NEW word in 2020

    Coronavirus is this year's Children's Word of the Year． This is very interesting given that the 500 Words competition closed on 27 February 2020， the day before the first case was documented in the UK． This shows the influence of important events around the world on children's creativity．

Highlights

    •The word coronavirus appeared for the first time in the 500 Words stories in 2020． It is not a word that has been used before．

    •The word has been used 459 times in the stories in 2020， with 287 of them as coronavirus， 168 as corona virus， and 4 as corona﹣virus．

    •It is amazing that many of the themes young writers explored in fiction soon became a reality with the world in lockdown．

Examples

    The nurses came running over． I felt a pain in my neck， I started to gasp for air． My body started shaking I couldn't control myself． My eyes rolled to the back of my head， a mask covered my mouth， my temperature raised and I have the coronavirus．

（The Ex， girl 13）

    A few years later he finally landed on earth …but when he landed he found out a deadly virus had struck earth， the corona virus …

（Bob's Trip Around the Universe， boy 10）

（1）This passage is most probably part of　　．

A． a language report

B． a science report

C． a book review

D． a film review

（2）The result is based on the findings from　　．

A． a 2019 survey

B． a 2020 survey

C． a 2019 competition

D． a 2020 competition

（3）What can we learn about the word coronavirus？　　

A． Most children like the word very much．

B． Most children use the word very often．

C． Children first used it in stories this year．

D． Children first used it in stories years ago．