Thinking AloudEnglish Blog

I remember when drama wasn’t something squeezed into an end-of-term production slot or a “practical enrichment” box on the timetable.  It was part of English, right there in the Key Stage 3 curriculum, alongside metaphors, Macbeth, and the Year 8 class jumping off the ends of their desks as Icarus tested his wings.  (Apologies to the Head whose office was below my classroom.)

Free Masterclass: Tuesday 28 October, 6pm (UK): a free 30-minute masterclass to kick things off. If your teenager is muttering about daggers, witches, and the general futility of existence, it’s not just adolescence. Well, it could be. But it’s also Macbeth season.

Somewhere between the fourth bramble and the fifth step, my golden retriever puppy decided that she had experienced quite enough of coastal walks, thank you very much.  With the quiet dignity of a small Victorian child in a Dickens novel, she stopped dead in her tracks, sat down and gazed at me with the expression of one forced to walk barefoot to the workhouse. Reader, I carried her.

Theatre is meant to take risks - and a production so joyous and kinetic is a gift.  It’s smart, messy, generous, and completely alive.  It’s Midsummer. It’s Madness.  It’s exactly the kind of anarchic disruption Shakespeare deserves.

Easter is nearly upon us, hurrah, up to three weeks for your child to revise for their exams.  Are you ready?  Are they? 

Fear not.  Be it GCSE, IB, or A Level English Language and/or Literature, here are a few survival strategies... chocolate is involved.

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.

While Western culture often casts snakes in a sinister light (looking at you, Bible), the Chinese interpretation is far more nuanced...

The game at iGCSE/GCSE level is all about how they handle the question, develop an argument, and structure their essay.

So, your child’s slogged through the mock exams and the results are in.  You’re feeling a rollercoaster of emotions about them.

Tuition. That golden ticket to better grades, fewer exam jitters, and the occasional boast at the school gates. 

Here’s the secret: with a solid plan, your child will breeze through their English essay faster and with fewer bumps along the way. 

There he was, in all his intellectual glory, stretching like a cross between Socrates and Usain Bolt. 

Shakespeare is nothing if not a crackingly good storyteller.  That he stole most of his plot lines is neither here nor there, just don’t ask

Remember, reading is something that draws you into other worlds.  Listening does that too… So let me introduce you to Radio 4.