Thinking AloudEnglish Blog

There was a particular look on my puppy's post-op face: confusion mixed with mild indignation, as though the laws of physics had been quietly rewritten while she was asleep. And I realised I have seen this exact expression many times before.  Usually across a desk when a teenager opens an English exam paper.  Go with me on this one.

Every so often, the internet gifts us a reminder that studying English isn’t just about dusty novels and poetry anthologies.  Exhibit A: the scam email that landed in my inbox.

Reading a book or watching a film and a dog appears, steel yourself. It is most likely about to be devastating shorthand for human despair.

And that’s the power of reading, isn’t it?  Stories settle differently in the mind when they pass through the eyes rather than the ears. 

Yes, World Book Day is upon us once again: that annual festival of hurriedly Amazon-Primed costumes and polyester-fuelled meltdowns.

For parents navigating the GCSE Literature grind, this 'Macbeth' is pure gold: layered, unsettling, and packed with meaty analysis. Max...

It is a truth universally acknowledged that an English student in possession of a novel must be in want of the right answer.

Scrabble. The ultimate arena where vocabulary triumphs and three-letter words go to die.  And a great game to boost your vocabulary!