Nelson Thornes English Team

Cheltenham Literature Festival 2010

2010-10-28T08:01:00.000-07:00

This month saw the annual Literature Festival return to Cheltenham - always an exciting time of the year for the English team! The list of events for the week was as huge as ever and the variety of topics under discussion was wide and interesting with something for everyone. Here are some of our personal highlights...

Becky S:

I went to hear Philip Pullman talking about his new book The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ, which is a retelling of the life of Jesus. I love the way in which he manages to be really quite controversial and anti-authoritarian in his work, but always in a thoughtful (and thought-provoking) way rather than an antagonistic or hostile one. He reflected this approach in person too, and it was fascinating to hear him speak.

In complete contrast, I also went to hear local-boy-made-good Simon Pegg talking about his autobiography, Nerd Do Well. Celebrity autobiographies are not my usual choice of reading matter, but I’m a bit of a fan so I made an exception in this case. He was very funny, as expected, but also talked quite seriously at times about the events and people that have influenced him in his career and his life, ranging from Star Wars to school teachers!

Becky L:

I went to see guest director Owen Sheers chair a lively group of poetry readings about places that affect us called Poet's Tour of Britain - linked to the TV series on the same theme that he presented recently. It was great to hear poems about certain places read in the local accents - it really helps to bring the language to life I think. A poem about desolate Leuchars train station near St. Andrews struck a chord with me as I used to live in Scotland and have memories of standing there in the bitter wind, willing the train to hurry up!

I also saw one of my current favourite authors, Scarlett Thomas, speaking about the history and art of storytelling. Some interesting points were raised about the power of narrative and its influence over us. The panel also discussed the nature of lying in fiction and whether we like to feel comforted or kept on our toes by a story and its narrator. I'm a fan of twisting plots myself so this was a really entertaining debate to watch.

Emma: Diary of a Festival Volunteer

I was thrilled to be a volunteer at the festival, and I took immense, geeky pride in wearing the Festival t-shirt and the ‘Staff’ pass (which I’ll treasure…)! The days were long, beginning with 8.30am briefing meetings where the volunteers were assigned to venues for the day and informed of programme changes or issues to be aware of, and ending after the last event of the day, which often meant getting home around 11pm. I was lucky enough to be assigned to the Centaur on my first day, which meant I got to work on big events like Armstrong & Miller and Derren Brown, and the fascinating Times Debate. The work consisted of stage management - making sure the right number of tables/chairs/glasses of water were ready, looking after the speakers before and after the event, managing book signing queues, and, the most fun, being the roving mic in the audience for q&a sessions. I also worked at the Garden Theatre, the Inkpot tent, and the Everyman, so I got a really rounded experience of the different venues, and I enjoyed being able to help festival-goers enjoy their experience by generally being helpful and public-facing. The days were very up and down – one minute it’s all hands on deck, the next it’s quiet as events take place, but I was lucky enough to view 26 events over the four days I worked, many of which I wouldn’t have chosen but which I really enjoyed. The two stand-out ones for me were the Cheltenham Booker Prize, where a panel of judges discussed which 1960 book would have won the Booker prize (To Kill a Mockingbird won), and another where guest director China Mieville challenged Man Booker to include science fiction in their judging.

I worked with some amazing people and there’s a great atmosphere among the Festival staff. I was absolutely blown away by the smoothness of the operation – but then thinking about it the proof is in the pudding as I always enjoy the Festival as a punter and think how fantastic it is – it takes a mammoth amount of organising and boy have they got it down to a tee.

Stand out memories will be the feeling I got whenever I had to go into the Writer’s Room where the speakers relax before/after their events and glimpsing many people I admire greatly. And, whilst managing a (very long) book signing queue for the children’s author Robert Muchamore, one young man bashfully told the author that he was his hero, another stated boldly that he was writing the sequel to the latest book, and yet another precociously asked when the latest book would be out on the Kindle! And they say kids don’t read any more…

Did you go to the festival? Let us know what you most enjoyed!

National Poetry Day competition

2010-10-07T06:12:00.000-07:00

Today is National Poetry Day! Are you doing anything fun in your classroom to celebrate? If so, we'd love to know! In the spirit of all things poetic, we are running a competition for students to submit their best poems on the subject of autumn. This could be a poem about nature at this time of year, a scary poem about Halloween or an exciting poem about Bonfire Night - anything they like! Students can submit their poems by the 12th November via email to englishteam@nelsonthornes.com or via post to English Team, Nelson Thornes, Delta Place, 27 Bath Road, Cheltenham GL53 7TH. They must make sure that they include their school name and their email address. We will pick our 3 favourite poems to publish on the blog. Our favourite poem will win a £25 iTunes voucher, with two runners-up winning a £15 iTunes voucher each. Best of luck! See our Facebook page for terms and conditions.

See the National Poetry Day website for ideas on how to get creative with poetry in the classroom.

Grammar goblins

2010-09-10T03:27:00.000-07:00

One of the most pleasurable things about my job is that I get to have stimulating debates with my colleagues about English-related topics. Often provoked by the morning paper or last night’s Radio 4 programme, these discussions give us a more rounded knowledge of our market and feed into the work we do preparing new resources for schools.

The debate this morning centred around an article on the BBC Radio 4 website, Schools urged to get strict on grammar, about the columnist Simon Heffer and his campaign for grammatical correctness (read it here).

