BRIGHT IDEAS


POOLING GOOD IDEAS TO MAKE ENGLISH TEACHING AND LEARNING FIRST CLASS


On these pages we invited three leading educators and authors to share their ideas and tips for teaching English successfully. Their contributions range across the spectrum of English teaching and are as inspiring as they are useful. inTuition is grateful for their contributions.


‘SEE CHALLENGING TEXTS AS AN OPPORTUNITY’


By Bob Cox Having worked in education for 40 years, including 13 as a head of English, I can summarise the mindset needed to support the access and enjoyment of texts as this: approach challenging texts as an opportunity, not a threat. Be bold about choosing poems, articles, media and literary extracts which


offer the maximum scope for learning, but plan your interventions, scaffolds and visual supports carefully as some will need them to fully explore a text. If students have lost confidence in the past they are unlikely to regain it by following anything other than an ambitious curriculum. In the ‘Opening Doors’ series of books, listed below, snippets from texts


like Collins’ The Woman in White or a poem like The Call by Charlotte Mew will be successful for all ages. The content of any text you choose needs to be mysterious, enticing or engaging, making the language exploration seem worthwhile to the pupils.


So, what kinds of access strategies can open doors to a higher level of engagement and questioning? a) Introduce a challenging text stage by stage. For example: - A visual, illustration or diagram which invites students to ask questions; - Introduce just a single key word, phrase or sliver of text and start to teach how the language works. Rich learning dialogues may develop; - Use a longer paragraph from the text or a stanza from the poem to begin to collect responses. What is puzzling? What may the central theme be?; - Ask for a short taster draft of writing which must demonstrate what has been learnt so far.


b) Read and share the full text, only now with links made to the students’ taster drafts. They will want to know what the text is about because they have participated in a learning and knowledge journey leading up to the reading. You can now innovate more on teaching comprehension and writing with students whose curiosity has been stimulated by focused knowledge acquisition. All students should be immersed in a rich curriculum irrespective of past


performance, but it’s the access strategies which great teachers exploit so well to open doors. Spelling, punctuation and grammar can then be taught in context, especially at the taster draft stage, thereby avoiding the pitfalls of routine, decontextualised exercises.


Bob Cox is an English teacher, an educational consultant and author of the ‘Opening Doors’ book series on teaching English. For more information on Bob’s books visit https://www.crownhouse.co.uk/ authors/bob-cox. Bob’s website: www.searchingforexcellence.co.uk @BobCox_SFE


MEMBER OFFER SET members are entitled to 20 per cent off the RRP for all Bob’s books when ordering direct from Crown House Publishing. Use discount code SET20 when prompted. The offer is valid until 31 December, 2019.


10 AUTUMN 2019 • InTUITIONENGLISH WORDS’ WORTH


By Terry Sharrock Show an interest in words, their origins and make-up. Talk about words as they arise and how they are spelt. Is there anything peculiar about the word or its spelling? (‘Peculiar’ derives from Latin, meaning belonging to one person. Originally referring to cattle, it comes to English as ‘something unique or belonging to that object’.)


In marking written work, decide which


errors you are going to concentrate on. Build a progress plan for spelling and grammar with each learner. Let them lead on it. When you return marked work, ask students to pick out two to three spellings they will agree to learn for their next piece of work. Ask them to indicate on that piece of work where they have used the words correctly.


Embedding is the word that we all use. What it should lead to is development of English skills. If your learners are not improving their English skills then your embedding is not working. Encourage learners to keep a personal dictionary or glossary and, most importantly, ask them to find ways to remember spellings that they have trouble with. Telling them “separate has ‘a rat’ in it” is your way of remembering, not theirs. They’re far more likely to remember a method they have created rather than one given to them.


Terry Sharrock is a teacher, Ofsted inspector, author and consultant specialising in staff training on embedding maths and English.


MEMBER OFFER SET members are eligible for a 20 per cent discount on Terry’s books Embedding English and Maths and Improving Learning Through Lesson Observation when ordered directly from Critical Publishing. Use discount code TS2019 when prompted. Valid until 31 December, 2019.


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