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 […]
Read moreDo your students talk Trump or Turnbull, fidget spinners or footy cards? Oxford University Press want to learn more about the way children communicate, and to help us do this we are launching the Children’s Word of the Year free writing competition. Primary school-aged children are invited to nominate their ‘Word of the Year’ and […]
Read moreHey, want to hear a joke? Novice pirates make terrible singers because they can’t hit the high seas. (Cue collective groan) Sometimes humour can be in-your-face and silly (like the joke above), and other times it can be more subtle. Whether it’s a pun, a child’s knock-knock joke, a funny movie, or situation comedy on […]
Read moreRudyard Kipling famously said that, “Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind”. Words can heal, hurt, excite, sadden – or just help with basic, everyday tasks and communications. So much human interaction is based on words; written, spoken, signed, or even tweeted! It is little wonder then that literacy learning is […]
Read moreBook design is more than just putting text and image together on a page. Many people don’t realise it, but HOW text and images are put together are just as important as the content of the text and image by itself. A reader engages with content that is presented through a combination of fonts, colour palettes, […]
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