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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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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…
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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…
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Making music to support social and emotional development
Making music to support social and emotional development
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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)…
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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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Word of the Month – November: goanna
goanna noun: (in Tasmanian use) the blue-tongue lizard Tiliqua nigrolutea. Most of us are familiar with goannas, a group of reptiles of the genus Varanus that includes the largest lizards in Australia—some more than two metres long. The term goanna is an Australian alteration of iguana, a large tropical lizard. Recently we were alerted to…
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Do you say Brisbane, Brissy, Brisso, Brisvegas, Brisbantinople, or Brisganistan?
by Mark GwynnSenior Researcher at the Australian National Dictionary Centre In August, the ANDC launched the first annual appeal for contributions to our archive of Australian English. As well as supplementing our database, these appeals will help us identify possible new entries for the Australian National Dictionary (AND). Each annual appeal will focus on a…
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Dictionaries remain a critical resource in separating fact from fiction
In 2007, the Wall Street Journal proclaimed that the day of the dictionary was over, claiming Google was our new ‘database of meaning’. Over a decade later, it seems that reports of the dictionary’s death were greatly exaggerated. In fact, the need for a reliable, authoritative source of truth and accuracy has never been more…
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Q & A: Maths teacher Christine Utber
Christine Utber reflects on the difference a maths teacher made to her career, dispels the myth of the ‘maths person’, and discusses why she hates when students say “I don’t get it!” Where do you work and what is your role? I am a mathematics teacher at an all girls independent school on the Mornington…
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Celebrating Australian Reading Hour with a short history of forbidden reading
An extract from Reading: A Very Short Introduction by Belinda Jack Censorship, book burnings, and secret reading highlight the relationship between reading and power, and hence the relationship between limiting access to reading and political control. But from the very beginning there have been dissidents who refused to give up the intellectual freedom provided by…
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How I write school readers that help children fall in love with books: Cameron Macintosh
Cameron is the author of Reading for Comprehension texts: Look at Us, Oscar and Milly, A Day with Reb and Bub, A Toy for Reb and Bub, Oscar’s New Bed, In the Rainforest, Slow-bot and No-bot, Playtime for Lucy, A Job for Jump-bot, Birthday Messages, Kakadu, Basketball is the Best!, Ready, Set, Click!, Our Robot…
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