【答案解析】Key points:
● The multi-age play group benefits younger children because they have playmates who are also caretakers and teachers. The youngest children are carried by older children. The younger children learn language, survival skills, and social skills from older children. The younger children imitate older children and watch adults.
● The multi-age play group benefits older children because they feel responsible and important in caring for the younger children. The older children get practice for being parents. They get practice in teaching and communicating. They get a deeper understanding of their society and its values. [听力原文]
In traditional cultures throughout the developing world, children play in groups made up of children of different ages. Typically, the multi-age play group consists of siblings and cousins, both boys and girls, and six to eight children ranging in age from late infancy to adolescence.
The multi-age play group has advantages for both the younger and the older children. For example, the younger children get playmates who are also caretakers and teachers. The very youngest children, who are just learning to walk, will be carried by older children when they get tired. The younger children have opportunities to learn language, survival skills, and social skills from children who are older and therefore ahead of them in the process of development. The play setting is safe, and the main activity is play, but for the younger children, the play often includes imitating older children or watching adults as they work.
The multi-age play group also benefits the older children, who get the chance to feel responsible and important as they watch over and care for the younger children. This gives the older children practice for being parents later. It also gives them practice at teaching, along with the mental stimulation of having to communicate what they know. They teach the younger children games and language and how to get along with others. The older children are therefore important means of transmitting the culture itself. Moreover, by teaching those who are younger, the older children develop a deeper understanding of their society and its values.
Using points and examples from the lecture, explain how the multi-age play group benefits both younger and older children.