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Teaching English Magazines

Autumn 2011 Autumn Magazine.pdf Full Colour

Autumn 2011 Autumn Magazine Text Version

Autumn 2010 Autumn Magazine.pdf Full Colour

Autumn 2010 Autumn Magazine Text Version

Spring 2010 Spring Magazine.pdf Full Colour

Spring 2010 Spring Magazine Text Version

To coincide with the special edition of the magazine on First Year English, eleven teachers of English speak about their involvement in our First Year project. Meeting Billy Roche

Larry Cotter describes introducing his first year class of boys to Shakespeare’s ‘Shall I Compare Thee?’ After their exploration of the poem, the students viewed and discussed Shakespeare in Love. The final activity in this unit of work was a visit from the playwright, actor, director and musician, Billy Roche. The audio file concludes with a number of students describing ‘Meeting Billy Roche’. Larry Cotter 'Meeting Billy Roche'.mp3Success and Enjoyment Martin O’ Neill gives an overview of his work with his first year English class. He describes the effect of reading Private Peaceful aloud in class. Another success was the film, Bridge to Terabithia. The students compiled their own anthology of poems. Martin expresses a number of wishes for first year students. Martin O'Neill 'Sucess and Enjoyment'.mp3 A Letter to Your Future SelfMaria Foley stresses the benefits of collaborating with a colleague. She mentions the emphasis placed on the personal reading of the students and then describes two units of work undertaken with her first year class of girls. One was a language and autobiographical unit, built around Roald Dahl’s Boy, which finished with the girls writing a letter to their future selves. The letters will be presented to the class at their graduation. The other unit was an introduction to Shakespeare. Maria expresses amazement at the amount of work the students undertook. Maria Foley 'A Letter to Your Future Self'.mp3 The Importance of Being First YearsNiamh Murphy reflects on the importance of the year for students. She recalls the students’ enjoyment of simply listening to the novel Private Peaceful being read aloud. The reading of the novel lead to interesting group projects which demonstrated the students’ understanding and knowledge of the text. Niamh Murphy 'The Importance of Being First Years'.mp3 Directing Yourself.Catherine Leddin extols the virtue of individual reading and self-directed drama and describes how the students organised themselves to dramatise excerpts from a number of plays. Catherine Leddin 'Directing Yourself'.mp3 Departing from the TextbookKevin Mc Caron discusses departing from the textbook and creating units of work. He describes using film in a planned way and the issue of covering the school’s first year programme for English. He recommends the film Bridge to Terabithia, Private Peaceful and the DVD of Janey Mary. Kevin Mc Carron 'Departing from the Textbook'.mp3Freshening Things UpNiamh Martin reflects on the success of the Reading Factor and Bridge to Terabithia. She refers to the usefulness of student profiling and notes how the project helped her to take a fresh look at First Year English. Niamh Martin 'Freshening Things Up'.mp3Reading GroupsCatherine O’Sullivan gives a clear account of Group Reading with her first year class. She describes how she set up the groups; the various stages in the project; and the success of the venture both from her point-of-view and that of the students. Catherine concludes by mentioning the novels that worked well.Catherine O' Sullivan 'Reading Groups'.mp3Astounding StudentsUna Smith reports that using short films worked really well, particularly Vanessa Gildea’s The White Dress. Students were astounded that so much work was accomplished using freeze frame or working in groups to make large posters of individual poems. The novel Private Peaceful was new to Una and generated a whole variety of work, with the students contributing their suggestions. Una Smith 'Astounding Students'.mp3 Getting Everything DoneCatherine O’ Sullivan and Una Smith speak on the benefits of profiling students and the balance between having fun and covering all the topics and skills for first year. Catherine O Sullivan and Una Smith 'Getting Everything Done'.mp3Mary Ate the CakeFrances Cotter describes a unit on developing presentation skills for debating with her first year class of girls. Frances Cotter 'Mary Ate the Cake'.mp3Reading, Reading, Reading Joan Colbert relates the emphasis placed on reading novels during first year. She describes how the novels were used to cover all the writing tasks for the year. She mentions the popularity of Malorie Blackman’s Noughts and Crosses. Joan Colbert 'Reading, Reading, Reading'.mp3The Reading FactorJoan Colbert outlines the Reading Factor, a scheme of group reading that incorporated public speaking and peer assessment. Joan goes on to describe her own use of criteria for success in her teaching of the class and the way in which this fostered independent learning and reduced corrections. Joan Colbert 'The Reading Factor'.mp3