Water Safety Poster in the Hallway
A water-safety poster hangs in the hallway of a childcare centre. It is A2 size and placed at adult eye level beside the sign-in sheet. The top third is a photo of a toddler reaching toward a bucket of water. The bottom two-thirds are white with black text. The headline is in large red capitals: 'WATCH THEM LIKE A HAWK.' Under it, smaller bold text reads: 'Active supervision means within arm's reach - every time.' At the bottom is a blue logo of an adult hand and a child, the words 'WaterSafe Tamaki', a phone number and a QR code. In the bottom right, a small-print box reads: 'Children can drown in 5 cm of water in under 20 seconds. For free advice, scan the code.'
1. What is the purpose of the poster and who is the main audience? Explain how two features help achieve that purpose.
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The poster aims to change adult behaviour: it wants parents and caregivers at the childcare centre to supervise children actively around water. The main audience is the adults who sign children in and out, because the poster is at adult eye level beside the sign-in sheet. Two features do this work. First, the headline 'WATCH THEM LIKE A HAWK' is a large red imperative with a simile; it is hard to miss and tells the reader to do something, not just think about it. Second, the small-print box gives concrete facts - '5 cm of water' and 'under 20 seconds' - which make the risk feel immediate and specific, while the QR code offers a next step. The photo of the toddler and bucket shows the kind of everyday scene the warning is about.
2. What does 'active supervision' mean in this poster? Use the words around it to explain.
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'Active supervision' is defined in the poster itself: 'within arm's reach - every time.' So it is not enough to be in the same room or to check occasionally. The adult must be close enough to grab the child, and must do it every time the child is near water. 'Active' contrasts with passive watching - for example, looking up from a phone or watching from a deck chair. The bucket image makes the point that this applies to small amounts of water, not just pools. The phrase 'every time' rules out exceptions.
3. The headline uses a simile. Explain the comparison and one effect it has.
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The headline compares the caregiver to a hawk: 'watch them like a hawk'. A hawk is a bird known for fixing on prey with sharp, sustained attention, so the simile suggests the adult should watch the child constantly and intensely, without looking away. The effect is to make the required supervision feel vigilant and unrelenting, and the slightly dramatic image is memorable. It also makes the poster's tone urgent rather than gentle. A possible downside is that it could feel accusatory to parents, but that may be deliberate: it is trying to interrupt routine behaviour.