English Newsletter

20 Pages·2015·1.12 MB·English

May
Title Subject Page
English@AQA
The joy of spoken Studying spoken 2
language language at GCSE
and A-level
Raising the profile of GCSE English/English 4
speaking and listening Language Unit 2
speaking and listening
Substantial GCSE English/English 6
performance Language Unit 2
speaking and listening
Characterisation The study of voice 8
and voice in GCSE English
Literature
GCSE: from modular Changes to GCSE 11
to linear English, English
Issue 12
Language and
English Literature
I transcribed, I A-level English 12
analysed, I impressed Language and A-level
the examiner Language and
Literature –analysis
of spoken language
Spoken language GCSE English 14
study –how’s it Language Unit 3
6
1
e going? spoken language study
g
a
p
e The power of DNA The GCSE English 16
e
S Literature text DNA
–
A
N Training for teachers Teacher support events 18
D
of
er Noticeboard Updates and news for 20
w
o teachers of GCSE
P
e and A-level
h
T
Welcome to the summer edition of our English magazine.
In the January issue we heard some of our writers suggest that spoken
language is often marginalised in English study in favour of reading and
writing. The theme for this issue, therefore, is spoken language. There
are articles aimed at teachers of A-level and GCSE, as well as some
that should be of interest to both.
Many of you have told us that you would like a table of contents to help
Ulrike Strelow Jean Hudson
you find your way through our magazine and so we have mapped out
Senior Subject Senior Subject
the issue above. Please let us know what you would/wouldn’t like to see
Manager A-level Manager GCSE
in future issues by contacting the editor, Ruth Johnson, at
English English
[email protected]
Contact us: [email protected] or [email protected]
1
respond to. When analysing the spoken data,
students need to learn a wider range of terminology in
The joy comparison to GCSE. Whilst the study of key features
such as dialect, idiolect, fillers and turn-taking are all
of spoken still relevant, students will build on this at AS level.
They will look in more detail at the common
grammatical structures of speech, considering
language
variations such as ellipsis as well as shifts in verb and
pronoun use, often influenced by dialect. They will
develop their analysis of phonology, identifying and
commenting on elision and various prosodic features.
Furthermore, they will develop their analysis of the
spontaneous features of speech such as voiced
pauses and false starts.
Gary Ives, Assistant
Putting it in context
Principal Moderator
However, it’s not all about learning terminology. The
and Examiner for
true joy in learning about and teaching spoken
English Language language is putting it into context. Building on this
A-Level, discusses aspect from GCSE, students are encouraged to think
how to engage about language in use, about:
students in the study • their own language
of spoken language at • the language of those around them
GCSE and A-level. • their own experiences with speech.
Studying spoken language at AS level leads to some
great discussions.
When the study of spoken language
was introduced at GCSE, I’m sure Take for example the ‘telephone voice’. This is
there were some mixed feelings something they can all identify, as so many of us have
amongst English teachers. Some heard it and know who uses it! They all tend to have
were worried – concerned, perhaps, views on swearing – the words they see as more and
at having to learn a range of new less acceptable and their attitudes to those they hear.
terminology they were not totally Students can certainly be quite judgemental! They can
confident with. Others were excited all comment on how they change their own speech
that the detailed study of speech was no longer depending on who they are talking to, even if they’ve
sacrosanct to those studying post-16. Of course, there previously never thought about it before. Discussions
were many of us whose feelings were a mixture of the on their attitude to various accents can also be very
two. illuminating. Who doesn’t have a favourite or one
which causes a reaction similar to nails down a
Now that the unit is embedded in our programmes of blackboard? Considering features of their own accent
study and schemes of work, I’m sure we all realise and
appreciate how stimulating and exciting the study of
spoken language can be.
Building for the future
The GCSE course has allowed students to develop a
number of important skills in preparation for the
transition to AS level. If a student decides to study
English Language post-16, they will find that studying
spoken language is a significant focus of the course,
allowing them to build on their knowledge from GCSE.