We’ve been here before. Lynne Truss, anyone? I am very much in the David Crystal camp of pragmatists on this issue. (You can find a link to his excellent language blog to the right of this page, as well as to a blog site written by Dan Clayton, one of our language specialist authors, whose blog on Heffer made me chuckle. ) Language gives us the ability to communicate, and as long as we can communicate effectively and appropriately in any given situation, I don’t think zero tolerance in favour of archaic and often arbitrary rules is necessary. Don’t get me wrong - I know that rules are required in order to understand the nuts and bolts of how to communicate – for example, a misplaced apostrophe can alter the meaning of a sentence. Ah, how we love our red pens in those cases. But where's the line? Take the example of the grammatically incorrect sentence given in the Simon Heffer article:

The Prime Minister has warned that spending cuts are necessary.

According to Heffer, the verb ‘to warn’ requires an object, ie someone to warn:

The Prime Minister has warned the House of Commons that spending cuts are necessary.

Does this really matter? Is the crux of the sentence about spending cuts, or is it more important for us to know that the House of Commons has been given this news? Perhaps this is the argument for getting things grammatically correct, but then surely the writer/speaker could have written it as The House of Commons has been warned that spending cuts are necessary if that was their intended message. Then again, is it crucial to know that it was the Prime Minister himself sending this warning? The critical factor here is not whether you know the rule that ‘to warn’ requires an object, but to understand what the recipient of your message will take from that message, and whether that is the point you are trying to make or not. I guess the question is whether being taught the rule enables you to do this more effectively.

Perhaps it depends more on the kind of learner you are. I wasn’t taught grammar at school. In fact, the first time I came across classifications like ‘adjective’ and ‘verb’ was at university, where my journalism lecturer was in a permanent state of horror at our grammatical ineptitude. But (hmm - isn’t there some sort of rule against using a coordinating conjunction to start a sentence?) I have always been a voracious reader, as have my parents, and perhaps I learned to communicate effectively that way. My lack of education in this area certainly hasn’t prevented me from having a career in publishing. But (oops, I did it again) what if you’re not a big reader? Where do you learn how to structure sentences effectively? I’ve repeated the word ‘effectively’ several times because that, to me, is the point to all of this. Language is a tool kit which facilitates communication (should I have said ‘tool kit that’? Does it matter? Did you understand the point I’m making regardless?) and maybe some people need to be given the tools more prescriptively than others during their education.

Heffer also makes the point in this article about what he calls ‘verbicide’. Get over it, I say. Language is, and always has been, a vacillating entity, evolving to meet the needs of the user. Does it really matter that the strict definition of ‘viable’ is ‘capable of living’ and should therefore only apply to living organisms? Do I understand what my boss is trying to tell me when he says my latest proposal isn’t viable? Of course I do – he means it isn’t feasible – but by using viable, he’s giving me the message that my idea will never have life, not just that we can’t do it for some practical reason. So, in a way, viable is the right choice of word, but he’s just extended the reach of its meaning.

These days we are increasingly in contact with people all over the world, and naturally colloquialisms and dialects are converging and merging whilst rules are being bent, shaped and outright ignored. Does that make us wrong? I don't think so. It makes language creative and exciting. And as long as your message is appropriate for its purpose and is clearly understood by the recipient, does it really matter whether you split an infinitive or use an Americanism along the way?

We are, as ever, interested to hear your points of view on this so please feel free to comment on this post or email us at englishteam@nelsonthornes.com. I'm sure I've made lots of grammatical errors you can pick me up on...!

Emma

NEWSFLASH: Revision Survey

2010-08-11T03:07:00.000-07:00

Do you know anyone who's just taken their exams (either GCSE, AS or A2), across any subjects, not just English?

We're conducting a survey about revision - pass on the following link for them to complete the survey and they'll be entered into a draw to win some vouchers!
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/examrevision

Or: Click here to take survey

Thankyou!

The Academies Bill

2010-07-29T03:11:00.000-07:00

This week the government’s flagship Academies Bill was passed, just in time for the summer holidays. The new legislation means that schools applying for and securing academy status will be able to break free from local authority control. It also enables parents to set up their own schools. The aim is to create a more flexible educational system, within which teachers can fully exercise their professional judgement and influence key decisions as, according to the government’s view, they are the best placed people to do so.

Schools minister Nick Gibb argues that the bill will grant schools greater autonomy and provide teachers with more opportunities to raise standards. He has claimed that the bill is not intended as an assault on comprehensive education and that the admissions code will not be scrapped.

The bill has been criticised by some, however. Ed Balls, the shadow education secretary, called it ‘flawed and rushed’ and has expressed concern that the changes it allows will lead to a two-tier educational system rife with unequal funding and standards. Some campaign groups fear that academies will no longer be required to teach English according to the national curriculum. The removal of QCDA has raised a lot of questions regarding the regulation and delivery of curriculum content as education secretary Michael Gove has yet to announce if an alternative body will replace it. If there is no overall moderating body, what effect will this have on English teaching? Could a lack of scrutiny allow for more creativity in the classroom or will standards suffer as a result of less rigour?

The new legislation will introduce the biggest shake-up to the structure of English schools since the 1960s. Will the changes be welcomed by teachers and parents? Do non-academy schools run the risk of losing out financially? Or will this bill bring about a refreshing shift in the way English schools are run?

Becky L

To be modern or not to be modern?

2010-07-15T02:15:00.000-07:00

Where do you stand on modern interpretations of Shakespeare? Do you welcome reinventions of the plays or are you sceptical of them? The BBC recently aired When Romeo Met Juliet which followed a group of students in Coventry as they prepared to perform Romeo and Juliet under the guidance of professional actors Adrian Lester and Lolita Chakrabarti and artistic director of the National Youth Theatre, Paul Roseby. They chose to set the plot in the 1980s with characters dressed in braces and Doc Martins dancing to The Specials. I thought it was great and it got me thinking about the various interpretations I have seen of Shakespeare’s plays over the years.

