Category Archives: Association

Black Sheep Press

Black Sheep Press has a new website with lots of exciting changes and improved features. You can visit it here. I used many of the resources from Black Sheep Press while I was working with young children. The company publishes … Continue reading

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Music to my ears

BBC Radio 4’s news this morning included a mention of British Education Minister Elizabeth Truss visiting Shanghai to see their maths teaching in action. I’m sure I heard the mention of the importance of verbalising maths concepts. The English language … Continue reading

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Go find (this wonderful book)

Just finished ‘Room’ by Emma Donoghue (Picador, 2011), a book I found hard to put down but did not wish to finish. Even read some bits twice. Don’t look at a description of it or you may suspect it will … Continue reading

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Woolgathering in the windmills of my mind

Today I looked out and it was a wonderful autumn day: blue cloudless sky, no wind and I went to Wisley. On my way there, I heard several updates about wars and rumours of wars on the car radio but … Continue reading

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Good listening?

Teachers constantly exhort children to do ‘good listening’. And of course it is an excellent idea. But those who work specifically with children who have problems with attention, language delay, learning difficulties or a combination of all of these also … Continue reading

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I smell a rat…

I see it floating in the air; I’ll nip it in the bud! From English Language lessons many years ago this Mixed Metaphor sprang to mind when I heard another lovely example on the radio recently: ‘We’ve opened the Pandora’s … Continue reading

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A Marmite relationship

Watch one of the men in charge of a display of birds of prey! He strides around the ring, talking non-stop in an informative but colloquial style about the birds, while his colleague gets the birds to fly. As the … Continue reading

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The cobbler’s children go unshod!

Don’t you love earwigging? Not in an unpleasant way – just overhearing because you can’t help it.

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Keep speech simple too

It’s not just print that needs adapting – even talk can be confusing! The words we use, the speed we go, the in-between time – all these will influence how much a child understands. Especially the child with delayed or … Continue reading

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