Thursday, 10 August, 2023
Typhoon shuts down Scout jamboree; England names it’s Cat Of The Year; Matildas prep for battle with France; and the World Dog Surfing Championships.
LINKS
World Dog Surfing Championships
Zebby the wonder cat
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHBra3gfMDM
Squiz Kids LIVE! Buy tickets to our Canberra show here:
https://moshtix.com.au/v2/event/squiz-kids-live/154887
Squiz Kids Book Club: https://www.squizkids.com.au/book_club/
Newshounds
Get started on our free media literacy resource for classrooms
https://www.squizkids.com.au/about-newshounds/
Classroom Companion:
Teachers! Want to access free, curriculum-aligned classroom resources tied to the daily podcast? Sign up to be a Squiz Kids Classroom and download the Classroom Companion each day. Made by teachers for teachers, differentiated to suit all primary school ability levels. And did we mention it’s free?
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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
THE LOWDOWN
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If you’ve ever been a Scout – as I was, many moons ago – you’d know that the motto of the worldwide youth organisation is ‘Be Prepared.”
And that’s what tens of thousands of teenagers from more than 100 countries – including more than 900 Aussies – had to be this week as the international Scout Jamboree has taken place in South Korea.
Last week, it was a heat wave sweeping across the Korean peninsula which tested how prepared the Scouts were – with the contingent from both the United States and United Kingdom deciding they’d prefer to go home than hang around and try for their heatwave badge.
Then yesterday, with a typhoon bearing down on the enormous campsite, the entire contingent of Scouts was evacuated – whisked off to safety instead of waiting to watch their tent be engulfed by a cyclone.
Smart move.
What’s a jamboree, I hear you ask? Jamboree is a fancy word for a gathering or party – and in the case of Scouts, it’s a get together of Scouts from all over the world.
There were more than 900 Australian Scouts at this year’s jamboree. And get this: when organisers learned that a typhoon – which is what we call cyclones that form in the West Pacific Ocean – was heading towards the big campsite – they arranged for a fleet of buses to move the 37,000 Scouts to safety – with reports saying one bus left the campsite every 30 seconds.
Typhoon Khanun was last night causing havoc off the coast of Japan and was expected to make landfall in South Korea some time this morning. Hold on to your toggles Scouts … things are about to get wet.
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And a quick Matildas update … and our girls in green and gold will face France in the semi-finals of the FIFA World Cup after the French beat Morocco on Tuesday night. The big game takes place on Saturday afternoon in Brisbane. C’mon ‘Tildas … you got this!
SPIN THE GLOBE
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Each day we give the world globe a spin and find a news story from wherever it stops. And today we’ve landed in San Francisco – in the United States – where the World Dog Surfing Championships have taken place.
Hang on. The World What Surfing Championships? Yes – you heard right, the World DOG Surfing Championships ..
Every year dogs from all over the United States head to this beach to hop onto surfboards and see which of them can ride the biggest wave for the longest time.
Short dogs, tall dogs, fat dogs, skinny dogs – dogs who look like they’d rather be anywhere else in the world than on top of a surfboard .. they all have a go.
There are beauty competitions and awards for best costumes .. all in all, the pooches and their owners have a whale of a time … surfing, whale, geddit (DAD JOKE ALARM) — ah yeah alright, even for me that was a terrible dad joke …
ANIMAL KINGDOM
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Still in the animal world, and Zebby the cat has been named National Cat of the Year in the United Kingdom for being such a caring, protective tabby for her owner who is deaf.
Zebby hops up on his owner, Genevieve’s lap when the phone is ringing, he runs to the door and collects the mail when the postman pokes it through the letterbox – and he even wakes his owner, Genevieve if the doorbell is ringing or the security lights come on in the middle of the night.
And as impressive as all of that is: Zebby does something that is even more important in Genevieve’s life. He is her best friend and keeps her company all day and night.
Do you have a pet who’s like best friend? How lucky. Because being lonely is no fun at all. Here’s to Zebby and all the pets like him who really love their owners.
NEWSHOUNDS
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Every Wednesday, Squiz-E the Newshound sticks his snout into Squiz Kids HQ to report back on fishy things he’s sniffed out on the internet. And this week, his nose is all-a-twitching about a fake Facebook post about a lost child.