At AS level, the examined unit contains a mix of
unseen spoken and written texts for the students to
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May
and sharing your own experience can also be very also lead to students considering the purpose of
enlightening. As a native of Newcastle teaching in language on television. Is it about giving an honest
Yorkshire, conversations about accent and dialect are opinion or about entertaining the audience?
great fun. Telling students how I regularly receive
This entertaining aspect of speech can be developed
notes from parents addressed to ‘Mr Hives’ (they tend
at AS level when students consider represented
to drop the initial /h/ phoneme in Yorkshire) and
speech in genres such as novels and television
sharing how I initially didn’t understand why some
dramas. Once again, this builds on their GCSE
younger students mix up ‘as’ and ‘has’, lets them
knowledge and allows students to consider how
reflect on how they speak. Telling them that ‘aye am
stereotypes are met or challenged by writers. By
gannin gan hyem the morra like’ is greeted with
doing this, it allows students to link their experiences
confused faces whilst they help me develop my
of real life speech to what they see or read.
Yorkshire vocabulary beyond ‘ginnel’, ‘snicket’ and
‘spice’ (ask a Geordie or someone born and bred in
Blurring the boundaries
Yorkshire for translations!).
Another fascinating aspect of AS study – which is
The language of entertainment certainly part of their own experience – is how the
As spoken language is part of us all, everyone can boundaries between speech and writing are becoming
join in and everyone has an opinion. However, it’s not blurred. Ask a group of students to look back through
just about the language we use when we talk, it’s their text messages, their comments on Facebook,
about considering what is going on around us. their tweets on Twitter or whichever aspect of
Discussions of what students hear on television can technology is currently in vogue and they will find how
further develop their thoughts, linking to a key area of often we use features associated with speech in
AS study eg power. With programmes such as ‘The X writing. As ‘Language and Technology’ is a key unit at
Factor’ attracting millions of viewers, this can be an AS level, the wealth of personal data they have is
excellent starting point in looking at how power is invaluable. Once again, discussions which evolve
established through speech. They can all identify with from this are informative, interesting and enlightening.
the oft-heard ‘you smashed it’, ‘you owned that stage’, Getting students to think about why they
‘I didn’t like it … I loved it’ and the tension-inducing use certain features certainly gets them
‘that wasn’t the best performance of the night (pause thinking and prepares them well for their
for dramatic effect) it was the best performance of the exam. Their own research, discussions
series’. Let’s also not forget this ‘unpredictable’ series and findings are just as valid as any
of comments: Judge 1: ‘It’s 100% yes from me’; Judge published findings.
2: ‘It’s 1000% yes from me’; Judge 3: ’It’s a million
percent yes from me’. By discussing such language, The study of spoken language at AS level is a
students can consider how language is used in such fascinating area for both students and teachers. It
situations as a powerful, motivational tool. In contrast, makes us all think about our own language and leads
the famous put-downs can be analysed in terms of to some great, fun discussions. It is something we can
how we try and excerpt power, status and authority all identify with and now that it is embedded at GCSE,
over others. The study of such spoken language can can be enjoyed by more and more students.
3
Raising the profile of speaking and listening
Subject manager Ruth Johnson writes about how one Manchester school is shining the
spotlight on spoken skills
In our January issue, the creators of the ‘All Talk’
resource referred to speaking and listening as a
‘Cinderella’ topic. Certainly, in many schools and
colleges in the past, speaking and listening
assessments have been slotted in and bolted on.
Where this happens, however, a valuable opportunity
is being missed to develop these skills which are key
to successfully navigating life.
At Whalley Range High School for
Girls in Manchester, Head of English
Emma Lashley sees speaking and
listening as equal in importance to
reading and writing. She is keen to
raise its profile in the school. This
comes partly, says Emma, from the
emphasis on good quality oral work
Head of English in Excellence in English(Ofsted
Emma Lashley is 2011) and it is proving to impact
keen to develop positively on students’ progress assessments. ‘We’ve taken the idea of drafting and
speaking and
listening in across the school. improving written work and applied it to speaking and
Whalley Range listening,’ explains Emma. In preparing for a speaking
As a multicultural school, Whalley
High School and listening assessment, students work in groups of
Range has many students who learn
four or five. Each group has a flip camera –a small,
English as an additional language, including those
hand-held video camera –and a laptop. The students
who only arrive at the school in Year 10. ‘All EAL
take turns to film each other and then watch each
students have a speaking and listening buddy,’
performance together on the laptop. They then use
explains Emma. ‘This is someone who speaks the
self- and peer-assessment to ‘mark’ their work, using
same home language and who works with them in
the mark scheme to identify:
speaking and listening activities.’ Emma also appoints
high profile English leaders. Students have to apply • skills they have clearly demonstrated
for this prestigious job and are interviewed. If • areas across the three mark scheme columns
successful, they choose reading, writing or speaking where they need to improve.
