DOCUMENT RESUME_ ED 131 436 CS 003 037

TITLE Reading in the Secondary School. INSTITUTION Centre for inforthation on the Teaching of English, Edinburgh (Scotland). PUB-DATE\ 76 NOTE 70p. AVAILABLE FRcmCentre for Information on the Teaching of English,. Moray House College of Education, Holyrood Road, 'Edinburgh, Scotland EBB 8AQ ($2.00) JOURNAL CIT 'Teaching English; v10 n1 Entire Issue Au u 1976 EDPS PRICE ME-$0.83 HC-$3.50 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Book Reviews; *Language Arts; Periodicals; *Reading; *Reading Instruction; Secondary Education ABSTRACT The topic of discussion of this issue of the journal "Teaching English" is reading instruction in the secondary school. Articles include "Reading in the Primary School" (Alastair Hendry) , "Patterns of Progress" (Fergus McBride), "Teaching Reading--Whose Business?" (James Maxwell), "A Reading Policy for the Secondary School" (lain McGillivray), "Encouraging Effective Reading" (Colin Harrison) , "The Underachieving Child in the English Class" (Hovel Jones), "The Open University Reading Development Courses" (John Hay Scott) ,"A First Year Class Library" (George Arthur), and "James Inglis--Teacher" (Sydney B. Smyth). Also contained are poems by John Blackburn and Philip Drew, as well as reviews of books concerning the following: learning through talk, Scottish writing, poetry anthologies, stories on tape, drama and discussion, language and creative writing, reluctant r aders, the primary levels, serious play, and language. (KS)

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The Journal of Teachers of English in Scotland

A C.LTE. Publication . Autu n .1976 S N 0305 7755

Rinowi 7Doc, r.i.oues MAK LI FS WHO., SR( MAINKS

READING IN THE SECONbARY SCHOOL 444

2

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CITE publishes Teaching English thrice yearly in October, January and May. The Editor welcomes suggestions for features and comment on the magazine's content. Hc invites articles, reviews, original poetry for passible publication. Copy for the next issue should be submitted,by 1st December 1976. SYDNEY B. Smrrn, 51.1. &rector TEACHING EN.GLIPH Reading Vol. 10- No. 1 lnthisissue we are concerned with the teaching of reading in the Secondary School. ALASTAIR HENDRY It is perhaps only recently that it has become Reading in the Primary School 5 possible to think of reading teaching as being Frrtrais MCBRIDE respon'sibility of the secondary school. Too Patterns qf progress 10 often reading has been -thought of as an uncomplicatedskill -likewalking,acquired JAMES MAXWELL when young then left to look after itself." I Teaching ReadingWhose Business? 17 Even now, nearly two years after Bullock, IAIN MCGILLivRAI- -reading teaching-is sometimes considered A Reading Policy for the Secondary as being only for those who are retarded in School 14 some way, and cztn be safely passed over to COLIN HARRISON the remedial department. - Encouraging Effective Reading 19 Neither attitude does justice to the problem. Flown. JONEs (And a problemitis,not a crisis as some The Underachieving Childinthe would have us believe). English Class FergusMcBride'sarticle setsoutone aspect ofit.Fle shows t/hatthe,average- JOHN HAY Scorr secondary pupilis improving inreading at The Open University Readi g only half the rate of the averageprimary Development Course 28 pupil, and that the poorer the pupd is,the GEORGE ARTHug poorer is his gain in secondary school. This A First Year Class Library 30 -fanning" effect was noted also by Bullock, and, considering the information available on -James InglisTeacher 35 thesocialbackground of slowerlearners, confirmsBullock's observationthat thcre NOTES AND NEW'S 39 may- now he a growing proportion of poor POEMS readers among -the children of unskilled and John Blackburn semi-skilled workers_- The social consequeitees Philip Drew , of such a trend hardly need to be spelt out. REviEw James Maxwell's article sets out a sLcond Learning through Talk 43 aspect. There may be important areas of read- ingbeingneglectedinsecondaryschools Scottish Writing 45 because no-one fzels himself responsible for Poetry Anthologies 48 them. Tho English teacher teaches the kind Stories on Tape 49 of reading that suits his own, purposebut

Drama and Discussion . other teachers rarely teach the reading skills Language and Creative Writing annropriate to their own subjects. Itisnot, after all,their business, or so they believe. Reluctant Readers 61 Michael-Marland . speak ing to Ayrshire Primary . 63 teachers at a recent conference (reported in Criticism for C.S.Y.S. 65 Notes and News) gave someilluminating Serious Play 67 examples of the tendency of some Mathematics The SPace Between Words 68 teachers deliberatelyto avoid teaching the

