Got a history teacher who makes the past come alive?
Nominate them for the inspiring History Teaching Awards and help them to go down in history.
Ask your grown-up to visit hrp.org.uk slash teaching awards.
Hello and welcome to the Week Junior show.
I'm Bex and I'm joined by writers Joe and Eve from the Week Junior, the magazine making sense of the world for 8 to 14 year olds.
Now, in a week where the host of the 2013 Commonwealth Games was announced and the Winter Olympic flame was lit in Greece, we're going to be talking about some of the other stories that inspired and entertained the Week Junior team.
Make sure you're listening closely, because at the end of this episode we'll be asking a question about what you've heard, and if you answer it correctly, you could win a prize.
This week's cover story is about the new series of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, which is adapted from the book series by Rick Riordan.
So it got me thinking, what is a book that you would love to see adapted on screen?
Eve, I feel like you've got some good answers here.
Yeah well, I've got a few answers, but my first choice would be the Clarice Bean books by Lauren Child, because I loved those growing up so much.
I've read Clarice Bean, Don't Look Now.
I don't even know how many times.
And I recently read the new Smile book as well, which was amazing.
So I would love to see that on TV.
I think it'd be so cool.
In the same style as the Charlie and Lola series.
So like in Lauren Child's classic animated style, I think it would be amazing.
But also another book I read recently was Dracula and Daughters by Emma Carroll.
And I think that would make such a fun TV show.
I'd love to see that.
I read that book and immediately thought, yeah, that could be a great TV show.
Jo, how about you?
So when I was younger, I used to read a lot of books by Anthony Horowitz.
And he had a series that I loved about a pair of siblings and private detectives called the Diamond Brothers.
I think one of them was really clever and the other one not so much.
And the books were these really gripping whodunit mysteries that always kept me guessing.
I did do some research this morning and they apparently have been adapted for screen before, but the adaptations are decades old.
So I'd love to see those turned into a modern TV series or film.
Bring back the diamond brothers.
All right, i was.
I was thinking about this.
Um, i read alex horn uh, the last pebble recently.
Now, alex horn a lot of our listeners might know from taskmaster.
He's a very funny man but his book is just a beautiful story and it's one of those things that i can imagine on like sunday night at like four or five pm before you go to school the next day.
You just want like a really cool, heartwarming adventure.
I think i'd go for alex horn's new book.
Um, so if you want to tell us what book you would like to see adapted on screen, you can send us an email to hello at theweekjuniorcouk or leave a voice note at funkidslivecom.
Slash theweekjunior.
Just grab a grown-up, look for that big red button and record your voice.
Now, if your voice note is played next week, you could win a Week Junior Roving Reporter badge.
So last week, we asked our listeners what they would like to add to a banknote, if they could.
We got loads of answers this week, so thank you for that.
But here's some of the ones we received.
First up, here's one from Toshi.
Hello, The Week Junior.
My name is Toshi and I'm six.
What I would put on a banknote is a snow fairy because they look like snowballs.
A snow fairy, perfect for this time of year as well.
I love the idea of seasonal banknotes.
Toshi, thank you for that.
We had another one from Annabelle.
Hello, The Week Junior.
I'm Annabelle and I'm eight.
I think it would be great to have one of the lionesses on a banknote.
Maybe Leah Williamson because she was captain when the lionesses won the Euro.
Bye.
Yes, we did say last week sports people or just heroes in general.
And that is an excellent choice.
One of the lionesses.
Absolutely.
And finally, we have a message here from Anya.
Hello, The Week Junior.
My name is Anya.
And what I would put on a note would be The Week Junior with a fun fact on it.
I mean, absolutely speaking to the right crowd here.
Eve, would you like to see The Week Junior on a banknote?
I would love to see The Week Junior on a banknote.
That would be so fun.
Maybe we could have a picture of all of us. on different, like collector's editions.
I'm loving this.
Joe, would you spend the money if you had a Week Junior special banknote?
Would you keep it in your wallet as safekeeping?
