R&R time
Time for some R&R
Month: July 2011
Murphy’s law corrected
I would like to apologise to Dianne Murphy in jumping the gun by suggesting that her approach to the teaching of reading was Whole Language. Dianne has written a comment on the tail of the posting to say that the approach is “definitely not ‘Whole Language’ and nor is it ‘drill and practise’ in the… Continue reading Murphy’s law corrected
Biff and Chips to go? Oh no!
There’s been a lot of adverse criticism recently of the Oxford Reading Tree series, featuring Biff, Chip et al, and teachers often ask me on Sounds-Write courses if they shouldn’t just throw them all out because they do not conform to what most people recognise as decodable readers. The answer, of course, is absolutely not!… Continue reading Biff and Chips to go? Oh no!
Murphy’s law re-stated
What was Christopher Middleton at the Telegraph thinking when he called what Dianne Murphy is doing a ‘literacy revolution’? He evidently has never read Marx’s 18th Brumaire of Louise Napoleon, which, prompted Marx to remark famously that history repeats itself, ‘first as tragedy, then as farce’. Far from being a revolution, this kind of methodology… Continue reading Murphy’s law re-stated
Why ‘ghoti’ is a red herring
In my last posting, I wrote that Rod Liddle’s invocation of ‘ghoti’ as a way of spelling ‘fish’ – ostensibly to demonstrate how ‘unphonetic’ (ridiculous term!) English is – was nonsensical. I also wrote that the notion had been entirely discredited. Well, apparently not! Some of my readers have informed me that they are confronted… Continue reading Why ‘ghoti’ is a red herring
A Liddle knowledge is a dangerous thing!
I quite like Rod Liddle’s column every week in the Spectator. He usually makes me laugh. Sometimes out loud! This week began as no exception. In ‘My daughter’s end-of-term report confirms that she is being taught by alien reptiles‘, he got the ball rolling by deprecating the ‘vacuous propaganda’ emitted by teacher training institutions before… Continue reading A Liddle knowledge is a dangerous thing!
Sounds-Write training course
Sounds-Write Course in Alicante: 20th – 26th August 2011 For details of this innovative course, which allows you to combine a full training course with a wonderful holiday in one of Spain’s loveliest regions, download the brochure. Learn to Teach Reading and Spelling – and have a holiday! Take the opportunity this summer to combine… Continue reading Sounds-Write training course
When school’s out for summer
I noticed that npr (National Public Radio in the USA) devoted half an hour’s air time yesterday to the subject of the summer ‘recess’. Although they have a longer summer break than we have here, research in the USA indicates that ‘all kids, regardless of the income level of their family, experience over two months… Continue reading When school’s out for summer
Alas poor Warwick!
Sadly, Warwick Mansell’s piece in Monday’s Guardian rehearses all those old chestnuts about phonics teaching that have been discredited time without end. Although it makes some pretence at balance, it is shot through with the kind of ignorance about what phonics teaching is that one would normally find in the TES. Mansell tell us that… Continue reading Alas poor Warwick!
Doing the rounds
Two stories on the blogosphere worth browsing are: John Bald’s response to attacks on phonics in the TES (17 06 2011). One such condemnation can be found in a letter from Professor Colin Richards, Spark Bridge, Cumbria, entitled ‘One man’s jihad is just another man’s phonics’. Who is the humorist Colin Richards and I wonder… Continue reading Doing the rounds