and listening as their area of expertise and spend time
‘The students are much more confident now about
each week working with younger children to develop
their speaking and listening,’ says Emma. ‘They can
that skill.
see where their weaknesses are and can correct
Emma has embedded speaking and listening within all them on their next ‘draft’.’ And this practice doesn’t
English schemes of work from Year 7 to Year 11. She come as a surprise when they start GCSE. The
has placed the focus on developing skills, not just students start recording and assessing their own and
ticking assessment boxes. While studying a literature each other’s speaking and listening in Year 7, using
text for the English Language extended reading the APP grids.
controlled assessment, for example, GCSE students
The beauty of the flip camera, says Emma, is its
perform a role play. While focusing on writing to argue
simplicity. The camera itself plugs into a USB port
and persuade in preparation for the Unit 1 exam,
and the video files open automatically. Some
students also prepare and perform a persuasive
members of the English department were a little
speech.
worried about the cameras at first, thinking their use
The biggest change, however, has been in the way might demand advanced IT skills, but now everybody
teachers and pupils approach and prepare for GCSE is really confident with them. And, Emma says, she is
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May
more confident in the marks of the department, as the
flip cameras make it a lot easier to internally
standardise speaking and listening.
What’s more, the benefits of the focus on speaking
and listening don’t begin and end with Unit 2. The
skills students gain in their spoken work are being
transferred into their written work. The school is
developing a culture of debating, which is leading to
more effectively structured writing to argue and
persuade. They have signed up to take part in Debate
Mate and students from across the school are
debating in the Urban Debate League. Older students
are passing on their debating skills and expertise to
younger students, right down to visiting students in
feeder primary schools. On transition days there is
going to be a debate competition for the upcoming
For information about Debate Mate and the
Year 6 students. In this way, the enthusiasm for
Urban Debate League see
speech and debate, as well as the associated skills, is
www.debatemate.com
being passed on from generation to generation.
5
Substantial performance
Adrian Beard, Principal Moderator for GCSE English/English Language Unit 2, writes about
good practice in speaking and listening.
On a recent speaking and listening visit to a school in
North London, the head of English gathered together
his eight students and gave them a pep talk before we
began. ‘Remember’, he said, ‘this exercise is not
about showing off. It is about having substance, it is
about having something worth saying and worth
saying well.’
This sounded promising and when the first student, a
girl in Year 10, began her presenting task with ‘I’m
going to talk to you today about some of the origins of
the Arab Spring and why the events in the Middle East
are important for us all’, I knew I was going to see
some excellent work.
k
c
The student spoke with confidence and assurance for o
st
five minutes. She focused, in particular, on events in nk
hi
Libya where, it emerged through further questioning, T
©
her family came from. The teacher made sure he
asked a couple of questions about why the events are
they form the bedrock of what is to follow. They give
important for us all, and the student began to be both
the talk its substance. They provide, at best, the
impressive and sophisticated in the way she judged
required depth. The metaphors I have used to describe
the depth and detail needed in her replies.
content are worth noting: bedrock, substance, depth –
At the end of her presentation we had no problems all suggesting the underpinning of a structure.
agreeing a mark of 13, with all band 4 criteria fulfilled
It should now go without saying that any old topic
and some progress into band 5.
won’t do, that leaving the choice of topic to the student
This, though, was in stark contrast to a similar won’t necessarily work, that piggy-backing talk on to
Yorkshire school I had visited the previous day. Here a literature does not inevitably lead to good talk for this
group had been given the task ‘Discuss the role of unit. This last point, in particular, may seem to go
women in Of Mice and Men’. Not surprisingly, there against the received orthodoxy, but it needs saying.
was not a great deal to say and certainly not a great ‘Of Mice and Men’ is a pared down parable, a novella
deal to discuss. Although the school considered the of broad brushstrokes. Nothing wrong with that, but its
students to be an able group, it was impossible, when complexity is implied, not stated. And what exactly can
looking at the criteria, to give any of them more than a a group discussion do with a piece that either (a) they
low band 3 mark of 7. The reason? Their talk lacked don’t really understand or (b) they have already
substance. studied?