Over the past few weeks, a post has appeared on various Facebook pages in different parts of the world – all claiming that an eight or nine year old boy, either called Brandon or Justin Smith, has gone missing.
In every case, the post claims the boy has gone missing with a plea from his mother to help her locate him. One appeared on a local group’s Facebook page in Bunbury, Western Australia last week … and an almost identical post, with the same photo of the same kid, appeared on a page in NSW, claiming the kid was missing in Alstonville, at the same time as the same post appeared claiming the same kid was missing in Omaha Nebraska AND another one claiming he was missing in Falkirk Scotland.
Squiz-E did some digging and discovered the post was a fake. Used by scammers to trick people into clicking on links which drag them into a scam.
Luckily though: we all know to do as Squiz-E says – and that’s to STOP. THINK and CHECK before believing everything we see, read or hear on the internet.
Thanks Squiz-E – you’ve done it again! (HOWL)
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And don’t forget teachers: if you want to teach your class to be Newshounds and learn to spot misinformation when they come across it on the internet – make sure you’re one of the 1500 schools around the country who have signed up to our free media literacy course for primary school kids. Called Newshounds – you can find out more via our website: squizkids.com.au – or via the link in today’s episode notes.
SQUIZ KIDS LIVE!
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Do you reckon you’ve got some cool dance moves? Does a daytime disco sound like the sort of thing you’d be into?
Then the Squiz Kids LIVE show – coming to Canberra in October – will be just the thing for you.
As well as having a chance to be part of a live podcast recording .. as well as getting to listen to astrophysicist Brad Tucker in our special Spaced Out LIVE segment, and see some of Canberra Zoo’s coolest animals up close and person in our special ANIMAL KINGDOM segment – you’ll have the chance to join me on stage with Canberra’s number one kid DJ … DJ Kenkensuprem – who’ll be manning the decks and pumping out the tunes. What’s not to love?
Tickets have been selling fast .. so if you live in Canberra and you don’t want to miss out – I’d suggest you get in early. Tickets are available through MoshTix – I’ve stuck a link to the ticketing website in today’s episode notes – otherwise you can hop in via our website: squizkids.com.au.
Don’t forget to wear your dancin’ shoes ..
THE S’QUIZ
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This is the part of the podcast where you get to test how well you’ve been listening …
- In which country is the Scout jamboree taking place?
- Who will the Matildas face – and hopefully beat – in their semi final game on Saturday?
- What’s the name of the cat that won England’s Cat of the Year Award?
SHOUT OUTS
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It’s August 10 – birthday for Kylie Jenner … and also World Lion Day … though I’m pretty sure those two events are unrelated …
It’s also a special day for these Squiz Kids celebrating a birthday today … Sienna from Ashmont, Dominic from Cannon Hill, Layla from Mandurah, James from Engadine, Sunyou from The Ponds, Talia from Carlingford, Tiger from Paddington, Lucie from Kangaroo Lake, Tobias from Caringbah and Silas travelling the World and currently in Singapore!
Belated birthday shout outs go to …. Valyn from Beecroft, Joshua from Unanderra, Camille from Oxford Falls, Nina from Cherrybrook, Bob from Hong Kong and Jordan from Forest Lakes – apologies Jordan we missed your shoutout in the episode on Monday!
And a special shout out to my buddies Max and Joe from Clapham in London – who are travelling with their Uncle Coco in the Dolomites in Italy. Have a gelato for me … and to Maia and Isobel, who are road tripping with their dad down the Californian coast. Safe travels, guys!
Classroom shoutouts today go to …
Miss Akoroid’s class at Gawler and District College in Adelaide, class 5 Green and Mrs Anderson at St Bernardine’s Catholic Primary School in Regents Park, Jaguar Class and Mrs Papandrea at Oran Park Public School, class 6C and Miss Cass at Livingstone Primary School in Vermont South, class 2KB with Mrs Kohllhoff and Mrs Bickell at Oxford Falls Grammar School, class B6 and Mr Cain at Ellenbrook Primary School and lastly to the year 7 class with Mrs Smith at ACG Sunderland School, listening over in Auckland, New Zealand!
The S’Quiz Answers:
- South Korea
- France
- Zebby