By Geoff Barton, General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) Let’s start with what we know: language matters. There. That’s it. Vocabulary is a huge predictor of how far children from any background will succeed at school and beyond. The words they know will help them to read, understand, gain new […]
Read more The first Oxford Language Report finds evidence of a significant word gap in UK schools, a problem which is holding back children’s learning and which teachers believe is getting worse. Here Jane Harley, Strategy Director ED-UK at Oxford University Press, gives some background to the report and explains why closing the word gap matters. Why […]
Read moreJill Carter encourages teachers and students to spend time exploring and broadening vocabulary. Vocabulary is power. And, like a lot of power, it is hard won and easily lost. Students’ vocabulary is becoming increasingly limited in a world where it simply isn’t fashionable to exploit vocabulary for effect – in a world of posts, texts […]
Read morePunctuation does what it says on the tin – it punctuates. It ensures that our reader is clear about our intended meaning. Whilst it is important to use it correctly, I am a strong advocate of punctuation being employed carefully and thoughtfully in order to craft the writer’s intended meaning. After all, there is often […]
Read moreTwo words you never thought you would see in the same sentence: Grammar and Fun. But yet it is possible! Not only does it make it more engaging for the students, but it also helps to make it memorable. So where do we begin… 1) Start by doing your homework. What do they need to […]
Read moreCompetitions are an aspect of resourcing the English curriculum we tend to neglect. In all the frenzy of delivering the curriculum and covering the ground for assessments and exams, we overlook an exciting opportunity. There are a number of benefits to external competitions: They provide students with a real audience. All too often students write […]
Read moreGiven the number of recent politically related international and national events, I would be safe in saying that as a British public we are more aware than ever of ‘political policy’ and its impact. Brexit; Presidential elections; general elections – to name but a few – have given rise to a wealth of conversations about […]
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From Agent Wonka to Big Friendly Zombies, snozsprouts to puckleberries, this year’s entrants to the BBC Radio 2 500 Words competition show how Roald Dahl’s language continues to inspire them. At the end of Roald Dahl’s much-loved tale of The BFG, the eponymous giant is inspired to take up storywriting, and generations of Dahl’s young readers have done likewise, using […]
Read moreSome stories have a kind of DNA. The characters, themes and ideas pass from story to story, evolving and changing along the way. Each new storyteller adds their own ideas and interprets the characters and the dilemmas they face in new and unexpected ways. In popular culture, we retell these great stories again and again, […]
Read moreIf you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart. (N.Mandela) Our children’s world revolves around using huge amounts of highly advanced accessible technology. Surrounded by computers and social media, children “chat” more than ever, but spend less […]
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