I think if there was only one or two, I'd definitely save it, because it'd be like a collector's item, wouldn't it?
If there were loads, maybe I'd be a bit more.
You know, yay money and just you know, buy nice things.
But if there's only a few in existence, I'd definitely keep it and like maybe frame it, put it on a wall.
Oh yeah, I love the idea of keeping it safe.
Well, Toshi, Annabelle and Anya, three excellent answers.
Thank you so much for sending in your voice notes.
And if this week you want to tell us what book you would like to see adapted on screen, you absolutely can.
Send us a voice note to funkidslivecom.
Slash theweekjunior, and we can't wait to hear what you've got to say.
Now I think we should turn our attention back to the magazine and talk about what's been in the news this week.
Eve, what story do you have for me?
Well, this is a very interesting story on our big news page about the largest city in the world.
So Jakarta, which is the capital city of Indonesia, has been named the largest city in the world in a report by the United Nations, which is a group made up of most of the world's countries.
And the findings on the world's largest city report were based on population size.
And Jakarta's population totals 41.9 million people, which just seems insane to me.
That's just so many.
And it's interesting because another report in 2018 said that Jakarta's population was around 11 million.
So this obviously seems like a big jump in the last seven years.
Some quick maths there that I just did.
But it's for two reasons.
One of them is that the population was previously measured based on the city's own figures, but the United Nations is now using a new method of counting that includes areas connected to the city centre.
And so lots of people who live in those areas weren't counted before.
And the other reason for the increase in population is lots of people have been moving to live in the city.
And so Jakarta I mentioned, it's in Indonesia, which is in Southeast Asia, and nine of the 10 largest cities in the world are in Asia.
And the only non-Asian country in the top 10 is Cairo in Egypt, which is the largest city in Africa, with 256 million people.
And I just think this makes the UK's biggest city London, seem tiny in comparison, because it's the world's 33rd largest city, with a population of 104 million, which is just minuscule in comparison to Jakarta.
I was going to say, I roughly knew what London's population was.
And yeah, you're right, in comparison, well, there's no comparison, is there?
It's such a big difference.
I had no idea.
Thank you very much, Eve.
Jo, what's another story you've seen this week?
It's a story from UK news pages about dogs who help their owners sell the Big Issue magazine.
The Big Issue supports people who are homeless or struggling to afford essential items such as food and clothing by giving them the opportunity to sell the magazine to earn money.
Sellers of the magazine wear red tabards which are a bit like coats, but now their dogs are set to get their own tabards too.
The tabards have already been sent out to a trial group across the UK.
They will help keep the dogs warm and help them stand out to potential customers when their owners are out and about selling the magazine.
It's a win-win.
Uh, thank you very much, joe.
Right now, moving on, it's time for our well, I'm going to say my favourite bit of the show.
This is our competition where I hear a story.
I have to guess if it's true or false.
This week it is Joe who is taking his turn telling me a story.
Go on then, Joe.
What do you have for me?
We'll start off with a joke.
Why did the chicken cross the road?
I mean, to cause traffic chaos, apparently.
I mean, look no further than the A9 near Dunblane in Scotland where a trailer...
I slightly butchered that joke, so apology to anyone listening.
A trailer carrying the birds along the busy road recently overturned.
The chickens then piled out blocked traffic and this led to the road being partly closed for four hours.
An eyewitness said it looked like there were as many as 100 chickens waddling about.
But what do you think, Bex?
Is this story just too peculia to be true?
Correct.
I'm very happy with that pun, Joe.
Thank you very much for bringing that to us.
So sorry.
A lorry overturned and a hundred chickens fell out and they were waddling and squawking all over the road.
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, there's no official confirmation they were squawking, but I assume they were chickens.
So they were probably making a lot of noise.
Yeah, it was probably quite chaotic.
I mean, they were probably very discombobulated.
Did they all get back in?
Did they all get collected?
Do we know?
As far as I'm aware, they were all rounded up and put back.
There is no kind of, there's been no suggestion that any chickens were harmed in the putting together of this real or rubbish in real life or fantasy, whether it's true or not.