The ingredients of talk I am all for group work and for thinking about your
reading in a group context but, when it comes to
Anyone who has taught Language/Linguistics will
assessed work in Unit 2, the advisory team rarely see
know how difficult it can be to explain specific parts of
it working at the upper bands.
a linguistic process while, at the same time, needing
to stress that all the parts operate together. But it is So what is needed in terms of content? The content
worth exploring here just what is required for effective needs to:
speaking (and listening) in the classroom: speech
• allow a degree of complexity, enabling the student
which, ultimately, can be assessed.
to reach their potential
Content and ideas • have some relevance and importance to the
I have started with the notion of content/ideas because student
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May
• have a sharp focus departments of rhetoric. Indeed, teaching rhetorical
skills in schools is seen as part of the democratic
• have been researched beforehand.
process. In England though (I say England, because
In this unit, at least, data and evidence can be in Northern Ireland the picture is rather different) we
authentic and relevant. Ideally, it needs an element of tend to be much more wary of teaching formal
controversy, so that debate and ideas can emerge. It rhetorical skills.
does not have to be deadly serious (the very
These should not, though, be seen as archaic tropes
successful ‘don’t get me started’ writing task shows
that) but it does have to lend itself to an extended from a distant age. They are, in fact, at the heart of
range of language use. much public discourse.
Language repertoire Encourage students to consider such things as:
This then takes us on to the next part of the process. • terms of address
To express ideas effectively you need a vocabulary
• the use of pronouns and how they reference
and speech ‘grammar’ that allows meaning to be clear
• intertextual references
and arguments to have some force.
• metaphor
Assessed classroom talk is not the same as informal
• sound patterning
chat; it requires, by definition, more formality. All talk
serves its purposes, but assessed classroom talk has • pace and pitch
to communicate ideas to a range of peers and at least • information structure
one adult. This is why role playing in which students
• narrative sequence
are merely ‘themselves’ can be so limiting. However
• audience involvement.
energetic the acting may be, the language itself is so
limited. It is much better to have students role playing
adults, authority figures, people having to make All of these can be modelled as part of the ongoing
complex decisions which they then have to processes of teaching speaking, listening, reading and
communicate. writing.
To do this, though, they need to have been Assessing the talk
taught/shown how such adult talk actually works. TV
As Principal Moderator for speaking and listening it is
drama or news reporting is one possible way of
my job, with colleagues at AQA, to ensure:
looking at this; close observation of the language of
power in your own institution is another. All of these • there is parity across schools/colleges in Unit 2
have potential links to the study of spoken language • that the criteria, as exemplified in DVDs, are being
in Unit 3. applied by all.
BBC radio recently gave air-time to the latest This is not easy, because firm evidence can be hard
‘business leader’ denouncing young people and their to come by, but that does not mean anything goes.
skills. His claim was that children are now speaking in Annie gets 15, because that’s what you need to do to
text language which, if remotely possible, would be a get 15!
triumph of linguistic ingenuity. I am not here arguing
for some sort of faux business-speak (a ghastly When the bulk of Unit 2 assessments are made in
thought) but for a degree of depth (that word again) May, we will be looking closely at a number of factors
and formality that allows assessment to be made. to help us deliver parity:
• We can match marks in Unit 2 with school/college
Interactivity
scores in other components. After all, speaking
The third part of the process involves engaging with
and listening is part of the literacy process and no
your audience, both through making them interested
easier than any other part
and through listening and responding to what they
• We can ask to see records to check the tasks and
have to say. For some students, the ability to project
descriptions match the criteria
their personalities comes easily, for others it is more
of a challenge, but there are linguistic strategies • We will continue our visits to monitor how
which can help. schools/colleges are awarding marks.
A significant difference between studying English in Ultimately, for band 3 and beyond, we are looking for
this country and the USA is in the attitude to teaching substance: talk which has something to say and which
rhetoric. In the USA there are vast university says it with enthusiasm.
7
Characterisation and voice
Peter Thomas describes how an exploration of voice for GCSE English Literature can enrich the
teaching of English Language – and vice versa.
The current AQA GCSE English, English Language
and Literature specifications all feature reading tasks
under the category of characterisation and voice. This
is a deliberate attempt to focus teaching and learning
on the writer’s craft of characterisation and to steer
students away from naïve descriptions of characters
as real people. It is the skill of turning imaginative
fiction into plausibly realistic characters that should be
the focus of study if students are to be awarded marks
in the upper bands. The second bullet in the Literature
habitual non-conscious and the cultivated a result of
mark scheme deals with AO2 and authorial craft in
conscious choice. So, writers of fiction draw on speech
language, form and structure. This makes a very clear
characteristics which may be – in other areas of study,
skills linkage with study for English Language:
described as dialect, sociolect and idiolect.
