School children across the city have been invited to a special comedy gig hosted by Cardiff Council’s Reading Power Team.
Cardiff students at Key Stages 2, 3 and 4 were challenged to find bad grammar or the wrong choice of words, verbs and tenses in songs. The young sleuths have spotted numerous examples of poor spelling and grammar in song lyrics and having declared their condemning verdict, are now looking forward to collecting their reward for exposing the ‘crimes’.
Some examples of the entrants submitted in the competition include: Jessie J’s Price Tag: “Ain’t about the (ha) Cha-Ching Cha-Ching, Ain’t about the (yeah) Ba-Bling, Ba-Bling”, which should read “It is not about the sound of money. It is not about the flashy jewellery.” And Rhianna’s what my name is: the lyric is “Cuz I’ve been tryna” and it should read “Because I’ve been trying to.”
340 young people who spotted the mistakes will enjoy the special, invite-only comedy gig at the National Museum, in Cardiff on Wednesday June 20. A line up of Welsh comedians, Mike Bubbins, Dan Mitchell, Clint Edwards and Jordi Brown will provide the entertainment between 12.30 – 2pm.
The competition is the latest initiative by the Council’s Education Service to raise literacy standards and promote good reading and writing amongst children and young people.
The Reading Power campaign is aimed at tackling the issue of poor literacy and was developed to help parents and carers understand the importance of good reading and writing skills to help children succeed in the future.
A Reading Power website is available at www.cardiff.gov.uk/readingpower to provide parents with information on how they can help their children. The website contains tips and advice, as well as recommending English and Welsh books and links to other websites that promote reading as an enjoyable pastime as well as an essential skill.
Cabinet Member for Education, Lifelong Learning and Libraries, Cllr Julia Magill, said: “Reading and writing are the basic building blocks for education and it’s vital that children and young people have these key skills as a solid foundation for success in school and later in life.
“The Council places a strong emphasis on supporting schools and parents to give children the best opportunity to gain good reading and writing skills. This Reading Power competition has really caught children’s imagination and was a great idea to get young people thinking and improving their literacy skills whilst doing something they enjoy – listening to music.”
“Well done to all the winners in this competition, and to everyone involved in making the comedy gig a really fun – and funny, reward.”
