Category: Children’s literature
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Congratulations to the Oxford Australian Children’s Word of the Year Winners
The school bell has sounded, and it’s time to reveal the winning entries for the Oxford Children’s Word of the Year 2019! We received hundreds of incredible entries this year, and we would like to extend our gratitude and admiration to all students and teachers involved. While ‘Bravery’ was the winning word this year, it…
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Announcing the Oxford Australian Children’s Word of the Year 2019
‘Bravery’: Oxford Australian Children’s Word of the Year 2019. The Oxford Australian Children’s Word of the Year is a result of an Australia-wide writing competition. Students from Grade Prep to Grade 6 were invited to submit a piece of free writing of up to 500 words based on a chosen word. Students were encouraged to…
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Behind the scenes in the creation of a new Aussie literacy icon
Oxford Australia’s new icon for its Reading for Comprehension series has flown out into the world, with the aim of teaching and inspiring children to read. But as cute as the sugar glider looks, its creation was not as straightforward as its designer might have hoped. Senior Concept Designer Miranda Costa said she was kept…
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Comprehension is an essential part of the literacy equation
by Annie Facchinetti, leading educator and author of OZBOX: Learning through Literacy and Oxford Literacy teaching notes. 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,…
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Research reveals shifts in language used by Aussie kids, but the gender divide remains
The new Oxford Wordlist research has revealed Australian children had learnt to love their informal lingo, with words like super, awesome, crazy, stuff and amazing, featuring in the words most regularly used by primary school students. The research, released on June 25, drew on research from more than 3,000 writing samples and detailed the top…
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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…
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What makes a literate nation?
An excerpt from Australian Literature for Young People by Rosemary Ross Johnston The arts – literature in all its forms, theatre and cinema, dance, music, drawing, painting and sculpture – both sustain and create literate nations. They are not an extra-curricular frill, but an integral part of communal and personal lives; they arm for the…
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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…