When I was at university in Scotland, I saw a production of Macbeth and I was amazed by how much it gripped me. I have always loved the dark and brooding pulse that runs throughout the play since studying it at GCSE – it’s electrifying to watch at the best of times – but something about this production really stood out. Macbeth was depicted as a modern crook, gangster-like in his demeanour, ruthlessly dispatching anyone who stood in his way to the top. The Scottish accents really added to the visceral feel; Macbeth reminded me of a sort of Shakespearean Begbie from Trainspotting – so alarming unpredictable I was on a knife edge, even though I knew what was going to happen. I remember the audience audibly gasping at the scene in which Macbeth’s henchmen kill Macduff’s family. It was so horribly violent and yet so dramatically effective and satisfying; I was glad when Macbeth got what was coming to him. I can see what Aristotle meant by catharsis now.

On the other hand, I once had the misfortune of witnessing a post-apocalyptic A Midsummer Night’s Dream. A truly bizarre experience, I left the theatre feeling betrayed by the company. How could they possibly have taken such lovely and ethereal characters and placed them in a burnt-out war zone? To me, it just didn’t fit. It felt too contrived and ruined what I think is one of Shakespeare’s most enchanting and atmospheric plays, which can be captivatingly delightful if done right. I think A Midsummer Night’s Dream should be allowed to warmly embrace you and charm you into its secluded world for a few hours before releasing you, dazed and amused, back into reality. The dispiriting setting of a land savaged by nuclear war, alas dear Puck, did offend me.

At the NATE conference, Pete Postlethwaite claimed that we should embrace modern interpretations as long as the plot isn’t shoehorned into a fanciful and incoherent concept. I agree with him. Re-imagining the plays, whilst creative, will only work if the modern slant can engage us and add something to our understanding of the play. Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet did wonders for students everywhere and I’m sure it will continue to be shown in classrooms for years to come.

So what’s the strangest Shakespeare production you’ve seen? Twelfth Night where all the characters are rock stars? Richard III set in Nazi Germany? And, more importantly, did it work or were you left feeling bemused? Do modern interpretations help students of the plays to connect with the language or hinder their appreciation? Let us know!

Becky L

Our stand at NATE!

2010-07-12T03:46:00.001-07:00

Hello! Hope any of you NATE delegates enjoyed the weekend of seminars and workshops. Becky L and I attended from the Publishing team, along with colleagues from Marketing and Sales. It was good to have the chance to see some of our authors again - Lindsay, Trevor, Tom, Dan, Judith and Heather - and we met lots of other great people! We also were very lucky to catch Pete Postlethwaite's engaging talk about his career, teaching and Shakespeare, which included a spontaneous performance of a snippet from Macbeth using an unwitting OCR spokesman as an impromptu extra!
Emma & Becky

ICT and literacy

2010-07-01T02:27:00.000-07:00

Are you going to NATE next weekend (9^th-11^th July)? Becky L and I will be at the Nelson Thornes stand so do pop by and say hello! Lots of interesting seminars on the programme, including sessions on interactive ways of teaching Shakespeare, and ICT in literature - things we’re thinking about a lot here as our kerboodle platform develops. In the first blog I wrote here, back in March, I mentioned my experimentation with an eReader. Almost five months on and I have to say I haven’t used the eReader again once, yet I’ve got through many paperbacks in that time. I now have a shiny new iPhone and am discovering ‘apps’ – including the Apple iBooks app, and an app for screen-friendly scrolling Shakespeare texts, where the scrolling slows if you tip the phone forward and speeds up if you tip it back. Witchcraft, I tell you. (Aside: I still don’t understand how the Wii knows you’re hitting an invisible ball in golf/tennis etc. Definitely black arts.)

You may have the impression that I’m not very technical by now. Not strictly true – I embrace technology, just slightly slower than my peers, who have been amused by my old-fashioned paper-and-pen diary technique for well over a year now. I’m easily wowed by fancy features, oh and I really, really want an iPad. I digress. In contrast to having to hook the eReader up to my PC to download books, my iPhone allows me immediate access to the Apple iBook store, which is visually very appealing with its fancy bookshelf design and familiar functionality. I've just downloaded a sample of a book for free. It's easy to read with fast page turns at a touch of the screen – far less clunky than my old eReader – and there’s an handy link for me to buy the whole book if I want to. I can change the font, adjust the brightness, the size of the text and the look of the page, look up words in a dictionary, add bookmarks, read ratings and add my own, browse charts... all on the move. Brilliant. I can definitely see myself using this more than the eReader. I'm never without my phone so I don't have to remember to pack another device, or ensure I've pre-loaded it with books.

In a recent article the author Tom Stoppard expressed a fear that reading is on the decline because of moving images taking over children’s lives. I disagree - surely students engage more with writing and reading now than ever before, through emailing, texting and MSN? Students can blog, post reviews, and even engage with collaborative creative writing online - I think it's easier to engage with writing and reading now. In March 2010, the number of iBook apps surpassed the number of game apps for the first time (see here). Whether that relates to children reading iBooks I don’t know, but surely making books more available, more dynamic, more portable, and more easily personalized, with the opportunity to read samples of new writers without risking the wrath of the Waterstone’s bookseller or the ridicule of your mates if they catch you in the Sci-Fi section (no offence, Sci-Fi fans), will only serve to encourage new readers? And students are challenged on their personal responses to texts – by engaging with the text in the way that best suits them, surely they’ll be better placed to respond effectively?

The thing I’m most excited about is the way the iBook is becoming so much more than just a digital version of the printed book – it can be dynamic with audio, video, links and supplementary information, and so on. Author David Eagleman hit the nail on the head:

An electronic version of a book merely grants portability. But a thoughtful app can open new inroads to explore the material, as well as ways to keep the material updated and fresh … By having the option to explore a book beyond the original text — by dint of videos, living links, and so on — it becomes a living, breathing, updating organism, just like the rest of our technology.