AO2 and the Literature mark scheme
To illustrate, draw on the largest archive of written
• sophisticated analysis of aspects of language
speech conveying instantly recognisable characters in
and structure 5
the language: the 37 (or 38 or 39, depending on your
• analysis of aspects of language and structure
persuasion) plays of Shakespeare. In Henry Vhe
in convincing detail 4
wants to create a believable Welshman, Fluellen, with
• clear/consistent understanding of features of some of the features we may associate with that Celtic
language and structure supported by relevant culture – passion, pride and loquacity. The main way of
and appropriate quotation 3 conveying an authentic regionalism is in Fluellen’s
pronunciation, idiom and mangling of English
• some familiarity with obvious features of
grammatical conventions:
language and structure supported by some
relevant textual detail 2
FLUELLEN
• limited awareness of obvious features of
To the mines! tell you the duke, it is not so good
language and structure 1
to come to the mines; for, look you, the mines is
There are various ways in which writers may build up not according to the disciplines of the war: the
characters who seem to be as believable as real concavities of it is not sufficient; for, look you,
people, such as: the athversary, you may discuss unto the duke, look
you, is digt himself four yard under the
• showing what they do
countermines: by Cheshu, I think a' will plough up
• contrasting what they do with what others do
all, if there is not better direction.
• reporting what others think of them
• explicit narrative telling. Apart from typical regional tags like ‘look you’, this
shows Shakespeare’s ability to pick up and reproduce
But the most powerful and immediate way of creating a
regionally distinctive features of pronunciation. In
believable character in fiction is to give them a distinctive
‘athversary’, he shows Fluellen making a
voice – one as individual as that on a telephone, telling
pronunciation error based on the fact that Welsh has
us instantly who is speaking. Some of that individuality is
two sounds in the alphabet indicated by the letter “d”.
to do with the vocal mechanics. These make sounds
A single “d” is pronounced as in English, but a ‘dd’ is
guttural, nasal, high-pitched or low-pitched, but vocal
pronounced as ‘th’.
mechanics do not represent the whole complexity of
vocal identity. This is a matter of the linguistic features of At the start of Antony & Cleopatra, Shakespeare
voice – a mixture of the inherited, acquired, habitual or wants to begin with a typical Roman soldier’s attitude
cultivated speech behaviour that is, literally, to the way the great warrior Antony has thrown away
characteristic of an individual speaker. The inherited his glorious past to become enslaved to a voluptuous
features may be regional, the acquired occupational, the wanton:
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May
Given the scope for skills transfer across different
PHILO
parts of the GCSE assessed curriculum, it is worth
Nay, but this dotage of our general’s
making a strong feature of speech study wherever
O’erflows the measure: those his goodly eyes,
possible in reading and in Literature. If the English
That o’er the files and musters of the war
Literary Heritage text is a novel, there may be
Have glow’d like plated Mars, now bend, now turn,
excellent opportunities for drawing attention to dialect:
The office and devotion of their view
Upon a tawny front: his captain’s heart, Hardy- the Maltster’s from Far from the Madding
Which in the scuffles of great fights hath burst Crowd
The buckles on his breast, reneges all temper,
And is become the bellows and the fan ‘And here’s a mouthful of bread and bacon this
To cool a gipsy’s lust. mis’ess have sent, shepherd. The cider will go
down better with a bit of victuals. Don’t ye chaw
Here Shakespeare wants to convey the disapproval of a quite close, shepherd, for I let the bacon fall in the
man who lives by military values and has a soldier’s road outside as I was bringing it along, and may be
outlook on life. This is conveyed by the use of words ‘tis rather gritty. There, ‘tis clane dirt; and we all
derived from warfare, ‘files and musters’, uniform know what that is, as you say, and you bain’t a
‘plated’ and ‘buckles’ and battlefield behaviour ‘reneges’ particular man we see, shepherd. Don’t let your
as well as reference to Mars – the Roman god of war. teeth quite meet, and you won’t feel the sandiness
at all. Ah! ‘Tis wonderful what can be done by
In Hamlet, Polonius is a figure of fun for his inability to contrivance!’
speak concisely, and to indulge his preference for
ornament and elaboration:
LORD POLONIUS
My liege, and madam, to expostulate
What majesty should be, what duty is,
Why day is day, night night, and time is time,
Were nothing but to waste night, day and time.
Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit,
And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes,
I will be brief: your noble son is mad:
Mad call I it; for, to define true madness,
What is’t but to be nothing else but mad?
But let that go.
QUEEN GERTRUDE More matter, with less art.
LORD POLONIUS Madam, I swear I use no art at all.
That he is mad, ’tis true: ’tis true ’tis pity;
And pity ’tis ’tis true: a foolish figure;
But farewell it, for I will use no art.
Links to other parts of the English and
Literature curriculum
This focus on the study of Shakespeare’s ability to
create character through speech goes beyond
reading and Literature. It is part of what students
need to be successful in when preparing for their
Spoken Language Study, where they may be writing
about dialect, sociolect and idiolect in relation to their
own speech and that of others.
There is also a useful link to be established with
speaking and listening, where role play may benefit
from choice of vocabulary, idiom and grammatical
patterns as part of the performance repertoire.
9
A novelist working with speech to create a sense of In poetry, writers may most frequently use voices
social and cultural difference between characters which express their own sense of fear, regret, delight
provides rich pickings for study of sociolect. For or amusement, but some poems are written as if a
example, Swindells’ use of two narrators in Daz 4 Zoe: character is speaking. In these cases (often
monologues) the persona is made believable by
‘We nearly didn't make it. I mean, everything could various habits or manners of speech, which become
have ended for the four of us right there in the Blue voice identifiers, for example:
Moon that night, and it'd all have been Larry's fault.
Browning My Last Duchess
What happened was, he saw this girl. Chippy girl.
She was with another girl and two guys and they She thanked men – good! But thanked
might have been married for all we knew but it Somehow – I know not how – as if she ranked
made no difference to old Larry. She was pretty My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name
and he was smashed and he caught her eye and With anybody’s gift. Who’d stoop to blame
smiled and started making signs for her to leave This sort of trifling. Even had you skill
the others and come on over. I felt quite In speech – (which I have not) – to make your will
apprehensive about it in spite of the drink, and so Quite clear to such a one, and say “Just this
did Ned. ‘ Or that in you disgusts me”
‘So this crash com and Cal’s away i open the door Duffy Salome
a crack and luck owt and its wot i fought. Subbys. i
knew ther be trubble tonite wiv them in. Never again!
Stanstareeson dunnit. I needed to clean up my act,
Get fitter,
i luck and i fink, sod em. They blew it 4 me. Let em
Cut out the booze and the fags and the sex.
get topped. Then i seen the girl. The 1 bin
Yes. And as for the latter,
watching. She luck scairt. 2 hunnerd peeple want
It was time to turn out the blighter,
me ded, i luck scairt. i seen her and i cant let em
The beater or biter,
do it. The uvvers i dont give a monkeys abowt but i
Who’d come like a lamb to the slaughter
cant let em top her.’
To Salome’s bed.
Sometimes the cultural is enough to create the
The possibility of mutual reinforcement across some of
personal and the personal the cultural. Most novelists
the sometimes separated parts of the curriculum
use a different voice for their narrative and for the
seems like an asset to teaching and learning. We now
voices of characters in dialogue. Here the skill is in
have, in English Language, a 10% component in
choosing speech patterns and characteristics that
Spoken Language Study which can be enriched by
become associated uniquely with the character
Literature study, and Literature study which can be
portrayed. Dickens is excellent at this, particularly when
enriched by study for Spoken Language. Add to that
he wants to show a contrast between two characters. In
the scope for using the skills developed in these areas
Great Expectations, he characterises Mrs Joe Gargery
for Commissions and Recreations creative writing and
as a fierce, impatient, unloving guardian by making her
there is high reward for what students have learned to
speech a succession of single-syllable, short-vowelled
analyse and do themselves.
words which convey her rapid delivery:
Coherent planning is helped by emphasis on
‘Tell me what you’ve been doing to wear me away transferable skills and by making Language and
with fret and fright and worrit’, Literature an option for all rather than for the more
able. The most potent sign of erosion of what we do as
Joe Gargery, by contrast, is slow-moving and slow- English teachers is when the pressure of league table
thinking, warm and protective. His speech is made up statistics results in a reduction of Literature in the daily
of long-vowelled words and repetitions of words he is experience of all youngsters.
fond of:
‘Ram-page, Pip, that’s what she did. She went on
the Ram-Page, she did.’
10