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.
Tuesday, 27 April 2010
Wednesday, 21 April 2010
NEWSFLASH - LIVE ON kerboodle!
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
Tuesday, 20 April 2010
‘To tweet or not to tweet’
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.
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!
Here’s the premise.
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’?"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."
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.
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!
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!
Thursday, 18 March 2010
First blog! Hello!
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
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
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