The Guardian, Mon 28 June 2010

According to a 2004 review of the impact of ICT on literacy in students, the “introduction of ICT into literature teaching improves motivation, but the duration of exposure to a technology can affect this. There may be a connection between de-motivation and the cognitive aspects of readers' engagement with digital texts.”

I wonder if the same is true six years on, when technology is even further ahead than it was in 2004, and we’re working with a generation of students who may have written a thousand emails but never handwritten a letter, and whose primary understanding is that of the screen rather than the page. Do they have more tolerance for sustained digital learning? Perhaps I’ll find out at NATE…

Emma

What's your favourite book?

2010-06-15T08:07:00.000-07:00

Can I let you into a little secret? I don’t like ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee. From reporting like this it would appear that I’m in the minority. I studied it at school and was never transported or uplifted by the story, as this article suggests you should be. To be fair, I didn’t develop a passion for many of the books that we studied (‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ by Margaret Atwood is the only one). I did A-level English Literature and after that gave it up, tired of pulling apart a novel or poem rather than reading for enjoyment. Did I miss something? Is analysing a text and getting to know it thoroughly the only basis for truly appreciating a novel?

This author certainly seems to think that studying a set text can be the start of a life-long love of a book. I suppose I already read widely anyway so the books we studied at school were generally not introducing me to new authors. Looking at the new GCSE specifications, that doesn’t have to be the case. There is the potential (money and stock cupboards permitting) to study some books that are definitely not mainstream and the average student is unlikely to have read. It's interesting that some books crop up again and again at GCSE, clearly old favourites that stand the test of time and the analysis of 15 year olds. I studied 'Of Mice and Men' by John Steinbeck for GCSE and recently re-read it to help with the online resources we produced in Kerboodle! Have the added years and experience given me greater insight? I think I can create a better mental image of what's going on in the story, and feel sympathy for different characters. Perhaps I should re-read some of my other set texts, and give them another chance.

Most of us have a favourite book, but why? What is it about that book that you like so much? Mine is ‘Rebecca’ by Daphne du Maurier. I love the mysteriousness that surrounds the storyteller, the intrigue of the tale and essentially sad ending. There’s nothing quite as disappointing as an author who chickens out at the last minute and finishes with a ‘happily ever after’ when it doesn’t fit the story. I’ve loved the book even more since staying at ‘Manderley’ on holiday last year and walking on the beach where Rebecca dies. I’m a sucker for anything that says ‘psychological’ in the blurb – I like a little bit of angst and quite a lot of thinking about it.

My sister-in-law cornered me on a recent visit and asked me to list my 20 favourite books, and I have to admit that I was stuck. I know what my favourite book is, but don’t have much of a list beyond that. We resorted to looking at the BBC’s Big Read list and talking through what might appeal to her. She does a lot of driving to and from work so I introduced her to Librivox, a website where books (generally those out of copyright) are read by enthusiastic amateurs. I’m currently working my way through by ‘Glimpses of the Moon’ by Edith Wharton as I do the ironing, and it’s a very respectable version.

And to finish with perhaps the most fundamental question of all, what is the point of reading novels? I once asked a 11 year old boy this question, and he answered that it gave you experience of places and people that you couldn’t or wouldn’t otherwise know about. I think he was wise beyond his years.

Join us on Facebook!

2010-06-08T04:06:00.000-07:00

Become a fan of our Facebook page here by clicking the 'like' button by the end of July and you could win up to £50 in Amazon vouchers! The first fan drawn will win £50 in Amazon vouchers and the next two fans drawn will win £25 in Amazon vouchers each. Join us today!

The lost art of letter writing?

2010-06-07T07:10:00.000-07:00

Sir, more than kisses, letters mingle souls; for, thus friends absent speak. ~John Donne

When was the last time you wrote a letter? Not a hastily scribbled birthday card rushed to the post box, but a spontaneous and sincere letter to a loved one – the type of letter that takes time to craft?

My new year’s resolution this year was to write more letters. Studying at university in Scotland and now living in England means that I don’t see some of my closest friends very often so I decided that instead of emailing or phoning them every once in a while, I would write them each a letter. It was only after I had bought a book of stamps and some bright new writing paper that I realised I didn’t have any of their addresses. The text messages I sent requesting them were met with bemused replies containing words like ‘quaint’ and ‘rebellious’. What is it that makes letter-writing seem antiquated – even dangerous? Technology must have something to do with it.

For when was the last time you wrote an email or a text message? At the push of a button you can contact anyone, anywhere in the world, instantly. The latest methods of keeping in touch make it so easy, so quick and convenient. You’re using one now. It’s brilliant and should be embraced – but is there something missing? Does electronic communication lack a sense of genuine affection and honesty? It’s hard to lie in a letter – why would you waste the time? A handwritten letter is a unique record of your connection to another, a token of love and friendship that can be treasured for years. It’s difficult to truly connect with someone over text message and you can’t reread a phone call.

So far, I have been sending a few letters a month and the response has been extraordinary. The recipient’s joy and surprise is wonderful and infectious – it makes you want to write more. The letters I have received back are fantastically exciting. You never know when one will arrive and it makes such a welcome change to spot a handwritten envelope in amongst the usual pile of bills and junk mail. Perhaps it’s the handwritten element that is so appealing; it means the letter is personal and intimate, that the sender has spent time thinking about what to say to you and has gone to the effort of writing, rather than typing, their thoughts. I always find it a thrill recognising an old friend’s handwriting, or surprising to realise that I never knew what a friend’s handwriting looked like in the first place.

