Could the average year 2 child do this?

[Greythorne]

Reading ? example :
Crabs and lobsters have shells which are a sort of hard skin. A lobster has a shell. It flaps its tail to swim. As the lobster gets bigger, its shell splits. The fresh shell is soft to begin with, but it soon hardens. There are lots of different sorts of crabs. Some are good at swimming and some have long thin legs.

-- Children should be able read this text comfortably and, after reading, say what it is about without looking at it.

-- They should be able to try to explain one or more of the words in bold and should be able to describe crabs (good at swimming / long thin legs).

-- They should then be able to talk about shells for a few minutes in correct English.

No.

oops sorry - I read it as two year old, not year two.

Two year old?

Yes

HA ha year 2!!!! I will go!

The average 2 year old child can't read.

And I couldn't talk about shells for 'a few minutes'.

No! Year 2! ie age 7

Heh, misread it as well.

Will rethink.

soory, was my headline wored wrongly?

confused!

Year 2, not 2 year old!!!

I read 2 year old too - no idea why.
Yes I think a Primary 2 (Scotland) could do it - not all of them but many of them - they all progress at such different rates though.

DS- yes.

I would have thought so. And I read your title correctly thank you...

I just asked my yr2 DD to do that, and she could.

I am amazed! Even the bit about "talk about shells for a few minutes"?

Conveniently, to make up for my complete nonsense earlier, DD is Year 2, very nearly 7. She could certainly read that, no bother. I expect she could do the second bit, though obviously all the words are in bold here so don't know which ones should be ... there's nothing too challenging in the whole passage.

And I stick by my assertion that I couldn't talk for a few minutes about shells, but on reflection should probably could, given how long she manages to go on about absolutely NOTHING for.

She is a little above average ability, but I would think an 'average' child that age could make a pretty good go at it.

My average year 2 child read it slowly but without any help and then told me all about ghost crabs. (Thanks, Steve Backshall.)

He did then say, "Why are you making me read this boring stuff?"

Just got DD to do it.

Reading it was fine, she occasionally forgot to stop at full stops so ran out of breath! But she read it accurately.

She could explain what it was about when I turned the screen away.

She explained "different" and could describe crabs. But she is obsessed with wildlife and stuff so I expected that.

She explained about shells, and went off into detail, but again I think that came from her love of wildlife and Steve Backshall.

Her teacher so far has never said she is anything apart from average, although she is a good reader.

Yes.

Hmmmm. Very interesting.

we are abroad and this is an example of the entrance exam to gain entry to a special After school programme for bilingual children.

I am reassured that UK children age 7 could cope with this, but I am somewhat astonished that this is what they are expecting from children of 7 in their second language.

She is YR2 btw.

Yes.

Carrotsandcelery it would be Primary 3 in Scotland

Yes, perhaps a bit short as she was about to go out to the park before it gets too dark. But she regurgitated the bits about soft shells hardening, then listed some other creatures with shells, then said that they can be different shapes (hand gesture rather than words for a spiral though), then said she'd got one on a necklace and had found lots on a beach last summer. I asked why she thought some creatures has shells, and she answered that they lived in them and they kept them safe. I thought that was OK, but ready to be corrected if it wasn't.

Pretty sure DS (probably a little above average) in year 2 could do that.

OK, so I see it is comfortable for yr 2 DC now. It's just hard to think we will have to get our bilingual DC up to the level which is comfortable for monolinguals to get into this programme.