It feels like it could be the plot of the third Chicken Run movie, doesn't it?
The way they try and escape.
Yeah, definitely.
Definitely.
Some kind of like feathery flight.
I feel like it's not been very secured this lorry if immediately the doors are flung open and all these chickens are flown out.
So that's not ideal, is it?
I feel like this is the kind of thing I feel like I would have heard about.
Not that I'm like on the chicken grapevine, but I just feel like I would have heard about this story.
But while I think about today's real or rubbish, let's consider something else, shall we?
It's our book of the week.
And this week, it's My Cat is Called Odin by Francesco Bedini.
It's translated into English from Italian.
And the story is about 11-year-old Aldo who finds a scruffy, one-eyed black cat on his doorstep.
Aldo soon realises this is no ordinary cat.
It's a powerful Norse god called Odin.
Aldo and his best friends from Comic Club must help Odin and his army of warrior cats to stop an evil wolf called Fenrir and to save the world.
So if you think that sounds awesome and I think it does, you can win a copy of My Cat is Called Odin at the end of the show.
Stay with us until then and you can hear how to enter our big prize draw.
Now we're going to welcome a special guest.
Hello, Deputy Editor Rahul.
Hello.
How are you doing?
Hi, Bex.
I'm good, thanks.
Nice to be here.
Well, thank you.
Glad to have you on because I think you've got something quite cool to talk about.
Yeah, I'm going to talk about our sport page in this week's issue, which is about the international competition, the Deaflympics.
So this is an international sporting competition for athletes who are deaf or hard of hearing.
And this just took place in late November in Tokyo in Japan.
And the event brought together 81 different countries and around 3,000 athletes.
And it was actually...
100th anniversary of the game.
So it's been going for 100 years.
And I certainly hadn't heard of it before.
So we're really pleased to have been been able to cover it on our sport page.
So there are kind of 21 sports that athletes were competing across, and they include kind of badminton basketball swimming volleyball tennis cycling, football athletics as well, i believe and great britain sent out a team of 65 athletes and they are known as the deaflympics gb team, and those athletes managed to win, i think, 12 medals in total.
Now there's quite a nice little story in this, in that in october we received an email from a parent and the parent was explaining that their daughter, who's an avid week junior reader charlotte, would be uh, competing for Deaflympics GB in swimming, which was really really, really nice to read and receive.
So we covered this in our news pages a couple of weeks ago, and we spoke to Charlotte.
And now that the games have finished, we've learned that Charlotte actually won seven medals at the Deaflympics.
She won
Three golds, three silvers and one bronze out of Deaflympics GB total of 12 medals.
So it was a pretty spectacular performance from Charlotte.
And yeah, great to hear that Wheat Junior reader has done so spectacularly well.
And what's even more impressive about this is all of the GB athletes had to fundraise to go themselves.
So they each had to raise £4,000 in order to fund their costs for the trip.
So yeah, within all of that, there's a kind of note that the UK government doesn't support Deaflympics athletes in the same way that it does for the Olympics or the Paralympics.
So I guess we also want the government to fund our Deaflympics athletes.
So that... people like Charlotte can go and perform.
Wow, well done to Charlotte.
That's so many medals to win.
That's incredible.
And Rahul.
I mean we all know that the Week Junior readers and listeners are very special, but that is massive right.
That is massive.
That is massive.
And we've spoken to her in this week's sports page.
So have a little read and you can hear about how she felt about her performance and the honour of carrying the Deaflympics GB flag at the closing ceremony.
So well done, Charlotte.
And I believe she's also a rugby player as well.
So you might be seeing her. on the sport pages again in a different sport at some point.
Incredible stuff.
All right, well, thank you so much for telling us about the Deaflympics.
I had no idea about them.
So we can go and check it out in the magazine right now.
Thanks, Rahul.
Now it's time for this week's big debate.
And the question is, should spelling tests be scrapped?
Eve and Joe will go head to head on this one to take a side each.
But before we hear from them, here's some information you might need to know.