A recent report found that a fifth of 7-14 year olds have never received a handwritten letter. A tenth have never written a letter themselves. But almost half of those children had either sent or received an email or a message on a social networking site in the week before taking part in the survey. Is this alarming? Will children’s ability to write fluidly, in a focused manner suitable for their audience, be damaged by this lack of exposure to letters? One teacher has given up examining his students as he simply cannot read their handwriting. Or is this view too narrow-minded and outdated? Should we accept these changes in communication as part of the natural evolution of our language and how we use it – a development that is in line with the technological advances of the past 10 years?

Answers on a postcard please.

Becky L

UPDATE - we received a posted reply to this blog which we were very excited about so we decided to add it here.

NEWSFLASH!

2010-05-21T05:43:00.000-07:00

AQA GCSE Literature Online: Mister Pip and AQA GCSE Literature Online: Lord of the Flies are now fully live on kerboodle!

This concludes the AQA GCSE Literature Online series! Follow this link to order the Evaluation Product for any of the six titles in the AQA GCSE Literature Online series.

Introducing Mister Pip and Martyn Pig

2010-05-21T05:32:00.000-07:00

Having worked with English Language and Literature for many years and taught in HE, FE and briefly at key stage 3 as well, I have found it hugely rewarding to be working as the in-house Development Editor (DE) managing the final part of the journey from authoring to publication of NT’s new online GCSE Literature resources – all six of them! It has been busy, hectic at times, but as part of the process I reread Romeo and Juliet, An Inspector Calls, and Of Mice and Men, which I taught at GCSE level, Lord of the Flies, which I studied in the Danish translation when I was doing the equivalent of my GCSEs in Denmark, and An Inspector Calls, which was on my reading list at university (some years ago now). These are all really exciting texts to be reading, studying and teaching, and there have been days this year when work didn’t exactly feel like work because I was engaging with texts like these, primarily looking at them from the point of view of a DE, of course, but with the Teacher and Student peering over my shoulders (one at each) and commenting as I went along.

In the process, I also read Martyn Pig by Kevin Brooks and Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones. Both are new additions to the reading list for AQA GCSE English Literature and both are compelling reading in their own right. Being very familiar with the other four texts, I have to admit that I did not have particularly high expectations of the ‘MPs’ (as we ended up referring to them in-house to avoid the curious new combinations of ‘Mister Pig’ and ‘Martyn Pip’), but my hesitation didn’t last long and I have been singing their praises at any given (and not so given) opportunity for the last couple of months, which may be why Emma has asked me to enthuse about the merits of these two titles as very worthy additions to students’ reading lists in their GCSE years.
Preamble over, Mister Pip and Martyn Pig are, in my humble opinion, great stories, controversial and challenging in many ways, but there is nothing in them that is beyond GCSE students at all. In fact, both deal with extremely topical issues and one of the advantages in comparison to Lord of the Flies and Of Mice and Men is that the MPs are both contemporary novels.

Martyn Pig relates the events of one week in the life of the first person narrator, Martyn Pig, a disaffected youth who lives with his drunken and abusive father on an estate somewhere in England. Into the mix Kevin Brooks brings an accident which may or may not be murder but which needs to be covered up, the significant sum of £30,000, a love interest in the form of Martyn’s friend and aspiring actress Alex, her boyfriend Dean (the archetypal antagonist and rival), an unsuspecting aunt Jean, and Detective Inspector Samuel Breece. The story is like a murder mystery in reverse. Contrary to traditional detective stories, Martyn Pig is not about solving the murder but about hiding the truth. At first glance the genre and subject matter of the novel might suggest that there would not be enough in there to challenge higher tier students, but I would have to disagree with this view and think the novel would work equally well with higher and foundation tier students. The first person narrative forces students to make a clear distinction between the narrator and the author. Complex literary concepts such as the reliable narrator and the suspension of disbelief are central to the story and would lend themselves more to higher tier students. There is plenty to delve into in terms of plot, structure, use of language and literary techniques. In addition there is ample scope for exploring the history and development of the genre, which in itself is not uninteresting, and the adaptation to film and television series. The novel is ripe with social and moral questions and dilemmas which could be explored in group or class discussions. Equally, foundation level students would not be lost with this novel. Brooks uses Martyn’s narrative voice and use of language to make this a very accessible read in many ways, but he manages to do this without losing sight of the more sophisticated aspects of language, genre, and plot which higher tier students can explore in more detail.

Like Martyn Pig, Mister Pip has a first person narrator but here the similarities end. Mister Pip is a completely different novel in terms of style and genre. The novel is set in Bougainville, a tropical island in the South Pacific, during the civil war which saw the islanders cut off from the main land Papua New Guinea and Australia. Matilda is a young girl who lives on the island with her mother. They were about to join her father in Australia when the embargo was put in place and instead of a happy family reunion, Matilda experiences the horrors of civil war. Her only source of knowledge and inspiration is the self-appointed teacher, Mr Watts, who is the only white person on the island. Mr Watts is not a real teacher and his method of teaching is unusual to say the least. He reads Dickens’ Great Expectations to his students and invites the adults in the community into the classroom to teach the children about the local history, folklore and myths of the island. It is a beautifully written novel, ‘poetic, heartbreaking, surprising’, as Isabel Allende has commented. The result is a novel that will work well with both foundation and higher level students. As with Martyn Pig, Matilda’s first person narrative voice and use of language makes the novel an accessible read, but this does not detract from the complexity of the creative and literary skill involved in creating this piece of work which will appeal more to higher tier students.

From a teaching point of view, I like the idea of working with novels that combine accessibility with a good degree of complexity. These novels would enable me to teach across the whole ability range which I have always thought was an exciting prospect, allowing for a greater degree of peer learning through listening to and communicating ideas at all levels, which I think is a great way to teach language and literature.

