Category: Literacy
-
What are Australian children talking about in 2018?
Are primary school aged children interested in technology or treehouses? Are they concerned about the contents of their lunch box or the nightly news report? Oxford University Press is on the hunt to discover what interests Australian primary school students with the launch of the 2018 Children’s Word of the Year. Primary school students from…
-
There are many reasons to love libraries
Modern libraries can take the form of a local book exchange to a huge community centre, complete with roof gardens and cafes. The reasons why Australians love them are just as diverse. From the smell of books to the friendly librarian, there are plenty of reasons to visit, and to love, our libraries. To mark…
-
Dictionary activities for the classroom
Dictionary games can be a fun and interactive way of improving students’ literacy and fostering creativity. We asked Australian teachers how they use dictionaries to support learning in their classrooms, and here are their top ideas: Use dictionaries as a creative writing tool. Get students to pick three words they don’t know and make up…
-
Q&A: Indigenous literacy trainer Emily Davies
Working in Indigenous literacy can be ‘pure magic’ according to NT Government Literacy and Numeracy Projects Training Officer Emily Davies. To celebrate Indigenous Literacy Day, we spoke to Emily about her role visiting schools in the Katherine region, the challenges she faces and the joy of helping Indigenous students to read. Where do you work?…
-
More than Mercutio – English teaching for the future
By Michael Horne Discussion of what teachers and educational leaders really want students to get out of their schooling has recently shifted to the types of skills that they will need in the 21st century. In the face of a paradigm that still emphasises knowledge retention and memorisation, and when viewed in combination with the…
-
Comprehension is an essential part of the literacy equation
By Annie Facchinetti Imagine that you were lost in Turkey and the only directions you had were written in Turkish. You could probably read them out loud with reasonable accuracy, even though your phonological awareness of the language may not be perfect, but unless you can speak Turkish, your understanding would be limited. Reading the…
-
Catering for mixed abilities in the English classroom
The term ‘mixed ability class’ is one that teachers often react to with an inward groan, but it’s a reality in most Australian classrooms. When I consider my Year 8 English class, there is a gap of around three years between the highest and lowest performing students, and I’m sure that this isn’t too unusual…