Lots of students in UK schools have to take spelling tests.
In addition, some pupils are formally tested on their spelling during their school years.
For example, as you may know, as part of SATs taken in year six for pupils in England.
Some people want the test to be scrapped, arguing they can have a negative impact on children that outweighs any positive effects.
And Dan Batchelor, a primary school teacher, recently told a literature event in London that spelling tests risk damaging children's self-esteem and putting them off reading.
So should spelling tests be scrapped?
Eve is team yes, Joe is team no.
Each of them have 60 seconds to make their case, and I'll make up my mind on who I agree with more.
So Eve, you are going to be going first.
The time is a little smaller today than it used to be, so I'm going to just hold it very close to the mic.
Thank you.
So whenever you're ready, take it away.
OK.
So tests can be really stressful and I don't think that really encourages children to love words if they're doing a spelling test.
I think they should be taught to enjoy words, writing and reading in a way that is fun and enjoyable, not by having to memorise how words are spelled off the top of their head, because that's just really hard.
Do we really need spelling tests anyway?
These days, most writing is done on computers or devices that have spellcheck on them.
Kind of seems to me unnecessary to put children through all the stress of a spelling test when they'll have spell check anyway.
And some children with conditions such as dyslexia can struggle with spelling, which makes tests unfair for them because it could harm their confidence as well.
I think there should be more inclusive ways of measuring progress with spelling, instead of spelling tests.
Okay, interesting.
More inclusive ways.
A good idea.
So this is when Joe disagrees and says no.
I don't think that's the case at all.
So right now I am going to be timing Joe on what he thinks.
So Joe, whenever you're ready, take it away.
So proper spelling is important for communication and making people understand each other.
And this doesn't just mean things like handwritten letters.
So even in the digital world, people frequently write to each other over email, and spell checkers are not always the answer.
They can be useful, but they aren't always available and they certainly aren't foolproof.
So it's best to have a good grasp of spelling in your own head rather than relying solely on technology.
And also spelling is linked to other skills such as reading and writing, so it really does make sense for teachers to check how students are performing, and finally doing well in a test can feel rewarding for the students too.
It's a nice feeling to get a good mark.
So yeah, I'm in favour of spelling tests.
Okay.
I kind of am also in favour of spelling tests, but that's because I really enjoyed spelling at school.
And I still remember some of the tests we had, including one, which was the word broach.
Always, always stuck with me, the word broach, but there's different versions of broach.
So that was, I don't know why, but I just- Which one?
Well, that's the thing.
Which one did you have to spell?
Was it broach as in you're broaching a subject or was it broach as in a pin on your jacket?
Well, that was the problem.
We didn't know, but it kept us on our toes and it turned out, I think, to be the broach on there.
But yeah, I do think spelling's a good thing to be able to do.
I think to not be able to have that knowledge is sad and you don't want to rely too much on technology to, kind of like, give you the spelling.
But equally I'm aware that, like not being able to spell, sometimes it does feel a bit scary when you can't spell a word and you don't know what you're doing.
So maybe it's not the be all and end all.
Maybe it's not the end of the world if you can't spell words.
But it's not about my opinion.
We also want to hear what you think as well.
We'd love to hear your verdict.
You can get involved by voting online at theweekjunior.co.uk slash polls.
You can also email your thoughts to us at hello at theweekjunior.co.uk or send us a voice note.
We love to hear your voice.
Go to funkidslive.com slash theweekjunior.
Scroll down until you see that big red button.
Grab a grown up and record your voice.
Now, in last week's Big Debate, we asked you if cloud seeding is a good idea.
So, Joe, what did our Week Junior listeners and readers vote?
60% said no.
Cloud seeding isn't a good idea because it could be harmful for the environment.
Okay and Eve any opinions on this?
Yeah we got lots this week.
One person said I think that cloud seeding is a bad idea because it could contain dangerous chemicals that could harm humans, animals and crops.
Also people may get overexcited and start using it too much which could lead to flooding.