But don’t just take my word for it. Read the novels, explore the online resources on kerboodle!, and see for yourself.

~ Maggie

NEWSFLASH!

2010-05-12T10:15:00.000-07:00

AQA GCSE Literature Online: Martyn Pig is now fully live on kerboodle!

Follow this link to order the Evaluation Product for AQA GCSE Literature Online: Martyn Pig and/or any of the other titles in Nelson Thornes' AQA GCSE Literature Online series.

English politics and the politics of English

2010-05-11T08:48:00.000-07:00

Hello English fans,

If you managed to get to a polling station that had enough ballot papers you will have cast your vote for the next government and will be waiting anxiously to hear what the outcome will be. We have been looking at what the various parties are standing for in terms of education and the coalition they eventually decide on will be interesting…if the Lib Dems team up with the Conservatives they will have to battle over the issue of Academies – the Conservatives want to see more of these appearing but the Lib Dems want to replace them with ‘Sponsor Managed Schools’ which will be under local authority control. The Conservatives want to keep KS2 tests whereas the Lib Dems want to scale them back. However, they both want to create a Pupil Premium for schools teaching the poorest pupils and both seem to want to offer more flexibility to teachers in terms of assessment with the Conservatives encouraging state schools to offer the same international exams as private schools and the Lib Dems replacing the National Curriculum with a Minimum Curriculum Entitlement. If the Lib Dems team up with Labour, they will also fight over Academies, as Labour want to continue rolling them out, but they will see eye to eye on helping improve standards in schools – Labour will give parents power to vote on new leadership in under-performing schools and the Lib Dems will create an Education Standards Authority to monitor school standards. We wait with bated breath!

We’ve also been discussing an article that appeared in The Guardian last week about English degrees – you can find it here. It explores the concern amongst some academics that English university departments are at increasing risk of closure due to financial cuts. It seems that some universities do not consider English to be ‘economically viable’ and that dwindling budgets should instead be channelled into the more vocational degree paths such as business or law where the career prospects are better.

The author of the article puts forward an interesting solution: that English degrees should be free. He states that whilst their value financially may be in question, their social and cultural value certainly isn’t. The skills of analysis, interpretation and communication (to name but a few) that a literature student develops throughout their course is indispensable both for the individual and for society as a whole. So rather than eliminate them entirely and become a nation of marketing execs and accountants, so the argument goes, institutions should offer English degree programmes free of charge.

So, will English become a ‘fringe’ subject? And at what cost? Is offering it as a free course belittling its significance and worth compared to the sciences and ‘hard subjects’? And if universities continue to charge tuition fees, does it run the risk of becoming an elitist subject that only those from privileged backgrounds can afford to entertain as a serious option? As a team of mostly English graduates, we are understandably protective of our subject and think that watering down the choice available to students is potentially very damaging. I certainly would have thought twice about applying for university if I could only pursue a prescriptive path with a set career at the end of it…but then I’m not very scientifically minded!

Bye for now,

Becky L

Election, SATs and jazz

2010-05-04T05:26:00.000-07:00

Hello,

Well it’s finally arrived, Election Week! From an education perspective, the TES pre-election debate featuring the Lab, Lib & Tory education spokesmen was interesting, focusing on the topic: “Contrary to headlines in the popular press, teachers and schools have never been better”. There’s a good commentary and snippets from the people who followed the debate on Twitter here. What I’m finding most fascinating about the election this time round is the sheer amount of chatter about it – debates, online coverage, twittering (aside – I’m reliably informed this should be ‘tweeting’, but I prefer twittering, it’s more onomatopoeic!) – so many ways to catch up on what’s being proposed, purported and promised, and so many ways to have your say!

I’ve also read today that the three main parties concur that the SATs boycott should not go ahead (see article here) – Lib Dem man Laws sounds the most sensible, suggesting a replacement process of internal marking and selected moderation, which sounds to me like what’s being implemented with APP for KS3? If so, wouldn’t this make a lot of sense? Students would be used to working with this method of assessment, and it would be easier to judge their levels when they arrive in Y7 and subsequently to plan KS3 most effectively based on this information. I’m not a teacher though – comment and have your say! The team would be interested to hear your thoughts on this, and on APP in general. Is it working for you? Do you think it would be a good replacement for SATs at KS2 and ease transition to KS3?

In other news, Cheltenham has been buzzing this weekend with its annual International Jazz Festival. Ali, Becky L and I attended some very varied events, from the free gigs in the Imperial Gardens where lots of people bravely chanced the intermittently inclement Bank Holiday weather to catch music by the likes of local man Jake Hall and students from the Birmingham Conservatoire, to beat-boxing in the Battle of the Beats spectacular (man vs machine vs instrument), to my particular highlight, Polar Bear. Described as a “significant ripple in the new wave of youthful, ahem, post-jazz”, and led by the adorably charismatic and talented drummer Seb Rochford, the band were an eclectic and experimental mix of free jazz and electronica, drawing on many different influences and pushing the boundaries without ever pushing me away – I was absolutely absorbed and delighted for the full 90 minute set. They even turned a balloon into an instrument, and it worked – honest!

