18140 dangerous sports reading roleplay

Is she off her rocker?
Anger at mum rock-climbing
with toddler strapped to her back
The Sun: January 2012

A SINGLE mum with a love of outdoor sports has sparked outrage — by
rock-climbing with her toddler daughter strapped to her back.
Menna Pritchard, 26, who says she believes that "life is about taking risks" has defended
her decision to scale sheer rock faces while carrying two-year-old Ffion. The full-time
student said: "Some people would say I'm taking more risks than are necessary. But I am
very conscious of safety and I would never do anything with Ffion that I thought would put
her in danger."
However, despite her claims to respect safety, Menna has been forced to defend a
photograph she posted on her blog taken as she climbed a limestone rock face at Three
Cliffs Bay in South Wales with Ffion strapped to her back. While the mum and her climbing
partner wear safety helmets in the photo, Ffion's head is bare. Health and safety officials
criticised her actions saying that she was being irresponsible and placing her child’s life at
risk.
But Menna said: "I can appreciate if you didn't realise how safe the environment I was in, it
could be worrying, but I was top-roping which means if you fall you don't fall any further
than where you came off. It is the safest form of climbing you can do. I was also in a beach
environment surrounded by experienced climbers. Health and safety legislation and the
“sue and blame” culture mean so many people are nervous and afraid of getting into
trouble, and taking small risks. Life is all about risks, whether that's something as simple as
getting in your car every day or climbing up a rock face."
Menna split with Ffion's dad when she was three months pregnant and moved to Wales to
live with her parents. She is studying for a degree in outdoor education at University of
Wales, Trinity St David in Carmarthen and works part-time as an outdoor instructor while
juggling her job and education with her love of adventure sports.
Ffion was just four-months-old when Menna carried her up Pen y Fan, the highest peak in
South Wales. "She slept through the whole thing," she said. "She was in a front carrier at

that time and it really was incredibly safe. Safety is always paramount."
Menna has since walked or climbed with Ffion in The Gower, a coastal beauty spot near
Swansea, on the Pembrokeshire coast, and in North Wales. She added: "Rock climbing,
kayaking and canoeing are all fairly new to me in the last two years but I feel I am in my
element. The idea is that's it's fun and exciting for Ffion too and hopefully I am inspiring her
and giving her access to the outdoors. Ever since Ffion was born I have been either trying
to do mountain climbing with her or forest walking or doing beach trips. It just felt so good,
not only for my physical well-being but also for my state of mind."


Is she off her rocker?
Vocabulary list linking exercise
Connect the words on the left with the correct definitions on the right.
a) Bare

1) A child between the ages of 2 and 4

b) Paramount

2) Uncovered

c) Scale

3) Secured by ropes or strong cords

d) Split

4) Provoke anger

e) Sue

5) To be crazy/mad

f) Blame

6) Climb

g) Juggling

7) Separate

h) Strapped

8) Take legal action

i) Sheer

9) managing, balancing

j) Toddler

10) Hold guilty, condemn, accuse

k) Spark outrage

11) Very important

l) Off one’s rocker

12) Vertical

You are a social worker in a social services meeting with several other colleagues and have just read this
article relating to one of the cases you are reviewing today. A complaint has been made to the social services
department relating to this article and as to whether the child is in danger. You need to make a decision on the
complaint. Start a debate with your fellow team members on this issue. Your options for the moment are the
following:
1.

Take further action in regards to ensuring the child’s safety.

2.

Take no further action regarding the child’s safety.

3.

Publicly condemn the newspaper for sexism in its condemnation of a single mother.

4.

Issue a warning to the mother that she should do more to ensure her child’s safety in future.

5. Recommend immediate legislation to the council making it illegal to allow children under the age of 10
to participate in “high risk” sports such as rock climbing


After reading the article and doing the word linking exercise, tell your students
that they are going to do a small role-play.
Cut out the personality cards and then hand them out to the students and tell
them that these cards are a summary of their personalities.

Give the students a couple of minutes to read the cards and field any questions
on the vocabulary.
Chose a student to read out the situation for the social services role-play
located under the vocabulary list linking exercise.
Students should then start the meeting with you as chair to help with any
language problems.
The meeting should have a time limit of no longer than 20 minutes with each
student taking it in turns to give their opinions.
After all students have said their piece, the groups should then take a vote on
what action, if any, should be taken.
After the exercise is finished, get the students to debate what they really think
about the article.

You are a very traditional and
conservative person with strict
religious views. You think that
women with children should be
educating them at home on
family responsibilities. You
think that a woman should fill a
traditional role in the family
and that a single mother is a
very bad example of the
modern world and all that is
wrong with it. You think single
parents are irresponsible.

You have liberal religious
views on life and believe very
strongly in forgiveness and

compassion. You are very
uncomfortable with
condemning people for being
different. You are also very
health conscious and think that
children spend too much time
indoors and that today’s
children lead a sedentary life
that isn’t good for them. You
also think safety is paramount.


You are a family orientated
person. You think anything
done as a family is a good
thing. When you were a child
your parents died and you
were raised by an aunt and an
uncle that didn’t care for you
very much. You have a partner
and 4 children and you do
everything with them. You also
work as a marriage guidance
counsellor and think that
couples should stay together.

You are a very cautious but
open minded person. You think
that people in general take too
many risks in life. You think that

if a person endangers the life of
another through being
irresponsible then they should
go to prison. However, you also
believe that intervention in
family affairs is a last resort. You
think that families should be
made to take responsibility for
their actions but the final
decision should be theirs.

You are a traditional and
conservative person and don’t
think that today’s youth is very
impressive. You think young
people today are soft. When you
were a child you had to work
and contribute to the family’s
weekly income. You were also a
keen athlete when you were a
child and think that children
today don’t get enough exercise.
You think safety is a personal
affair and is the responsibility of
the individual.

You are a very safety conscious
person and think that people
don’t take enough precautions.
You had a car accident when

you were young because a
friend was being careless and
as a result you partially lost the
use of three fingers on your left
hand. This has always bothered
you because you were a
talented musician before the
accident. You think people that
take risks are totally
irresponsible.

As a child you were left on
your own a lot and had many
accidents as a result. Your
parents were very
irresponsible and selfish and
were always hitting you. You
think that children are
generally not treated very well
and you are always suspicious
that they are being abused in
some way. You would rather
take the children into care than
see them left at risk.

As a child you were raised in a
Social Services children’s care
facility and have bad memories
of the experience. You became
a social worker to try and

improve the service as a result
of your experiences at the
facility. You think that protection
of children is paramount but you
also think that a child should
only be separated from its
parent as a last resort and only
in cases of extreme abuse. You
think single parents are brave.