why the heck are the kids called stupid genderless names in ORT?

[Greythorne]

Just started ORT with DD1......and I cannot believe how rubbish bizarre they are! Maybe there are some teachers / experts who have explanations for:

1. why the kids are not called Jane, Fred and Martin (or whatever). Where do Biff, chip and Kipper come from? I can't remember which one is which, which is the girl. Very confusing.

1. The questions at the end are not very good. They are pretty vague and yet don't really allow full answers. Even I struggle to answer them, sometimes!

1. The hidden clues in the pictures are really feeble. In the Usborne books, the hidden ducks are much better.

Any ideas why this system is so beloved?

do you know i never do teh questions at the back as ds got so bored with them and i had never noticed clues in the books either. i agree. i don't like the names either. teh only thing i like about teh books is that at the stage ds is at now tehre is usually one to read for whatever is happening in his life.

In the one called "Silly Games", one question is "why are the games called silly games?" ....but the games are really not that silly!There's an egg and spoon race and a sack race....totally typical party games. Not really silly at all.

I don't get it.

I never know who is who - DS knows though and he loves them all!!

I always thought they were called the silly names so they wouldn't be the same as any child reading them in the classroom.

I totally concur! it makes it really hard to remember who is who, because they all have dog's names

and the context seems very confusing.

For example, in nursery, DS1 brought home one about a street party and we were told we should talk about the pictures and ask him what was going on etc. WTF?? How would a 3 year old know what a street party is? And who the fuck even has street parties anyway (apart from people living in 1976 when there were no cars).

as DS2 would say "this is RUBBISH"

we used to have an annual street party in the London street where I lived (now moved sadly)

ds1 is dyslexic and these books have helped him immensely.he enjoyed them,i love that he actually wanted to try them!
they are bit silly but i love them!

do you not think running along in one welly and one flipper is silly? especially when dad inevitably falls in the paddling pool and ends up with a duck on his head? dd thinks they are funny. the questions are to help with comprehension and remembering what you have read. ask something else if you don't like it. not everyone likes the same things perhaps my sense of humour did not develop past 5yrs old and they are better than billy bluehat and jennifer yellow hat.

we had an annual street party where we lived until last year. in hampshire. in 2009. we owned two cars.

not a huge fan of ort, but we've never had trouble with context per se...

I hate them too, but ours don't have questions at the back. We were reading one about pirates the other week 'Foof is reading a book about pirates. I don't like pirates, says Foof' at which point DS quite reasonably asked why she was reading about them in the first place if she doesn't like them?

In answer to the OP, because their mothers are all mumsnetters.

My DS enjoyed them in reception but I was really pleased he was moved off them when he entered year 1 and was able to choose books with bands from a box. He much prefers non-fiction.

Biff is the girl, apparently !!

The only bit I liked is the man with the glasses playing a cameo role in every book. DS and I used to cry with laughter to see what he was doing next. That made the books for us.

DD has just been given the read at home box set as a gift (she starts Reception Sept 11) and she loves them, I am currently having to read them to her every night.................sigh !!

I thought maybe it was because of the phonics sounds ('ff', 'pp' 'ch') of the names?

I think they do have proper names too- biff is Elisabeth and one of the boys is christopher- can't remember which!

Someone told me that in one book(although I have never come across it) there is an explanation about the names. Apparently they are nn and I was led to believe that Biff is Barbara, Chip is Christopher and I can't remember the others.

I think the questions at back are there to elicit a response to see how much the child has interpreted from the story rather than just read and re-churn what have read. There are there to let the child bring their own thoughts to the story.

I was under the impression that the hidden item in each page it to make sure the child looks at the picture to encourage improved reading by using the clues and cues in the picture to predict what a new word might be.

Can't explain the names though (and I was thinking on Thursday that the parent's might be the 'they have to be really unique and now one else has them' names). though grumpyvamps could be onto something there!!

I used to hate them but now ds has made it on to level 5 we get longer stories and magic key stories. More interesting. The names remind me of ones you'd see in Enid Blyton stories, but then I am very old.

Just found this quote from the author;

"In terms of names, I came up with Biff, Chip, and Kipper because they are basically classless names which carry no suggestion of regionality or social position. What's more, there are very few children called Biff, Chip, or Kipper ? I think it would be annoying for any child to be reading their own name repeatedly"

did you know they have a pair of glasses hidden in every book as well...

Preferred them to Story Street which was so 'right on' it made me want to scream....

More than you ever wanted to know about Biff, Chip and Kipper...

Yes I always thought the names were to avoid Oliver, Tom or Emily ie what the kids in the class would be called.

I always find that the kids really can remember them actually. Also the books are good because they are rather funny which is a good hook for a small child.

It's surprisingly hard to write an engaging book with a very small vocab of words. Whatever its faults, ORT manages that IMO.

Biff is Barbara, Kipper is Christopher (obv; I actually know a Chris withthe nickname!) and Chip is errrm can't remember and it doesn't matter anyway.

I thought the author took the names from his own kids' nicknames?

Wow- I never realised Biff and Chip were twins!

DD is about to have "The Magic Key" I think after half term.... I have heard they are a lot more interesting after that!

Sorry yes biff is barbara, poss the other boy is David??