MIND YOUR MANNERS
Do you ever speak with your mouth full of food? Do you forget to cover your mouth with your hand when you sneeze? If you are guilty of these ‘crimes’, then perhaps you should enrol on an Etiquette and Social Skills course. This is not just an ordinary course. It’s a course in manners. You will have lessons in good manners and how to behave in social situations.
The person who teaches these lessons is Maggie O’Farrill at the Petite Protocol School, and her students are aged between six and twelve years old. She thinks this is the best time to teach kids. “At this age they are very easy,” O’Farrill says. “When they get older, it’s harder for them to break bad habits. Children at this age want to be polite. You can see that they’re trying.”
Maggie instructs the children to speak properly on the phone and walk correctly, as well as telling them about basic table manners. These classes have become popular because parents want well-behaved children but they are too busy to teach manners at home.
So, what do the children actually think of this course? The classes have proven to be popular with most of the children, and their teachers at school have noticed that the youngsters are treating each other with more respect. They also feel the skills they have learnt will be useful to them in the future. Danny, aged nine, commented, “If I get invited to the White House, I know I won’t spill anything on the President.”
Maggie O’Farrill herself believes that such skills can be life-changing. “We’ll have children growing up who value manners. Maybe we’ll see a change in direction for the better in society.” That, however, remains to be seen. Only time will tell.
Read the text and, for questions 1-5, choose the best answer, A, B, C or D.
1. What is the writer’s main purpose in writing the text?
a. to talk about pupils’ bad habits
b. to try to change society
c. to encourage children to respect each other
d. to discuss a way to improve children’s manners
2. Maggie O’Farrill thinks you should
a. teach manners when children are still young.
b. give lessons on manners to teachers.
c. show parents how to teach their children.
d. instruct parents to be less busy.
3. What would a reader learn about Maggie O’Farrill from the text?
a. She cannot teach Maths.
b. She knows how to be polite.
c. She can only teach six-year-olds.
d. She studies at the Petite Protocol School.
4. Pupils enjoy these classes because
a. they can meet the President.
b. they learn about the future.
c. they are helpful for their future lives.
d. they learn not to spill things on people.
5. Which of the following is the best description of the Petite Protocol School?
a. This is the only school of its kind in the world.
b. It is a school for children who have broken the law.
c. It is a regular school with extra courses for young pupils.
d. Parents like it and rely on it to help them bring up their children.