Category: Language
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Word of the Month – November: chicken salt
Chicken salt: noun a type of spiced salt used for flavouring, esp. with hot chips. THE STORY BEHIND THE WORD OF THE MONTH Many Australians love to flavour their take-away hot chips with something known as chicken salt. In recent years, this much-loved condiment has begun to go global, with people in the USA and the UK…
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The Spookier Side of the Oxford Australian Children’s Word of the Year
Children have vivid imaginations, and this was nowhere more apparent than in the Oxford Children’s Word of the Year writing competition. Students from primary schools across Australia were invited to submit a piece of writing about a topic of their choice. While there were fairies and unicorns, there was also a darker side to the…
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‘I can’t believe it’s not chicken!’: Mock foods in the Australian Women’s Weekly
By Lauren Samuelsson Then the Queen left off, quite out of breath, and said to Alice, ‘Have you seen the Mock Turtle yet?’ ‘No,’ said Alice. ‘I don’t even know what a Mock Turtle is.’ ‘It’s the thing Mock Turtle Soup is made from,’ said the Queen. — Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, 1869….
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What is going to be the Oxford Australian Children’s Word of the Year?
We have been enjoying reading through the entries for the 2018 Children’s Word of the Year writing competition, which closed this week. Hundreds of entries from primary schools across Australia, representing all year levels, have made their way into the Oxford University Press office. This year, a significant number of home-schooled students have also taken…
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Oxford Word of the Month – October: cultural burn
Cultural burn: noun: a method of vegetation control by burning, used especially by some Aboriginal communities. THE STORY BEHIND THE WORD OF THE MONTH In a news report entitled ‘“Traditional burning”: Reviving Indigenous cultural burns for bushfire management’, Dja Dja Wurrung man and Parks Victoria ranger Trent Nelson said: It’s a practice that our old people used…
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Oxford Word of the Month – September: dog act
Dog act noun an action seen as treacherous, cowardly or unacceptable. THE STORY BEHIND THE WORD OF THE MONTH The term dog act might bring to mind the idea of a performing dog circus act, dog control legislation or, if you are familiar with Australian English, a now defunct law that prohibited the sale of alcohol…
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Developing a love of reading
A life-long reading journey commences with encouraging word-reading and comprehension skills and cultivating an enjoyment of books so reading becomes a pleasurable activity. A love of reading can set children up for education success and introduce them to people, places and ideas they may not encounter in their everyday life. Research shows that reading for…
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Our favourite books of 2018
To celebrate Book Week 2018, here are our favourite books of 2018 … so far. Let us know yours! Joe Piantoni, Marketing Coordinator, Schools Room to Dream by David Lynch and Christine McKenna. I’m only about halfway through this book at the moment but it’s extremely interesting thus far. A hybrid biography of filmmaker David Lynch, with chapters…