_ reading skill needed to deal with mathcmatical Illustrarians by Callurn CaMpbell, EnRlish roblems. The research associated with the Department,CraigroystonSecondary, Edinburph, Schools Council Proiect on Effective Reading2 shows that thereislessreading associated Price in U.K.: 40p per issue. £1.20 per volume (incl. postage). Overseas:. $2.00 per issue, $6.00 per year, with subjects other than English than one or equivalent in sterling. Langiume for Life, 2,30. Cheques and Money Orders should be made out to Moray House College of Education. 2 The full report is not yet published, mightexpect,- Boththeteaching andthe English teaching might fit in to such a policy. experience of important kinds of reading-may We needtobecome more resourcefulin be lacking. our techniques ofteaching. -reading:Colin A third aspect of the problem is referred to Hafrison's article= makes suggestions for work- hy several of our authors: the demands made ing with pupils that will enahlethem to "inter- on reading ability by the complex nature of rogate the text" in ways hardly even experi- our social organisation have increased and mented with herein .Scolland. We need to continue to increase. The "post print"'era continue to educate ourselves in every aspect heraldedbyMarshallMcLuhan and his,. of reading teaching, and John Scott reports.on disciples obstinately refuses toarrive, That thevalueofhisexperienceasartOpen -.bitoftheglobal_village,indeed,recedes Uhiversity -"Reading Deyelopment" student. further and further into the future.Itis nbt We need to expand our knowledge of the just that "Opinion" in The Sun or "Record growingnumberofbooksavailablefor View" in the Daily Record will be difficult for younger readers and George Arthurprovides a ROSLA class to follow (The Sun nlay set: (he a basic class library list for a 'mixedability SI. h,vord may break):itis that large numbers And of course, we need to be aware of of .people cannot readthe documents they theneeds 6f slowerlearnerS.Thisisthe need to get their very social rights. Donald subject of the article by HoWel Jones.Not Moyle, speaking to the NationalIn-service only does he,set out the Problem in a dramatic Course on English for Slower Learners in June, fashion, but he provides a'clear procedure for instanced "one of our simplest government identifying those ,children in need of special forms on how to claim for .family allow- help. ance.The'littlepamphlet onthishas a We go to preF.s just as the Prime Minister . reading kvel of around fourteen, which jumps, is doing the education service the compliment however, in the section that tells you how to of devoting to itti major speech'. We.all Wye fillin .the form, to seventeen." Moyle also much tolearn fromit, anditdirects our pointed out that the "normal householder in attentiontothecontinuing importance of Britain fills in up-to seventeen times:asmany "basic literacy,"Itis necessary: however ,. to forms-per year that he did in 1939," Similarlv remember that Mr Callaghan speaks from' the Bullock quotes:American experience tosuggest context of England. and- 'some'l of whathe that the lowest grade of difficulty at which :says does not bear on the Scottishsituation, complexsubject mattercan he written .He gives Voice, for instance, to public concern approximates to a reading age of about 15," about "progressive" or "informal" teaching These arethoroughly practicalconsider- methods inprimary schools.Whatever the ations, Quite obviously immediate and pressing. relevance of--that concern to England, itIlaS Ultimatelymuchmoreimportanttothe to be said that in Scotland reading hasbeen uuality of the life of our society and of the taught "formally," carefully and \successfully indvidual initis tbe degree to which-all can by our primary teachers. All the ,hard,*cloSely enter into the discussion of how 'we should researched evidence available makes itclear directourlives as-socialbeings andas that "illiteracy" is not a problemJn Scottish individuals. Social, political, ethical decisionS primary schools. are (not. just "ought .10 be" but are) every- Mr Hendry's article, which r,1-, current body's business. What is the minimum "read- practice, should assure us th itiithere are _ing age",needed for that? thingsto Complain ofinthe work of our Theproblem,brieflystated, is notto primary schools, the teaching of reading is not "maintain standards." The problemishov, one of them. to raise standards. Secondary teachers are given _a good base To do this we need to think of whole school to work from by their primary colleagues.We policies and- lain McGillivraVs article points hope that _the suggestions inthisis?4,e. may out -ways in which we might go, and how help to maintain the good work of our ..chools. -Readkng in the Primary Schoo