Emma

Quiz update and a parental dilemma

2010-04-27T02:30:00.000-07:00

The performance of Bleak Expectations in the Nelson Thornes quiz was, mathematically speaking, distinctly average. Where literature coincided with the categories we did well. We were good on girl’s names, famous people and medicine (Becky S even knew that ‘Skelegro’ was used for regrowing bones in the Harry Potter books). We faltered on dogs (although Ali knew the dog in the Secret Seven books and Garfield’s doggish housemate), crime and, most woefully, presidents. Sadly ‘David Palmer’ was not the answer to any of the questions, so the team’s knowledge of ‘24’ didn’t come in that useful. And despite Emma’s persistent suggestions, it turned out that the Isle of Dogs is not in Walford, nor did a named succession of dogs play Roly. The winning team got lots more points than us, and it’s difficult to see how we could brush up on our general knowledge to compete because the categories were so random. How could we have predicted that there would be ten questions on feet?

A quick reminder about our fabulous and friendly new version of Under Milk Wood, which published last Monday (a week early!). I was the development editor on this project and enjoyed working with the authors to make sure the suggested English and drama activities are interesting and relevant. I love this play because of the musicality of the language. I was part of a stage performance when I was in Sixth Form, and even now reading through I can hear the words being said by good friends. My twin sister and I played the part of Lily Smalls, talking to herself in the mirror; “Oh there’s a face!” It’s always fun to work on a product that you can relate to and enjoy.

On a more personal level, I am currently facing the challenge of how to get a small child interested in books. I’m the proud owner of an eighteen month old boy, who loves to run around outside and ‘baaa’ at sheep and dig in the soil. His father doesn’t read for fun, his paternal grandparents (who live very close by and have an undue influence on him) do not read for fun. Therefore, it’s up to me. I feel I’ve risen to the challenge in that his bookshelf is packed with books that have bits to feel and move, make funny noises, and even a couple that include puppets. We go to the library every week and we choose books together before we join in the nursery rhymes singing session.

He’s started to talk and one of his first words was ‘book’, generally said whilst backing towards you and expecting to sit down on your knee. However, he has the attention span of a goldfish and we rarely get beyond ‘Once upon a time…’ unless he’s in his cot for the bedtime story. I encourage him by stopping what I’m doing if he wants to look at books and by making it as fun as possible. I know the odds are against me on this one, but I will be upset if when he sits his GCSE English Literature exam he hasn’t even read the books.

I wonder if the use of IT in teaching English will encourage boys, traditionally the more reluctant readers, to engage with the texts? What do you think? In Kerboodle! we’ve got some amazing resources to go with the GCSE English Literature set texts. They help students to really think about and analyse what they’ve read, and to form and justify their opinions. They encourage a far deeper understanding of the text than I ever had at school, and I was a swot in English. The potential of e-resources to bring language and literature to life is enormous and we’re only just beginning to play with what can be done – but we have lots of ideas so watch this space.

NEWSFLASH - LIVE ON kerboodle!

2010-04-21T06:14:00.000-07:00

The electronic resources for An Inspector Calls have just gone LIVE on kerboodle! AND the evaluation resources for Mr Pip and Martyn Pig are now LIVE as well.

Mr Pip is one of the new AQA set texts for GCSE English Literature, Unit 1, section B: Exploring Cultures. Martyn Pig is one of the new AQA set texts for GCSE English Literature, Unit 1, section A: Modern Texts.

http://www.nelsonthornes.com/aqagcse/english.html

‘To tweet or not to tweet’

2010-04-20T05:43:00.000-07:00

Emma brought this to the team’s attention early last week. The Royal Shakespeare Company is giving Romeo and Juliet a 21st-century makeover on micro-blogging site Twitter. Such Tweet Sorrow (STS) started on Monday 12th April and runs for 5 weeks. Actors are improvising a story loosely based on the tale. They respond to each other, to the "audience" and to real world events in real time entirely by tweeting!

Here’s the premise.

"Two families in the same town have loathed one another for years. But a boy from one and a girl from the other fall in love - deep, sweet and destructive. You know the tale of Romeo and Juliet but now you can see it happening live and in real time - in modern Britain and on Twitter. Six characters live the story over the five weeks of Such Tweet Sorrow and you can experience it with them."

We have been following the events with differing degrees of enthusiasm (one of us, mentioning no names, is particularly obsessed) but we would like to hear what you think about Shakespeare being presented to young people in this way. Do you think engaging students with literature by any means is good, or do you think (as one commenter did on the BBC article) that Shakespeare would be ‘turning in his grave’?

Here’s what we think:

Ali: I think it is a valuable way of engaging young people with Shakespeare. The story is translating effectively into the 21st century; the language and events are being captured well, making it immediate, current. I loved watching the live election debate and seeing characters from Romeo and Juliet (STS) tweeting about it at the same time.
It’s great to have so many different versions of such a popular play and proves how enduring Shakespeare’s writing is – he did write for the masses after all and this Twitter version is a way of showing that continuing popularity. I noticed that in the last few days Romeo has been using quotes from the play directly in his tweets as well as more modern language – it works well (like it did in Baz Luhrmann’s film version).

Becky L: Although I am not well versed in the ways of Twitter, it seems the kids these days are and I think any way of communicating the sheer excitement of Shakespeare’s plays to them in a format they connect with is great. It’s not meant as a replacement for studying the play text, simply as an engaging supplement and I think this novel way of hooking them into the plot is really welcome! You’re right Ali, Shakespeare wrote for Joe Bloggs and I think he would love it!

Becky S: I use Twitter a little bit anyway (more for celebrity-stalkingfollowing purposes rather than actually tweeting stuff myself), so when I heard about Such Tweet Sorrow, I definitely thought it was worth checking out. And so now I am obsessed (I was probably more excited than I should have been when BenVoli0 requested to ‘follow’ me the other day) … like I needed a reason to spend any longer on the internet than I do already. Even though we all kind of know how it’s going to turn out, it’s fascinating to see it all unfold and watch the characters interact with the audience and with the news events of the day. If you’d like to see what’s going on but you don’t have a Twitter account, you can easily catch up with the day-by-day summary at http://www.suchtweetsorrow.com/story/.

