WEBVTT

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Welcome to Spotlight Advanced. I'm Liz
Wade and I'm Bruce gulland Spotlight uses a

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special English method of broadcasting. It
is easier for people to understand no matter

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where in the world they live.
The children laugh and shout loudly. They

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are playing games on the playground.
One child is it. He runs after

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a group of other children. He
catches one of them. That second child

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becomes it. She now chases the
other children and tries to catch one.

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They are all playing a game of
chase or tag in another area of the

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playground. Two children each hold opposite
it ends of a long rope. They

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turn it round and round and up
and down. Other children take turns to

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jump over the rope. As it
is being turned, they are skipping,

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and all the children who are skipping
are also singing special skipping songs. Children

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in all parts of the world play
similar games. Many generations of children have

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enjoyed playing these traditional games, But
could these games have a more important purpose.

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Today's Spotlight is on traditional children's playground
games. Experts everywhere agree that play

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is good for children. They say
it is important for a child's mental and

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physical development. Nicola Butler from the
organization Play England told the Huffington Post traditional

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playground games are necessary for children's health, well being and development. Playing these

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games lets children learn about friendships.
They learn about arguing, making up,

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negotiating and resolving disputes, and making
the gun and making the game fun and

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fair. But most importantly, being
involved in these games make children happy.

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Did you know that children from many
countries play the same or similar traditional games,

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though these games often have different names
in different countries. The game of

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leap frog has been played in the
United Kingdom since the sixteenth century. In

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this game, one child bends down
and holds his knees or ankles. Another

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child runs up to the first child, places her hands on the back of

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the first child, and leaps or
jumps over the first child. Any number

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of children can play the game.
They all take turns to leap or jump

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like a frog. In other countries, children jump like a different animal.

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In France, children call the same
game sout montone, which means leap sheep.

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In India they call it r godi
keepar godi, which means leap horse.

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Another game children play all over the
world is hopscotch. In Albania they

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call the game vara. In Germany, it is Hinkschpiel. Johannesly told Topics

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online magazine what the game is called
in his country. When I was a

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child, my friends and I used
to play many traditional games from my country,

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Indonesia. A game I played a
lot was called one leg Jump.

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One leg Jump is a good name
for the game of hop scotch. That's

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because the name one leg jump helps
you understand how to play the game.

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The players mark squares on the ground
using a stone or a piece of chalk.

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Children in different parts of the world
make different shapes or grids with the

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squares, but some things are always
the same. The children all hop or

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jump on one leg from square to
square, and they must not put a

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foot on any line. Very often
children play the game using a stone.

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They throw the stone onto square one
and take their turn hopping on the whole

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grid. They hop to the last
square, then they turn round and hop

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back. On their next turn,
they will throw their stone onto square two,

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and on their next turn they throw
onto square three, and so on.

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If the stone does not land in
the correct square, the child must

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lose a turn. Maria Lopez from
Columbia told Topics how she enjoyed playing hopscotch

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when she was a child. Maria
Lopez from Columbia told Topics how she enjoyed

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playing hopscotch when she was a child. When I was a little girl,

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most afternoons, I used to play
games with my friends in our street.

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Ruela, as hopscotch is called in
Spanish, was my favorite game. It

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is nice to remember playing games like
ryuela because it shows me that I had

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a happy time as a child,
surrounded by special people who always loved me.

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It may surprise you to learn that
hopscotch is a very old game.

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Experts say that nearly two thousand years
ago, Roman soldiers used something similar as

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an exercise. They had to hop
up and down a one hundred foot series

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of squares. They did this to
make them stronger and quicker on their feet.

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Marbles is another ancient game that is
played around the world. No one

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knows exactly how old it is,
but we know the Romans played this game

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too. You can see children playing
marbles on ancient Roman wall paintings. But

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what are marbles and how do you
play the game of marbles? Marbles are

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very small hard balls. You can
find marbles made from different sorts of stone,

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including the stone called marble, but
most marbles are made from brightly colored

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glass. People play many different sorts
of games with their marbles, but all

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of these games are simply called But
all of these games are called simply marbles.

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The ring game is one popular game
of marbles. A child uses a

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stone or chalk to make a circle
or ring on the ground. Those playing

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the game put a few of their
marbles into the ring. Each child rolls

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or shoots another marble to try to
push one of the marbles out of the

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ring. If a player manages to
do this, he keeps that marble.

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Hakan Tunja from Turkey played marbles as
a child, but he used a triangle

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shape, not a circle. He
told Topics how he and his friends would

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compete for marbles. I think the
most important thing was to have as many

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marbles as we could. We competed
to win the most marbles. The one

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who won the most marbles was the
leader of the group, and everyone tried

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to be the leader. Now I
understand that this small competition was our first

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experience with power and leadership. Traditional
playground games are about more than just fun.

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Hopefully children continue to learn these games
and their valuable lessons for hundreds more

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years. Do you remember playing traditional
playground games when you were a child.

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Tell us about playground games in your
country. You can leave a comment on

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our website or email us at Radio
at Radio English dot net. You can

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also comment on Facebook at Facebook dot
com slash Spotlight Radio. The writer of

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this program was Katie Blake. The
producer was Michio Ozaki. The voices you

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heard were from the United States and
the United Kingdom. All quotes were adapted

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for this program and voiced by Spotlight. You can listen to this program again

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and read it on the internet at
www dot Radio English dot net. This

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program is called Traditional Children's Games.
Look for our free listening app in the

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Google play Store and in iTunes.
We hope you can join us again for

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the next Spotlight program. Goodbye,