teacher of younger -children introdueLs the ALASTAIR HENDRY names of _objects, places, people alreadyknown to the child and uses the ehilWs-Own language Craigie Conew of Educalion as he recounts and records (or \has_recorded for him) his varied experiences.:chis vocabu- In view of the variety of reading practices lary growthisfurtherstimulate& bythe exhibited in recent national surveys (SCOLA, language experience provided by the teacher 1975,Riddell and Gotland,197.5,Maxwell, herself,through the telling or reading of qories 1976), the task of providingfor secondary and the using of the early reading materials. - a_ reasonably The more recently published reading schemes teachersinashortarticle, Up._ Break- coherent picture of whatisbeing done in (e,g.Sparks,Dominoes,Link isa somewhat through etc.) all try to ensure that the incidents readinginprimary schoOls vocabulary .usedare formidable one. Nevertheless it.-may be of describedandthe interest to see the range of activities which familiar to the child. in recent years has been desceibed in a number of primary schoojs where the teachers and head teachers, working withtheir Primary Advisers and Craigie Reading Centre tutors, have examined their current practices and have begun to =develop for their, schools _an appropriate policy for the tcachinQ 01 reading from .P1-7. Basic Aims In establishing basic aims for their reading programmes, theteachers generally agreed that they wanted their pupils (a) to learn to read fluently and with understanding, (b) to use` 'reading effectively as a tool for further learning, and (0) to regard reading as a source of pleasure. These three aims were reflected in the reading programmes by areas of work . which an increasing number of writers (e.g_ Bullock, 1975, Potts 1976) follow Harris (1961) anddescribeas developmentalreading. functional reading and recreational reading. Every teacher is concerned with all three of tg'ese,aaas although the stages reached by her vriaiio,i in emphaNis children make variation-in emphasis inevitable and essential. Secondly infants teachers in order to help their pupils 'identify unfamiliar words, devote Developmental Reading considerableamountsoftimetophonic This includes all the activities-which con- analysis,from thesimplest letter-sound tribute to the teaching of what is often ,:alled relationshipstothemoredifficultletter the -mechanics" of reading or word recogni- groupings. The approach to phonics is usually tion and thus to the development of fluency rendered systematic where the teachers follow and comprehension. the suggestions of the authors of the reading In the first place, these activities build up a schemes or have developed their own phonics number of words ("look and say words or programme fortheir schools.Later inthe "sight vocabular) -) which the child can recog- primary school this work branches out into nise immediately he encounters them. Here the spelling activities and word study. A small but growing number of teachers at in note-taking and reference skills, all leading._ all stages of the primary- school,- as a result to good studyIiithits."((-affilOgue 1-975--6).- mainlyoftheOpenUniversityReading- There is- a great deal of evidence (Hendr) , -Development Courses are beginning to con- 1973) to suggest ffiat the reading laboratories centrate more on activities to develop their can provide valuable assistance in the develop- pupils'use of contextcues. In this they are ment of the specific skills, provided that they capitalising on the children's existing language are used with the appropriate teLtcher :nVolve- background as well as utilising more fully ment and not mainly as a means of "keeping relevanttextstodevelop"theabilityto them quiet," while the teacher does something

