Together, we can beat the bullies

Side 1

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Together, we can beat the bullies

Summary

, the Prime Minister’s wife, has received a letter from a mother to a teenage girl who explains how her daughter has tried to take her own life due to bullying. This mother has started a support group, called ChildLine, which last year took in 20.000 calls from desperate children who were being bullied.

Bullying is for the fifth year running, at the top of the list of problems children call the helpline about. The children don’t talk to their parents either because they are not getting along or they don’t want to worry their parents. Bullying has always existed, according to Booth, but new awareness of the effects of bullying leads to increased initiatives to prevent it. Some schools neglect the problem and try to ignore it, but Booth argues that they also bear part of the responsibility. Booth will, in an attempt to put focus on the problem, chair a conference for ChildLine called: Bullying – Symptoms, Strategies and Solutions. The goal of the conference is to pool together all the expert knowledge on the issue and share ideas and get inspiration for further work to minimize bullying in British schools.

Facts about the text

Type of text: Feature article

Brought: 11 May 2002 (still relevant today).

Sender: The broadsheet news paper ‘The Observer’, Prime Minister’s wife .

Receiver: Readers of ‘The Observer’ (British upper- and middleclass).

Lay out: Two columns, split into sections lead off by bold font.

Message/intention
• The main message/intention of the article is to inform its readers about the rising problem of

bullying and the consequences it can have on those being bullied.

• The article is trying to create awareness and raise a debate about bullying, and what role the schools have when children are being bullied.

• The article also tries to create awareness about the various organizations that can help children such as ChildLine.

• It also has the intention to get parents to think about whether their own children are bullies or maybe being bullied themselves and act before it is too late.

Key points in the article

STX 3.g

• Prime Minister’s wife.

Side 2

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• Usually stays out of the public debate, but has become so angry after having read a mother’s letter that she has written an article that puts focus on the problem of bullying. (Read the article “PM’s wife crusades against bullies)

• Is a parent herself.

• Former school governor and education lawyer.

• In 1997 was involved in one of the first successful claims by a pupil against a school that didn’t control its bullying.

ChildLine

• A children’s charity that helps children with their bullying problems.

• Took 20.000 calls from children last year.

• ChildLine has heard examples of: o A 10-year-old who was held up with a knife to prevent him from leaving school.

o A 15-year-old girl who was being bullied because she was the only Asian in class o Children who are bullied because they are: fat, thin, clever, lonely, gay, black, white and the list is endless

• ChildLine is going to have a conference called: ‘Bullying – Symptoms, Strategies and Solutions’ which is going to lead. The purpose of this conference is: o to cause awareness of the problem.

o to gather all the expert knowledge on the issue.

o to inspire and exchange ideas between teachers, so they are capable to meet the challenge of bullying.

Argumentation of the article

• Booth uses:

• a case story to support her article and thereby her argumentation. By referring to the family she shows how the problem exists in real life and that it isn’t just something theoretical.

• her professional background as a lawyer to support her argumentation and to show that her involvement is for real. She knows about this issue because she has dealt with it for a long time.

• her status as a mother to show that she is genuinely concerned about bullying.

• Examples from ChildLine. She gives examples of how children have experienced various forms of bullying, in order to show how big this problem is.

Text and theme

• Growing up – How bullying is part of growing up. How you encounter things such as peer pressure and how you deal with it.

• Suicide – The article deals with how bullying can lead to suicide. It points out what consequences bullying can have.

• Bullying – The article shows what consequences bullying can lead to. It explains the signs parents can use to tell whether their children are being bullied and it describes what grim scenarios bullying can lead to.

Side 3

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Glossary for the text

(Klik på ordet for at høre det udtalt korrekt) blights forpestelse increasing øget imagine forestille sig claims skadesanmeldelse suicide selvmord resembling ligner worthless værdiløs awareness bevidsthed community samfund confidence selvtillid inundated oversvømmet recognise genkende tormentors plageånder environment miljø charity velgørende forening chairing være formand for extortion afpresning pooling indsamle taunts hån schemes and approaches planer og tilgange torments pine peers ligemænd abuse mishandling

DfES Department for Education and Skills text message SMS inevitable uundværlig