Are primary school aged children interested in technology or treehouses? Are they concerned about the contents of their lunch box or the nightly news report?
Oxford University Press is on the hunt to discover what interests Australian primary school students with the launch of the 2018 Children’s Word of the Year.
Primary school students from across Australia are invited to enter a piece of writing of up to 500 words about any issue that is of interest to them, whether serious or funny, fiction or non-fiction.
A judging panel, consisting of academics and experts in children’s English language, will evaluate competition entries, based on a word’s popularity, use of the word in context, and frequency, to determine the Australian Children’s Word of the Year.
Last year’s Children’s Word of the Year, ‘equality’, reflected prominent social issues of the time, from marriage to racial equality, and even equality between siblings.
Other significant themes included friendship, family, bullying, adventure and sport.
OUP Director of School Publishing Lee Walker said the Australian Children’s Word of the Year provided a valuable insight into the interests of primary school students.
“After last year’s choice of ‘equality’, I’m looking forward to finding out what primary school children are writing about in 2018. This competition provides a fascinating insight into the interests of Australian children, and we hope many schools will take part in the search.”
Judge Anita Green from Berwick Fields Primary School said the Australian Children’s Word of the Year competition had provided interesting insights into the interests of students and reflected what she saw in the classroom.
“The word ‘equality’ has come up a lot recently and has sparked many classroom discussions. One of the first big talking points was the girls AFL teams and it was great to see the students so excited about this. More recently I have heard conversations between students around the same sex couples and marriage equality. [It’s been] such a huge topic. It has been interesting to see the reactions to what they read and see in the media.”
Visit the Australian Children’s Word of the Year website to download entry forms and find out more about the competition. Oxford University Press books and dictionaries will be up for grabs for individual and class entrants and winners.
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