And someone else said it is a good idea because global warming is increasing the number of droughts worldwide and cloud seeding can solve the problem and give people water, which is a basic necessity for humanity.
Oh my goodness, two very good arguments there.
So thank you so much for everybody who's been in touch with their thoughts on last week's big debate.
But yeah, like I said, this week's big debate go to theweekjuniorcouk slash polls to get involved.
Now, every week, our readers and listeners send in lots of messages to the inbox to tell us what they've been up to.
And editorial assistant Elena is here to share some of her favourites.
Hey, Elena.
Hi, Bex.
Hi, everyone.
This week, we had a message from Oak who said that he loves the podcast.
Thank you, Oak.
And sent us a picture of himself reading the magazine with his jellycat soft toys.
And you know what?
I'm so jealous.
It looks so cozy in this cold.
It's all I want to do.
Joe, do you kind of wish you were Oak right now?
Yeah, definitely.
I think he's got the right idea.
My radiator is broken at the moment and I've been really cold in bed.
So I might get myself some stuffed toys to make it a bit more cozy and just keep me warm on these freezing cold nights at the moment.
I am quite jealous.
Yeah, I've got the electric blanket on right now.
And yeah, I could also spot a very cool Mandalorian hoodie, which I kind of want for myself now.
Maybe it should be a self-gift for Christmas.
We also had two voice notes from listeners who responded to our request last week.
Bex asked listeners if they could pronounce that very long place name in Wales, which I'm not going to try and do myself because the experts, James and Jacob, did.
Let's listen to James's voice note first.
My name is James and I'm age eight.
You wanted to know the longest railway station in the whole world.
It's in Wales and it's called...
Thank you, James.
Yeah, that's amazing.
We were mentioning last week that the only recognizable part of the name is the very end.
I feel like every time that someone says it, it's something different, but it always ends that way.
And that's how I know that it's what we're talking about.
Let's now listen to Jacob's voice note, which came with a fun fact.
Let's now listen to Jacob's voice note, which came with a fun fact.
That was really long, but it's not actually the longest place name in the world.
I know that the longest place name is somewhere in New Zealand, but I am not going to pronounce that because I don't know it.
Thanks, The Week Junior.
I love your show and your magazine.
Thank you, Jacob.
That's an amazing fact and I think it's very wise that you didn't try to pronounce it, because I've looked it up and this place name in New Zealand is composed of 85 characters, compared to the Welsh name's 58 characters.
Do you know about this eve?
Did you know that there was another place name even long, even longer than the welsh one?
I did not, and i'm loving that.
We're getting these voice notes over the last couple of weeks where we're learning lots of fun facts from our listeners.
I know about the longest word and now we're learning about the longest place name, so please keep it coming everyone, keep your fun facts coming, because we love it definitely.
Oh, i've already forgotten about that, that long word, but i did attempt to pronounce it.
Um, Something medical.
It was pneumo something.
I kind of remember.
Anyway, that is it for this week.
Thank you to all readers and listeners that messaged us.
And just a reminder that if you send us a voice note and it's played on the podcast, like James and Jacob's, you will get a Roman Reporter badge, because we love voice notes.
Thank you again and see you all next week.
Thank you very much, Elena.
Now let's turn our attention back to the magazine and find out about some awesome stories.
Jo, who's been your hero of the week?
My hero of the week is 17-year-old Luca, who we interviewed for the main story on our People page.
Luca is a rock climber who wants to promote sustainable rock climbing, which is climbing.
That means in decades time, the same outdoor rock climbing routes will still be suitable to use.
He advises following marked trails, respecting wildlife and leaving no trace, meaning make sure you don't leave litter or equipment behind.
Excellent.
Thank you very much.
Eve, what's been your favourite fact this week?
Well, my favourite fact this week is kind of one that I already knew, but it's from our entertainment page, which is about the next series of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, which is all about Greek mythology.
And I wrote the feature because I love Percy Jackson.
I think it's great.
And I really wanted to include in the story that Poseidon, who is Percy Jackson's dad and the god of the sea, is also the god of storms, horses and earthquakes, which I think is really fun.
