twins and Three Go were printed.

[ToniWol]

Also down to cuts in the Armada editions. Those which were most heavily cut are more sought after in HB.

Highland Twins and Three Go had major cuts - whereas Goes To It is uncut.

[Vintagejazz]

I am sure there's more Chalet School books hidden is some dark corner of my mum's attic - including a HB Three Go......
I will have to go up there again and get really dusty and cobwebby some afternoon.

[EElisavetaofBelsornia]

Didn't WilsonFrickett claim to be married to Gaudenz in a previous thread?

My DD has just said proudly to her father "My Kenwigses have stayed in all day!" He was I was

[EElisavetaofBelsornia]

The cigarette incident is in Joey and Co in Tirol by the way.

[EatingMyWords]

I thought of EBD's history lessons when I read my son's report- he did a timeline with toys apparently!

[NellWilsonsWhiteHair]

But did he reason from cause to effect?

Elisaveta your DD is brilliant!

[NellWilsonsWhiteHair]

We have nearly filled another thread and still MNHQ have failed to give us a proper Chaletian section. :(

[TooSpotty]

Maybe instead of a Chalet section, we could suggest that all MN sections are renamed with the names of Saints?

[EElisavetaofBelsornia]

She is Nell.

Great idea TooSpotty. Relationships should be named after St. Rita, patron of abused wives. AIBU is clearly St. Jude, patron saint of lost causes.

[DeWee]

but wouldn't the answer (in ye olden prehistoric imperial times) have been given simply at 4/3, rather than converted to decimal? In which case, provided the teacher has chosen agreeable fractions (like 12/9) which simplify quite nicely, it is nice and easy.
You may be right, however I've never come across anyone referring to 4/3 of a square yard, and df does a lot of carpentery using imperial units, so I suspect if that was standard notation I'd have heard him refer to that. You get fractions of an inch, but not of a yard, I think.

I also still think it would be hard for 10yos, even using fractions. I've a 10yo in year 5. She's good at maths, top group of top set in a large school. She could do those if I told her how to, but it would take time to work out the answers, and the teacher definitely implies they need to respond quickly-"return of post" I think is the phrase she uses.
If I think about it I'll try dd2 tomorrow, and see how well she does.

Just to compare, we did coverting square cm to square m and the other way round about year 9 (age 13-14), obviously that's a lot easier as you're multiplying/dividing by 10 000 (100 x 100).

[Vintagejazz]

I can't believe we've nearly finished a fourth thread. Also interesting that the first thread was meant to be an even handed discussion about Malory Towers v The Chalet School.

Guess that says it all about the enduring popularity of the Chalet School series.

[Vintagejazz]

Sorry, can't join in the discussions about fractions and decimal places

[Alicebannedit]

DeWee 4/3 of a square yard - don't know if I'm missing the point here but surely that would be stated as one and a third square yards? Like saying nine into twelve goes one and a third times? I think that would have been the way to go when we had 'mental arithmetic' at school. The 4/3 would have been the penultimate step. Or am I simplyfying things too much this far down the track?

[Alicebannedit]

^ and those maths problems would have been set to teach mental agility, not necessarily having any practical application, so one third of a yard would have been an acceptable theoretical calculation!

[NellWilsonsWhiteHair]

Well-educated children were doing more difficult work sixty years ago though, weren't they? Or am I just buying into some dodgy propaganda to believe this?

Vintage I think distaste for maths just makes you a better EBD heroine.