english

English – The Battle of Waterloo

© BBC Two hundred years ago in a field ten miles south of Brussels in Belgium, the decisive battle of the Waterloo Campaign took place between the French under Napoleon and the British led coalition under the Duke of Wellington and Blucher. It is arguably the best known battle… Read More

English – Democracy

We all think that the last time Britain was invaded and ruled by a foreign power was after the Battle of Hastings but there have been a number of occasions when a foreign candidate took over or was invited to take the throne. One of the least know is that… Read More

English – Recounts

Before books, all knowledge and storytelling was passed on verbally with those that heard the story or learned how to hunt, retelling or recounting it to others, days, weeks, months or even years later. Recounting accurately relies on two main skills – listening and remembering and a supplementary one in… Read More

English – Asking the Right Question

It’s twenty years since we were first introduced to the rather wacky sounding Yahoo! internet search engine. Over the years we have come to realise that unless we phrase our questions accurately or succinctly, search engines will throw up millions of results leading to a frustrating time of reading through… Read More
row of books

Creating enthusiasm for reading: mini book clubs

How do you solve the problem of reading for pleasure? Drop everything and read? Books in bags? Form-time reading?  Reading lesson? Reading ambassadors? Get caught reading?  There is, of course, no one magic answer and it will be the combined impact of a number of these strategies (and many more)… Read More

Ten ways to improve your marking  

Everywhere you look, educationalists are telling us about the importance of marking. From John Hattie to David Didau to Phil Beadle to Ofsted, the virtues of regular marking are being extolled. The efforts of these super teachers are inspiring but it can feel over-whelming at times, especially when you… Read More

The Centenary of the Birth of Dylan Thomas

This October sees the centenary of the birth of one of the 20th century’s greatest authors and poets, Dylan Thomas. There are few writers who fill their work with such vivid imagery and the anniversary gives us the excuse to delve into some of his most famous works and use… Read More

The Power of Mystery in History

By Mike Gould When I was offered the chance to write The Body in the Car Park for Read On I jumped at it. My fascination with Richard III goes back many years, beginning in childhood when I first heard about the mysterious disappearance… Read More

Writing Rooney

By Alan Gibbons Writing the Read On biography of Wayne Rooney, Being Rooney, was a labour of love. I started supporting Manchester United in the 1967–8 season when City tipped us to the title by one point, but we became the first English… Read More

Read to Succeed!

  As English teachers we all know the benefits of reading. However, it can be more difficult persuading others in school of this. And I do not just mean the students! I’ve done some work helping to lead a county-wide working party focusing on developing reading cultures in… Read More