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.)

You know the feeling, you’ve paid for the flights.  You’ve wrestled with SPF, exchange rates, suitcase weight limits, and the mysterious disappearance of all chargers.  And somewhere between the airport WHSmith and the sun lounger, your teenager did something unexpected: they started reading a book.

If you (or your teenager) are studying Edexcel A Level after the summer, you might be tackling the full Romantics selection - or just Keats.  For AQA, OCR, or IB, one or more of these revolutionary poets are likely to appear.  These long holidays offer the perfect opportunity to deepen understanding without cracking open another anthology... just yet.

There are some decisions in life that require deep contemplation.  Applying for a job.  Choosing a partner.  Picking your Desert Island Discs.  And then, there’s naming a puppy. 

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.

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

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

Let’s be honest - securing those top grades at A Level or IB English Lit isn’t about your child nodding earnestly at Hamlet.

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

There's an unmatched thrill in perusing the dusty shelves of a second-hand bookshop, where the scent of old paper and the promise of...

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

Pens down, books away - you’ve done the exams, you’re just waiting for the results.  Nothing more to be done.  IT’S THE SUMMER!