The Nursery That Took All The Children’s Toys Away — IELTS Reading Answers

What does Gisela Marti criticise about nurseries in the third paragraph?

1. Athe length of time children spend there
2. Bthe number of arguments children have there
3. Cthe lack of physical space for children's play there
4. Dthe amount of organisation children are exposed to therecorrect

“According to Gisela Marti, the children's day is deliberately unstructured as one of the basic beliefs of the project is that children spend too much time being rushed around from one activity to another and they end up with a 'reduced space for life'”

Option D fits: Gisela says children are 'rushed around from one activity to another' with a 'reduced space for life', too much organisation.

When talking about danger, Gisela Marti suggests that teachers may have to

1. Alearn how to reduce it.
2. Badjust their response to it.correct
3. Cexplore what causes it.
4. Dagree when to avoid it.

“Like Gudrun Huber, Gisela Marti found it hard to re-evaluate the rules she was used to: 'They weren't allowed to do anything really dangerous, but they were allowed to jump on the chairs and tables, and that is not something they would normally be allowed to do.”

Option B fits her point that 'some teachers will allow more dangerous and active play than others', so responses must be adjusted.

How did the children feel about getting their toys back?

1. AThey were impatient to get them back.
2. BThey had not expected to get them back.
3. CThey had lost interest in getting them back.
4. DThey had mixed feelings about getting them back.correct

“The children were happy to get their toys back, but they were also aware that they had fun without them”

Option D matches the children being 'happy to get their toys back, but they were also aware that they had fun without them', mixed feelings.

Those children who are not part of the project have poorer social skills than those who are.

“At the end of the project, Elke Schubert thought there were definite benefits. 'We find that children on the project concentrate better when they work, integrate better into groups and communicate better than the children who didn't take part.'”

Elke Schubert (C) says project children 'integrate better into groups and communicate better than the children who didn't take part', so non-participants have poorer social skills.

A goal of the project is to enable children to express both agreement and disagreement.

“The aim is to make the children 'self-confident, able to bear conflict and frustration, able to say "yes" as well as "no" and also aware of their weaknesses and strengths'”

Gisela Marti (A) states the aim is children able to say 'yes' as well as 'no', i.e. able to agree and disagree.

An excess of toys can lead to irritation in a child.

“As one father said: 'Klaus used to get out all his toys and spread them all over the room and they got in such a mess that he wasn't playing properly with any of them. So we put all the toys away in the cellar and now we only get out what he actually wants to play with and he gets much less frustrated.'”

Klaus's father (D) reports that with fewer toys out 'he gets much less frustrated', linking too many toys to irritation.

People working in education may fail to appreciate the importance of children deciding themselves how to fill their time.

“Teachers often underestimate the power of that learning.'”

Elsa Davies (E) says 'Teachers often underestimate the power of that learning', meaning educators may undervalue child-led time.

At first, the employees at the nursery found it hard to allow the children to do whatever they wanted to do.

“Initially it was difficult for the staff, not just because it was unbearably noisy, but because, as Gudrun Huber says: 'It was difficult to hold back and let the children be.'”

Gudrun Huber (B) admits 'It was difficult to hold back and let the children be', showing staff initially struggled to allow freedom.

“A video taken of the children during the three-month toy-free period shows them on the first day staring at each other hesitantly and looking apprehensively around the big, empty classroom”

The video shows children 'looking apprehensively around the big, empty classroom', the noun needed.

“They make a den by draping the blankets over the tables and weighing them down with shoes, and then they start running around the room, chatting and laughing excitedly”

They weigh the blankets down 'with shoes', the plural noun the summary requires.

“Gisela Marti found that once the children settled down to the new regime, they invented games: 'They loved acting and putting on a show, or pretending to be in a circus or on a train, but most importantly, all the time they were playing, they were learning to socialise.'”

Once the children settled down, 'they invented games', the plural noun the summary needs.

“'They loved acting and putting on a show, or pretending to be in a circus or on a train, but most importantly, all the time they were playing, they were learning to socialise.'”

The children enjoyed 'pretending to be in a circus or on a train', so 'circus' fits.

“'They loved acting and putting on a show, or pretending to be in a circus or on a train, but most importantly, all the time they were playing, they were learning to socialise.'”

The key point is that while playing 'they were learning to socialise', the verb the summary needs.