Did you listen to Michael Rosen’s Radio 4 programme ‘Word of Mouth’ on Tuesday afternoon? This one in the series was about the alphabet and, as is usual in these programmes, Michael had invited two academics – Dr Laura Wright and Professor Nils Langer – to talk about the subject. Langer got the ball rolling by making… Continue reading By word of mouth to the alphabet
I see that Michael Rosen has been ‘sounding off’, if you’ll excuse the pun, on his blog about phonics again. It is really rather baffling that someone who is clearly very inquisitive and who actually listens carefully to the people he interviews and talks to on his Radio 4 programme ‘Word of Mouth’ should be… Continue reading Rosen unwound
I’ve just been watching Michael Rosen on Matthew Wright’s show ‘The Wright Stuff’, broadcast on October 6th. After talking about the plight of the independent booksellers, he was asked by one of the guests on the show what he thought about the government’s support for phonics. What followed had me howling with laughter. For a chap… Continue reading The Wrong Stuff!
Here’s a round-up of some of the more interesting items making the news at the moment. But first, a riddle! What is it? ‘The medicine chest of the soul’, ‘the delivery room for the birth of ideas’, ‘the only treasure-house open to all comers ‘, ‘an act of faith’, even the ‘most democratic place in… Continue reading The medicine chest of the soul
Polly Curtis reported in Friday’s Guardian that 10,000 people have signed a petition to scrap SATs.Independent and objective testing is an appropriate way of seeking to find out if pupils are successfully remembering and understanding what society wants them to be taught. Unfortunately there is little evidence that the Government’s SATs papers actually do this… Continue reading The end of SATs?