Page 38 - Fourways Gardens September 2020

Humour

BAD WORDS – REALLY

B Y JAMES CLARKE

celebrating technology & innovation

arah ‘Mamma ‘At this point in time’. I
Bear’ Palin – sense it might be dying
r emember at this point in time.
Sher? - the most And the irritating use of
naive vice-presidential the word ‘impact’ crept
candidate the desperate in. It replaced, for no good A community of schools developing global achievers
Americans have come up $#0!3L-R34D¥ reason, the word ‘affect’. (“The

with since Donald Duck! She in ation rate has impacted
was governor of Alaska and I upon job availability”.)
am celebrating, quietly at home,
the 12th anniversary of the day Twenty ve years ago the Digital Literacy science, languages, engineering, psychology, writing, electronics, biology,

she used the word ‘refudiate’ in an expression ‘for sure’ appeared on the A bespoke Digital Literacy curriculum is implemented across grade 0-7 teacher training or business management, each person will benefit from
certified courses. We believe that staff who access curated courses
o cial message. banned list. And ‘wellness’ (silly word) and is based on five core pillars as indicated in the infographic below. will gain expert insights into topics related to their field, but outside of
A pupil-centred approach serves to reinforce 21st-century skills our
The non-word did not go viral but it instead of health. The phrase ‘There you go!’ schools currently practise in a number of classroom activities and the traditional school curriculum. Through independent learning and
gained some amusing currency at the time. you suddenly understand something. It’s was raising hackles 20 years back. projects. In addition, we partner with leaders in the industry to promote upskilling, we aim to demonstrate to our pupils that our teachers are also
a phrase that did not take root in South Digital citizenship through online learning platforms. on a learning journey.
There! I’ve used three ‘cute’ expressions Africa. Hopefully, it sank before getting In 2001 the word ‘diva’ irritated many.
(Mamma bear, refudiate and viral) all of across the Atlantic. The word had until then been used to Coding, Robotics and 3-D printing
which appear in the annual ‘List of Banished describe operatic stars. But newspaper Information Literacy The Department of Education has taken a firm stance to incorporate
Coding and Robotics into their curriculum. Many schools have recently
Words’. There’s also ‘facebooking’ and ‘googling’. sub-editors suddenly discovered the word incorporated Coding and Robotics as an external club offering. The
BFF is on the list. As Kate Rabe of Fort Collins, was marvellously short and good for use Communication & Collaboration Kyalami Schools Group currently use a number of applications to teach
The list was started in 1975 by the Lake Ohio said, “These chicks call each other BFF in headlines and it is now used to describe Coding and Robotics across Apple and Microsoft platforms, during school
Superior State University in Michigan. (Best Friends Forever) and it lasts about just about any female pop singer. hours. We run a robust programme which includes 3-D modelling and 3-D
printing, which spans from prep to high school. In higher grades, pupils
The private university invited the public 10 minutes. Now there's BFFA (Best Friends Digital Literacy Digital Citizenship specialise in Information Technology and Engineering, Graphics and
to suggest words and expressions that For Awhile), which makes more sense." The word ‘fax’ (short for ‘facsimile’) was high Design.
deserve to be “banned from the Queen’s up on people’s hate list in the 1980s but
English for mis-use, over-use and general There’s also ‘man up’ – “why don’t you man has now pretty much died - along with the Critical Thinking Pupil devices
uselessness”. up to the situation?” This can be said to a facsimile machine. At Kyalami Schools, each grade six pupil has a dedicated device used as a
tool to advance learning outcomes. Pupils use a Chromebook, along with
woman or to a man. A contributor to the list the Mobile Guardian application to allow for careful monitoring and control
The expression ‘the American People’ was commented, “It’s another case of ‘verbing’ Meanwhile I have received a reader’s letter Creativity of the device. A Chromebook is a lightweight, durable device that runs the
among the first to be condemned (why a noun and ending with a preposition that from ‘Alison M’: Chrome OS operating system. These machines are fully integrated into the

not just say ‘Americans’?). ‘Viral’ was also goes nowhere.” Esteemed Sir, school’s network and connect wirelessly throughout our campuses.
condemned. As I was conditioning my hair in the shower Science labs
I don’t mind the modern meaning assigned ‘Shovel-ready’ (meaning: it’s about time I read my shampoo bottle label. I was Online certified courses Specialised equipment includes motion sensors, data loggers, magnetic
Kyalami Schools have partnered with a global non-profit company to allow
to viral. In fact it’s gone viral which is it was buried) was nominated last year. I shocked! staff access to an accredited open-source learning platform. Founded by field sensors and temperature sensors which make up some of the
a neater way of saying it has become rather like it. ‘User friendly’ was beginning The shampoo, which runs down my entire some of the best universities in the world, the platform makes self-paced cutting-edge apparatus we use in our labs. These devices assist teachers
universally entrenched. to irritate as early as 1984 but is here to stay body, says "for extra volume and body"! I staff development possible. Whether staff are interested in computer in making science relevant and bringing the real world into the classroom.
I’d like to add to these over-used words, - and fair enough. suddenly realised why I have become "full-

‘iconic’, ‘paradigm shift’ and that idle gured"! And here I was blaming chocolate. Kyalami Schools - An Independent, Not For Profit Group of Schools
exclamation, ‘Awesome!’ I decided to look back over the last few years Tomorrow I am showering with dishwashing 5 CAMPUSES INVESTED IN ITS LEARNERS BY OFFERING:
One annual list included ‘wow factor’ and at other words that caused public ire. One liquid. The label reads: "dissolves fat that is ALIS VOLA PROPRIIS
‘a-ha moments’. An a-ha moment is when of the ‘most hated’ phrases in the 1970s was otherwise di cult to remove". www.kyalamischools.org | 010 591 5004

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