anticipate or predict that certain letters, word. else. 1 he limiultionS or these -materials must classes, word forms, meanings or actual words ... also be recognised. The' constant diet of short are more or .less Aikdy in a given passages corresponds little to rcarlife reading. (Merritt, 1975). -rhe questions set bear slight relation to reading Oral .readingnot only shows thechild's_ purposes a child may encounter in topic work, ability to apply word recognition skills and to a centre or interest or indeed 'in his everyday .read fromleft 10 right,but as he begins to life, To ensure the aretiter. effectiveness or the observepunctuation,phrasing,changeof structured 'kits,theteachermustprovide intonation, etc., to show also an understanding opporrunitiesforthevariousskillsto- be of the meaning of what he is reading. Reading transferredto and practisedinthewider round the class is still practised in some. Upper conteXts, not only of centres of interest but of Primary Classes but more- often oral reading all the subject tlreas-of the curriculum No one is eserved for the children's reports, poetry, eniphasisedthe need forthis"skill-using" plays etc. Reading aloud can also play an more than Don Parker (1963) the originator important part in the diagnosis of certain kinds of the '5.R.A Reading Laboratories: ! Of difficulties. In recent years,increasinguse has been The activities outlined so far assist in the made of the model devised by Barrett (Cl)mer, development of fluency but all Of us at some 1968) who proposed livetypes or levels _Of time or other have read a chapter or passage comprehension: through and then wondered what it was all (a) litera/:in which the reader is asked to ' bout. "Reading is noi reading without access recognise or recall details explicitly stated in meaning" (Lefevre). Reading, inits fullest the passage or story. A quick cheek of the sose. implies comprehension. questions askedinmost classreaders and -Hie most common form of.. teaching cOm- course books will show that 100% of them in prelzsioninScottishschools is forthe some cases are at a literal level, Over some teacher, eitherto make up questions on a series of books used from P4 to P7, the passages passage'os story:read by her pupils-,or to use become more difficult but the type of com- the passages_ and questions provided by some prehension demanded remains the same. of the wellknown series of class readers or En-Flish couese books. "Usually these exercises ,b) re-organisational:in which the reader require no mOre than a re-statement of facts restates in his own words, summarises, makes notes or even expressesin given in the text; seldom do they requireany the form or a interpretation oNvaluation of the ideas that diagram the content of a passage or story, are expressed in the text or any emotive or (e) inferential:here the reader uses ideas thoughtful reaction 'on the part Or_the reader and in formition from the passage, relates them to these ideas. They -are as dull as thev are to his oWn personal experience inorder to -ineffectual"(Roberts 1969). Thereading build a hypothesis. H. may predict outcomes lirboratories (Science ReSektrch Assockt6.-2s) and or infer motives. He may infer a person's workshops (Ward Lock Educational) -offera character from clues in the situation presented different tind structured approach andare _used or words spoken:e.g. What does the water-. extensively. For their produ-et S.R,A. claim, barrel episode tell us about Eustace Clarence :"The series aims to develop:reading com- Scrubb? (Lewis, 1965). prehension. to _teach the meanings of words in (d) evaluative:involves critical awareness. context,toincrease reading ,._speedwith Ideas in a passage are compared with external- comprehension,toimprovelisteningcom- criteria or with . criteria provided from the prehension, and to give practice and instruction reader's experience and values. Here he judges r hel \keen fact and letion e-Lt. comparing the _nary skills, essential to the location 01 account:: of Custer's death in Caster's Gold !tens presented in alphabetical order, spring (Lihutt.,1117:)),Caster's Last .Vana (Henry, not Trom the introduction of "1' our -.dictionary' 1960) -and Bury .tly Heart at Wounded Knee in 1-'4 but from the early work in sound-symbol (Brown, 1972) or considering the life of the relimonships in PI. the initial work in-signt cowboy in Hop: of the Namko Drive (St Pierre, vocabulary and ,phomes with aszissociated 1970), Da! Longhorn Trail (Wyatt, 1974) and picture dictionaries leading to the grouping of The Log of a Cweboy (Adams, 1969). Here iternS in alphabetical order, lays the foundation the reader judges reality or fantasy, tries for all Later dictionary use', Sequence of skills to detect propaganda and searches for author development here is important and most easily huts etc. learnt and consolidated,ifunbroken. Sonic appreciative:in which the reader cacIs dictioniiryseries-makeprovisionforthis tothepassage,expressesIlkfeelingse.g. sequential approach e.g. Chambers' Young ,set boredom, interest,: indicates sympathy for a maries (Brown etai,1)71-73). 1n topic ehuracter.etc. ThedelightfulCharlotte work, encyclopediaS are used extensively in (White. 1963) often_produces strong reactions upper primary classes.Occasionally the P5 in children_ when. like Wilbur, they meet her teacher in a school assumes that the P4 teacher tor the first time! hastaughtherpupilshowto Use an encyclopedia and the P4 teacher makes the This Barrett model provides a useful basis same assumption about her P3 colleague. But for the prodnction of questions by the teacher and increases her awareness of the kinds of very .oftert the P3 teacher has not det:It with being this at all, judgingit too difficult for her class thinking required in aparticular atthat stage.Itis situations likethis that situation.itisalsoeleitrthat.' as teachers devise questions and purposes on this basis, highliaht the-value of a coherent school policy they realiseall the more the kinds of con- on ... reading andfrequentopportunitiesfor: communication among a staff. _ tribution the readerbackeroundorlangline. ,VItere schools have librariesand/or. general knowledee etc. make to .his under- urce 'centreswithcataloguesor index standing and how essentialitistoselect systems, upper primary pupils can be taught appropriate readine material. how to use .them and encouraged to discover the vast poteatial they contain. Functional Reading Inalloftheseactivitiesacrossthe Lezirning to read is not an end in itself and curriculum- they are inVolved in the pnictical thechild,ashe ,developsinfluency and application of comprehension at the varions comprehension begins to use his new skills as levels,AttimeS,specialsubjectmatter_ a tool for learning.. To assist him in his search demands guidance on specific skills e.g. read- for information his Primarv. teaeherS proyide ing ,agraph,map,chartoratelephone ttppropriatematerials andopportunitiesto directory or railway timetable, locate information on toPics of interest and -Skimming and scanning as yet receive little for specific purposes. At the start the teacher attention in R(imary schools, except perhaps will guide the child..by means of simple work where.relevant structured material is available. cards which tell him what to look for:' and Manyteachershave .foundtheStudent wh;:re to findit.Lateras his skills deVelop" Research Guide to Researchlab. (S.R.A. 1974) tind as he needs them, he is taught to use an helpful in beginning to plan'Work in functional index and table of contents to simplify his reading,. search, Once th,., information has been found, the In recent Years the volume of information pupil may have to oraanise what he has read books published has, been very considerable. in some way. He may have to summarise the Fortunately the quality of production of many essential pointsor take notes. These of these has been of a very high standard and tech n iquesagainrequireinstruetronand teachers have been able to select ..books and opportunities for development. Where\this does -aerials according to-criteria relevant to their not occur, the pUpil copies the text word-- fOr :. ,children and 'the materialsinten-ded use.The word, exercising little discrimination. It must 'current economic constraints however have also be remembered that in some information cut across this essential selection process, books thefacts are presented .so succinctly and with an economy of words that the task of hes on the teacher to select books involving summarising may be tot ills unrettlistic, situations and experiences not only pleasurable butat times even disturbing to whichthe children will respond and which muy provide Recreational Reading opportunities for meaningful discussion and The tdlinand reading of,stories by teachers eiflier recreational or functional in character . have in the past, been concentrated mainly m r.Na enjoyable story- similarly can be use& for Infants classes. In Middle and Upper Primary: ,t'he development of particular reading skills. such activities were luxuries to he enjoyed.on _In- primary school, the teaching of reading Friday afternoons 'after the week's 'work was would appear to be most successful where over. Although there are still a number of exchange of opinions: Brison er al. (1972) have teachers and head teachers who regard reading made a valuable contribution- insuggesting fiction us a frill and the time devoted to it in ways in ,which sonic ofthis work may be a school as wasted, the general trend is now carriedout,while Cass(1967), Townsend towards its recognition as an integal part ot (1976), and others have indicated the wealth: any reading programme. As interest in retiding of resources available. Only economic, reasons has 'grown over thelastten years or so, can now be adduced for the existence of an publishers have responded With a "burgeoning impoverished use of fictioninthe,primitry richness" of literature for children in paper- school. back and hard covers. More than at any time before, can the enthusiastic teaelier encourage Conclusion her -children tp share in her own love of hooks I would stress that the three headings above and .so come to see 'the pleasure that can be have only been used as an expedient to group derived from them. Her class library must a variety of activities. The areas so presented comMn a variety of books, representing are in no way isolatedin a -developmental- considerable range not only of reading levels activity children may read material which is but also of quality,current favottrites and,other there is a coherent policy which ensures that books she herself will wish to Promote. every teacher knows how readingisbeing developed throughout the school and what kinds of contribution she is expected to make to the process. This also enables material to be

