Oxford Australia Blog

Sharing our love of education, language, and books

  • As students return to the classroom, Keep calm and cluster!

    by Brian Murray As many students begin to return to their classrooms for the first time in many weeks, there are huge implication for schools and teachers. The fortunate few For some fortunate teachers, the transition experience from home-education to face-to-face teaching will be smooth and fluent; perhaps their students have sailed along merrily with…

  • Word of the Month—March: sausage sizzle

    sausage sizzle – noun: 1. a fund-raising or social event for a club, school, etc. at which barbecued sausages are sold or provided. 2. a barbecued sausage in a slice of bread sold or provided at such an event. The sausage sizzle has long been a feature of community events and fundraising in Australia. The…

  • Word of the Month—February: green nomad

    green nomad noun: a person whose travels within Australia are motivated by a concern for the environment. In the Bournda Environmental Education Centre’s 42nd World Environment Day Dinner, held in Tathra, New South Wales, a suggestion was made to the key speaker: … a re-branding of grey nomads to ‘green nomads’, [thereby] encouraging older travellers…

  • Word of the Month—January: Nutbush

    Nutbush noun: a line dance performed to the song ‘Nutbush City Limits’. At what is promoted as the world’s most remote music festival—the Birdsville Big Red Bash—a peculiar record was broken in July of this year: ‘The Birdsville event broke its own world record for most number of people (2330) doing the Nutbush dance.’ (Brisbane…

  • Creating enthusiastic young writers

    OUP ANZ would like thank Kayti Deham and the students at Tennant Creek Primary School for giving us the opportunity to share their story. For teachers working in challenging classroom environments engaging students might be difficult but not impossible. Tennant Creek Primary School introduced the Read Write Inc. program just over a year ago, and…

  • Word of the Month —December: gold coin donation

    gold coin donation noun: a one- or two-dollar coin given as an entry fee or donation when attending a charitable, community, or not-for-profit event. In the mid-1980s, a short newspaper advertisement appeared on a page promoting various forthcoming events: ‘Performism. Special Experimental Music Event. Plus Film Performance… Gold Coin Donation.’ (Canberra Times, 15 September 1984)…

  • 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…

  • Learning to Teach – How the third edition came about

    Written by Gloria Latham, Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Sydney When we wrote the 3rd edition of Learning to Teach the world had changed dramatically from the world we left in 2011, the date of our last edition. In 2011, all the authors lived in the same city and worked at the same university. Our…

  • Making music to support social and emotional development

    Making music to support social and emotional development

    Making music to support social and emotional development

  • 20,000 children wrote about their experience during lockdown. Here’s what we learned.

    Thank you to Shane Hill (Storyathon) for contributing to this article. Data from Oxford University Press in partnership with Storyathon, the largest story-writing event in Australia, reveals the impact COVID-19 has had on children’s vocabulary in Term 2 with students responding to the theme: ‘A Different World – Living in lockdown’. Words used in students’ stories…

  • 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…

  • Word of the Month – October: dog shot

    noun: a sudden blow; a king-hit. verb: to hit (a person) suddenly and without warning; to king hit (a person). In an apology sent via text message, a rugby league player defended the actions of his group when they became involved in a fight outside a night club: ‘“… we never dog shotted any of…

  • How to teach integrated law and ethics and regulation to health care students

    Written by Catherine Berglund Can your students enjoy learning about ethics? What about law? And regulation? What about all at the same time? Can integrated issues be explained in a way that is meaningful for the health care careers they have chosen? Is there a way to brief your teaching team so they feel confident…

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