Here are the relevant links:

The BBC article which caught our attention:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts_and_culture/8615432.stm

The story of Such Tweet Sorrow:
http://www.suchtweetsorrow.com/

Right, back to that encyclopedia!

New publishing, sausages and a quiz.

2010-04-20T04:16:00.000-07:00

It may have been quiet on the blog front for the last couple of weeks but things haven’t been quiet in the office!

New Publications
Two more of our Literature Online titles are Live on kerboodle!:

AQA GCSE English Literature: Romeo and Juliet
AQA GCSE English Literature: Of Mice and Men

In the next couple of weeks, the entire offering for both An Inspector Calls and Lord of the Flies are going to be live as well, and our two exciting new online resources for Martyn Pig and Mister Pip will follow on shortly after that.

English Team sausage celebrations
We finally found the time to celebrate the publication of the AQA English Literature: Poetry and Anthology Student Book by going for sausages and mash at The Railway pub in Cheltenham. Celebratory glasses were raised in a toast to the authors, the production team and to Becky L for all their hard work.

Becky S (left), Ali (centre), Becky L (right).

If you are ever in Cheltenham, we highly recommend that you pay The Railway a visit – fabulous food and good ciders.
http://www.therailwayinn.furryfeet.tv/

On the topical front, two NT Publishers have been stranded by the Icelandic ash cloud, one in Kazakhstan and one in Barbados! Hmm, Barbados or the office, Barbados or the office……

Right, I’m off to raid the encyclopedia – the English team is taking part in the Nelson Thornes Quiz on Wednesday evening, under the team name ‘Bleak Expectations’. We have fairly wide ranging and differing interests so hopefully we will do ok, fingers crossed.

Specialties:
Katie: football – especially the fantasy variety at which she excels!
Becky L: cookery, large hardback books (on any subject), music and lyrics
Emma: Eastenders, the life and times of Jack Bauer (up to series 4)
Becky S: sport (especially football), David Tennant, Dr Who
Ali: films, sport, the life and times of Jack Bauer (up to and including series 8)
Ellen: Farming, toddling boys, knitting, general knowledge
Maggie: Denmark, literature, general knowledge.

Did you know that you can subscribe to an RSS feed to make it easier to know when the blog has been updated? Click on the orange squarish button in your web browser and it should guide you through what to do. On my list of blogs, it comes up in bold when there’s new content to read.

More to follow this afternoon - Romeo and Juliet on Twitter!

Mission accomplished!

2010-03-23T09:53:00.000-07:00

The day I've been waiting for is finally here - our AQA GCSE English Literature: Poetry and Anthology Student Book has arrived! I developed this book and so I'm very excited I can now take it into schools and show it off! It will be available next week and makes a great addition to the English and English Language Foundation and Higher Student Books. We're really pleased with it and I'm sure that you'll like the skills-led approach the authors have taken. There's loads of fantastic guidance in it to help students grapple with the Unseen poetry question - it might even help make teaching and learning poetry fun! Students are then encouraged to apply the analytical skills that they have practised to the Anthology poetry. There is also comprehensive coverage of the short stories option through Unit 1 of the Literature specification.

Another newcomer to our bookshelf is an educational edition of Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas - one of the AQA set texts for Unit 1. This version contains a fresh introduction and lots of activities to support students' learning, whether it be for English or Drama. It will be available to buy from April but we've had a sneaky peek at the advance copies and they look great!

I'm off to the Globe on Friday to attend a conference about A Level Drama. It's all about Othello, which I haven't read since my dissertation days - should be fun!

Bye for now!

Becky L

First blog! Hello!

2010-03-18T07:11:00.000-07:00

Hello! This is the first of our NT English Team Blogs, where hopefully we can keep you up to date with what we're doing - and of course you can comment and let us know what you think!

So, we've been beavering away for what seems like a Very Long Time preparing our new AQA GCSE English 2010 series, and it's all starting to pay off now that the books are coming out! The English & English Language Student and Teacher Books for Higher and Foundation are published and we're absolutely delighted with them. Ok we're a bit biassed but we love them and we hope you will too! That's not all, NT's speciality is blended learning and we've released evaluation batches of the associated online resources, along with our online-only Literature text support products, so you can have a play and see what you think. There's a link to the right of this page where you can find out more about exactly what we're publishing.

Meanwhile, we've been busy with other things too, I recently attended a forum on The Future of Reading run by the National Literacy Association at the Birmingham Education show - did anyone reading this go? I thought it was great, really engaging speakers and topics - I was particularly fascinated by David Whyley's account of how e-reading is taking off in Wolverhampton schools. Despite being an old-fashioned book-lover, I find the way students are able to consume literature now really inspiring and hope more children will engage more easily with reading if it's delivered in a more personal way. I happen to own an e-reader, and recently conducted an experiment to compare it with my beloved paperbacks by taking it on holiday (with no paper backups whatsoever). On the plus side it fitted in my handbag neatly and I was able to pack at least three more pairs of shoes in my suitcase instead of a stack of novels, the battery lasted the whole week and it wasn't a bad experience, on the whole. However, I think the edition I have needs more intuitive and flexible functionality (touch screen, colour, wifi, etc), so perhaps I would prefer one of the newer iterations of the device. Conclusion? Think I'd still pick up a paperback. Anyway, I hope the NLA manages to create a useful manifesto from the forum, looking forward to reading it. I'm also delighted to say I managed to meet David Crystal, who I think is brilliant and did an excellent job of chairing the day.

Well, that's about it for today, we'll keep you posted as the rest of the 2010 series publishes (won't be long!!!), please do feel free to comment and chat with us!

All the best,
Emma