And if anyone listening has read the Percy Jackson books then they'll know Percy can actually talk to horses in the books.
So, yeah, I just think it's a fun.
When you read the Percy Jackson books, you learn a lot of amazing Greek mythology facts.
Wow, storms, horses, the sea.
That's a lot of stuff, isn't it?
Good fact.
Thank you very much, Eve.
One thing I saw in the magazine this week that made me smile and also want to move to Slovenia is the fact that every worker in Slovenia is about to get a Christmas bonus of £560.
Now, the government agreed to this rule in November.
Companies have to pay it, although some of them, of course, aren't too sure whether they want to or not.
And apparently, they also get a summer bonus in June as well.
So, you know...
I'm just going to put it out there.
Can we all move to Slovenia?
I'm quite tempted to get these little bonuses.
So there's lots of stuff that you can read right now in the magazine.
And before the end of the podcast we need to talk about one other thing from the magazine Real or Rubbish.
Jo, can you remind me again, please, about the story this week?
Yeah, it was a story about chickens blocking the A9 near Dunblane in Scotland.
A trailer carrying the poultry overturned and the chickens made their way onto the road, causing traffic delays.
And I've just added this one.
Is this real or a foul story?
Nice.
All I could think of was, are you chucking me the truth, chicken chuck?
But that's all I could, little chuck.
But yeah, you did better than I have this week.
Okay, so we are saying that 100 chickens kind of fell out of the back of a lorry and they were causing havoc, but they were all swept up and saved again and they were sent on their way on their adventures.
I don't know about this because...
It feels unlikely so many chickens would be released and be all saved.
Again, if it's real, I do want it to be the plot of the new Chicken Run film.
I think I'm going to say the story this week is rubbish.
I think that's what I'm going to say.
All right.
Drum roll.
No, it's real.
It's real.
I know.
Emergency services had to stop traffic at Balhaldi, causing long queues while the chickens were rounded up.
And the delays meant some parents and carers were late for the school pickup in Dunblane.
So there we go.
Wow.
What a good excuse as well to be late.
Sorry, I'm late.
Chicken's on the road.
Yeah.
Well, thank you very much, Joe.
And finally, it's Listen Up.
This is the part of the show that gives you the chance to win a copy of our book of the week, which this week is My Cat is Called Odin, by Francesco Bedini.
All you got to do is answer a question about something that's been said in this episode.
And if you think you know the answer, grab a grown up and head to theweekjuniorcouk slash.
Listen up to fill in our online entry form and enter the prize draw before the closing date of 11th of December at midday.
Congratulations to Felix, who won a copy of Rune, the Tale of the Obsidian Maze, just two weeks ago.
So the Week Junior team will randomly select a winner from all of the entries with the correct answer.
And if you're under 16, you must have a parent or guardian's permission to enter, and terms and conditions apply.
You can find out more at theweekjunior.co.uk slash terms.
All right, then, are you ready?
Listen up.
What is the world's largest city by population?
If you know the answer to the question, go to theweekjuniorcouk forward slash.
Listen up to enter our giveaway.
OK, thank you very much, Jo.
That brings us to the end of this week's show.
Thank you, of course, to Jo, Eve, Elena and Rahul.
Next week, we'll be back to discuss more of the fascinating stories that are happening in the world.
And don't forget to send in your voice notes for a chance to have your voice on the podcast and to win a roving reporter badge.
And of course, do rate, review and subscribe or follow us wherever it is you get your podcasts from.
If you like The Week Junior show, you will love The Week Junior magazine.
And so you can head to theweekjuniorcouk.
Thanks for listening to this podcast, which is made by the same people that make the week junior magazine.
You can get six free issues of the week junior or three issues of the week junior science and nature for five pounds by heading to theweekjuniorcouk.
Forward slash podcast offer.
Got a history teacher who makes the past come alive.
Nominate them for the Inspiring History Teaching Awards and help them to go down in history.
Ask your grown-up to visit hrp.org.uk slash teaching awards.
