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.)

TV's The (Celeb) Traitors - a masterclass in the need to plan an essay. With no spoilers! There’s something almost indecently satisfying about pulling off a plan.  The clean click of cause and effect.  The sly grin of inevitability.  It’s why The A-Team and every child of the 70s loved it when a plan came together.  And why The Traitors, especially last night’s celebrity edition, is the most exquisite piece of clockwork on television.

I’ve just cracked open The Vegetarian. And then I stopped writing and carried on reading. That was my day yesterday.

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.

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.

Like many I have been on holiday - and I forgot that with a puppy you NEVER leave ANYTHING within reach.

When the summer comes it comes with long sunny days to catch up on your reading, educational blog posts and revision courses.  Not always.

Exam season - it’s just over for another year.  Thank goodness, we can all breathe a sigh of relief.