Parenta Magazine September 2019

International Talk Like A Pirate Day
Last month, we celebrated National Playday and National Colouring Book Day, and earlier in the
year was International Women’s Day and Safer Internet Day. So, I know you’ll all be wondering
about this month’s awareness day. There’s lots of fun to be had with Roald Dahl Day, (see page
30) but I bet you didn’t know that on September 19th, you can practice your old pirate patter
with International Talk Like A Pirate Day!!
“Ooo arr” we hear you say, “Be that true?” “Aye aye, shiver me timbers, it is, to be sure!”
(OK, back to speaking normally - for a few paragraphs at least!)
An old pirate’s tale…
So, it’s true – September 19th is officially
recognised as International Talk Like A
Pirate Day. It started in 1995 when two
friends (Mark “Cap’n Slappy” Summers,
and John “Ol’ Chumbucket” Baur) were
playing racquetball and began shouting
encouragements to each other. These
escalated into pirate slang and by the
end of the match, they had decided
to set up a day to speak in the pirate
tongue and keep some traditional
piratical activities alive. They chose the
19th of September and this sturdy band
of intrepid adventurers (well 2 of them!)
dedicated themselves to keeping their
new-found parlance. For 7 years they stoically
observed the day, when one lucky Monday (or
it could have been a Tuesday… pirates don’t
count the days you know); they found some
scurvy treasure – the email address of
the syndicated columnist, Dave
Barry – who, with his tongue
in his cheek and quill in his
hand, promoted the idea
across his network. The rest,
as they say, is
history.
Nowadays, pirates big and small look forward to hoisting their
main sails, leaving the landlubbers behind and becoming a
swashbuckling buccaneer for the day! There’s even a dedicated
website at www.talklikeapirate.com where other wouldbe
scallywags can learn more and download some useful
resources such as a pirate glossary, pirate songs, and some
learning resources for junior pirates, their parents and teachers.
So why not get into the swing of Talk Like A Pirate Day in your
own setting, and see what madcap mayhem you can have?
Here are a few ideas to help you
Learn to speak pirate parlance!
Since the day is all about speaking like a pirate, everyone
should at least learn a few pirate phrases. The website has
some great ones for adults and little ones alike, but we’ve put
down a few of our favourites to help you get started.
Ye
Me
Bucko
Booty
Shiver me timbers
Parley
Ahoy
Scupper that
Davey Jones’ locker
You
My
Friend
Treasure
Expressing surprise
A discussion between opposing sides
in an argument
Used to attract attention or as a
greeting
Throw that overboard
A fictional place at the bottom of the
sea - death!
Organise a treasure hunt
This is a great way to engage the children
and to help them with some extra learning
and problem-solving opportunities too.
You can do it inside and/or outside,
depending on the weather and the
children can participate individually, in
pairs or in teams. Plan your hunt carefully
and decide if you want to use a map, or
have clues to follow that lead from one
to the next. It’s best to start at the end
(where your treasure will be hidden) and
work backwards towards your designated
starting point, either making-up your own
clues or you could use some of the many
ready-made ones on the internet. There
are some simple rhyming couplet ideas
here.
If you have very young children, you could
do a picture quiz instead of using words, so
that children find the items from a picture.
And for older children you can introduce an
element of maths such as simple counting
or addition to get to the answer.
Make sure that you have some ‘treasure’ at
the end of the trail. It can be anything and
an old shoe box covered in brown paper
makes a good treasure chest.
Dress up as a pirate
Red, white and black are common pirate
colours so ask children to come to the
setting in these colours. You can make
some pirate hats and eye patches using
cardboard and string and cut up some old
pieces of material to make bandanas and
arm bands.
Make some pirate booty
A pirate wouldn’t be a pirate without some
booty, so why not make some treasure
of your own? Cut out different shapes of
coloured card to be jewels or string some
beads together to make necklaces and
bracelets. You can even make and paint
some crowns, bars of gold or coins
too.
Learn a pirate song and jig
Everyone loves and old sea shanty and this
is a great way to increase physical activity
and have some fun doing it. The creators
of Talk Like A Pirate Day have made up a
child-friendly pirate song which is listed
on their website along with several other
lesson plans for historical, art and other
types of educational lessons. You can
adapt them depending on the age of the
children you are working with.
Make a pirate flag
The skull and crossbones is the traditional
pirate flag and you could make
some using either paper, cardboard
or material. There are 32 free,
downloadable stencils here if you don’t
want to draw your own.
Read some stories about pirates
Here are some of our favourite pirate
books for younger children:
• “The Pirates of Scurvy Sands” by
Jonny Duddle
• “Sir Charlie Stinky Socks: The
Pirate’s Curse” by Kristina
Stephenson
• “Pirate Pete” by Nick Sharratt
• “Ten Little Pirates” by Mike
Brownlow
• “Molly Rogers, Pirate Girl” by
Cornelia Funke
And don’t forget those
classics, “Treasure Island”
and “Peter Pan” too.
Above all me hearties,
tis time to weigh
anchor, get all hands
on deck and have
some piratey fun!
For more information, visit
the website at:
www.talklikeapirate.com
16 Parenta.com September 2019 17