Today's English challenge was...

Imagine when we return to school we have a new school robot.

Make a list of the things the robot could do better than humans in school can do. Make a second list of things humans in school could do better than a robot.

Persuade us to keep or get rid of the robot. 

The replies we had were fantastic and we wanted to share some extracts with you...

 

"I strongly believe that the robot is not helpful, here are some reasons why. It can't serve food because it might malfunction and start breaking things or throw food at the children which would be very dangerous. It wouldn't be useful for PE lessons because it wouldn't be able to jump or move very well. I know it could be useful for lessons like science but there are more cons than there are pros. It also couldn't clean because it could get wet and blow up! Please send away the robot." Rupert

"I think we should keep the school robot because it is very good to play with people and it is very funny sometimes. He can make dinner and can stack the chairs for us. He is caring and it would be really really cool to be the first school to have a robot." Aidan

"I am writing to you to let you know that I think we should keep the school robot. This is because there are more pros than cons so there are more benefits to keeping it. For instance;

  • The robot would be good at cleaning so you would not have to clean the classroom and the cleaning lady will not have to clean the school.
  • It would also be good at preparing the work for the next day and marking work very fast so you would not have to do it so you could go and spend time with your family.
  • Surely, you don't like carrying all of your bags so due to the robot marking and preparing work you wouldn't have to take the books home.
  • Again, the robot can be used to carry other heavy things such as benches, play boxes and football nets.
  • Finally, it would be good at outdoor maintenance such as cutting the grass so the playground would look clean." Maisie

 

"I think that we should keep the robot because they can do jobs around the school. For instance, they could help with learning also they can move quicker than we can. Next, they might be taller and reach more things that we can not reach. Besides it would be fun for the children to play with in the school yard. For these reasons I think we should definitely keep it." Harley

"I am writing to persuade you to keep the school robot and to tell you how it is beneficial for the school. It helps everyone and comes in useful with general school problems. Why would you decline the opportunity to make staff's work easier? ... Finally, the job most teachers dread, lost jumpers, PE kits and coats. This robot has a built in tracking device to find all misplaced possessions. Doesn't every teacher get tired of kids saying ''I've lost my PE kit!'' Well now that problem is solved. This is why we need to keep the robot." Bella

"Let's not keep the robot it seems to make a lot of mess because it might drop things on our work like water and we will have to do it all again, also it might not be able to go through doors if its giant so get rid of it." Brooke

"I think we should get rid of the robot. Firstly it`s not kind because it doesn`t have feelings. Secondly it`s rubbish at planning because it hasn`t had much experience. Thirdly it is bad at teaching because it`s not normally a teacher.

Finally it can`t play football so it can`t be a football coach." Max

"I think you should keep the robot for this reason because it could make you food if you ask it what you want. Secondly for example it could do your home work for you so you don’t have to do it all. In fact he could give us parties instead of work." George

"I think we should keep the robot so it will make it easier for the teachers and we are moving into the future and we're getting more advanced. However some of the bad things about the robot is that the cleaning staff could lose their job, but the good thing is that it will mean teachers will have more time to do different stuff." Freddie

So what do you think? Should we keep the school robot or not?