@barbarableiman
Education consultant, writer of fiction & children's poetry; passionately committed to English as a subject, to education, and to the idea that learning is founded on dialogue. Poems on Dirigible Balloon & Northern Gravy.
Oooh, so much to look forward to! For teachers wanting to encourage volitional reading, a focus on the Carnegie shortlist is a brilliant way to get students involved in wide reading & sharing their own verdicts on the books.
The Carnegie Shortlist is out & @engmediacentre.bsky.social has, as usual, created the FREE secondary resources! I've read one 'Going to Plan' (fab) & have just started 'Ghostlines' (immediately hooked!) (www.englishandmedia.co.uk/publications...
This is such a great site. Mainly US based but not exclusively so. Send your English students there for lots of reasons shy doing an English degree can be a very wise career move! www.dearenglishmajor.com/blog/3-big-r...
My favourite day of the EMC year - can't wait for it to come around again!
What a heart-warming, inspiring blog by Andrew McCallum, describing a superb lesson by English teacher Maddie Lynes! It reinforces the view that drama activities do not just create engagement & pleasure but are a highly effective way of embedding learning.
www.englishandmedia.co.uk/blog/drama-i...
This👇
Last chance to book for this is first thing tomorrow morning. Last time I did this session it got rave reviews & I’m so looking forward to doing it again. Lots of teachers have already booked for it. Why not join us?
Want to refresh your approach to teaching Poems of the Decade? Here are 5 great emagazine articles you could use and share with your students! Available for subscribers via the online article archive: buff.ly/CLDaDbJ
English degrees - dispelling the myths about employability. www.dearenglishmajor.com/blog/3-big-r...
My dad was a theater professor and his take was that you go college to learn how to learn. That’s what the Humanities do. I got a BA in Medieval Studies and an MA in English (Medieval and Renaissance). I’m a software engineer. (Latin isn’t that different from coding.)
Henrietta Dombey’s wise words are always worth listening to, alongside two other very good letters!
"Reading can enable us to become less isolated, more understanding of others’ concerns, more human. Don’t decry reading for pleasure, just ensure that it doesn’t stop there."
Henrietta Dombey writes: www.theguardian.com/books/2026/m...
😂
This! Absolutely this! Even later on, at KS3, an *over-emphasis* on correctness & ‘secretarial skills’ can detract from compositional & creative elements, experimentation, authenticity & ‘flow’. Important though the secretarial skills are, they’re just the mechanism for expression of ideas.
😂 We used to go Carol singing in our neighbourhood when my children were little. It took me a while to realise that my daughter was singing ‘Little cheeses, sweetly sleep’. I think she had Babybels in mind!
Happy #WorldBookDay to everyone out there, particularly those in costume - here's the daughter of a member of the EMC team channelling her inner Hettie Nettle to marvellous effect!
We welcomed over 20 teachers on Tuesday for AL Othello CPD, with guest lecture by @oldfortunatus.bsky.social. Thanks to all for making it such a vibrant occasion - 'a fast-paced joy of a day!' as one teacher commented.
Summer course programme now open for booking englishandmedia.co.uk/courses/
Here's a poem, for World Book Day, from my collection 'Snap!' which brings together lots of the stories that young children might know. A chance to have a bit of fun and remind themselves of them today!
Changes to the teaching of language in English are vital if the new National Curric is to sort out a decade of imbalance & provide a great language offer again. Hear from @englangblog.bsky.social in one of the @engmediacentre.bsky.social curriculum blogs www.englishandmedia.co.uk/blog/the-fut...
This blog in the @engmediacentre.bsky.social series on curriculum & assessment is vitally important! The relationship between curriculum and assessment is key and if we don't get formative assessment right at KS3, we're sunk!
www.englishandmedia.co.uk/blog/curricu...
As part of @engmediacentre.bsky.social series of curriculum blogs, I've written one on Oracy – what the renewed focus means for English teachers, focusing on 10 key things that seem to me to matter most.
Thinking Ahead: Talk in the New National Curriculum
www.englishandmedia.co.uk/blog/thinkin...
EMC had done a series of blogs, reflecting on aspects of the curriculum, to contribute ideas to the debates on the new National Curriculum.
Here's the introductory blog by @andrewemc.bsky.social
www.englishandmedia.co.uk/blog/emc-thi...
If any primary teachers fancy trying this out with classes on these first lovely days of spring, please let me know how it goes. And do share more widely! @damsoned.bsky.social @theclpe.bsky.social @poetrybyheart.bsky.social
'm delighted to have a new poem up on the wonderful Dirigible Balloon website. Today felt like the perfect day to share it with the world. My grandson gave it a big thumbs up on this glorious, sunny afternoon! Thank you to @northernjim.bsky.social
Facebook reminded me that 11 years ago today I published 'Off the Voortrekker Road', a novel set in South Africa, where I was born. I'm still so proud of it! It got amazing sales & reviews on Amazon. It's still available if you've not read it. www.amazon.co.uk/Off-Voortrek...
Please get vaccinated, if you are not. It is easy, safe, quick and saves lives.
bsky.app/profile/lond...
Such a good piece by the brilliant linguist, Amanda Cole.
Congratulations Josh!