11111lir selected for thc children at each stagein acei)rdance with the relevant criteria. Where such a policy is being established or maintained, support for the schools is essentiak This support cornes from a variety of sources; suchaslocalauthorityworkinggroups, teachers'centresandPrimaryAdvisers. Extensive use is made of the growing number of College Reading Centres. In Craigie, for example, four thousand teachers per year take select itiftadorn advantate of the facilities provided. ar r disturbing Finally, the extent to which each child will have progressed withinall or any of these Fiction alue not only .as a source of aspects of reading will have depended on many pleasure but also because it may extend the factors. Itis clear that the levels reached by child'sexperiencefindknowledge oflife. the end of P7 will vary from child to child. "Stories are noLsOThething a child grows-out Tbe process however does pot end with P7. of (although he grows out of childish stories) Consolidation and extension must continue in but something "he grows up through. They secondary schoolsand for this to he achieved reveal human life to him in ways he can feel adequate communication betweenthetwo andunderstand,andaccordingtotheir sectors of the system is vital. In SI there is no quality, .develop his power of understanding such thing as a "fresh start"in language human life" (Peel, 1967)., Here again the onus development REFERENCES , New Merritt. John (1975).Reading: seven to eleven,In Adams, Andy (1969), The Log of a Cots, Education: 3-13. Vol. 3, No, L p. 29.Glasgow, York, Airmont Publishing Co., Collins. Brison. lam Cook. M alen1une D1972), "Using Fiction in the Primarx School," Teaching English, Parker Don H.(1963). Schooling forIndividual Volumes 5 and 6. EAvellence, New York, Nelson. Brown. A._1-4 Downrng_ J.! and Secats, J. (1971-1973). Peel. Marie (1967),Seeing to the Heart.Lopdon, mietng Dictionaries,S Edinburgh,Chambers. - , Chaim & Windt's, p. 56, Brown, Dee: (1972).Bury ATV Heart at Wounded Potts. John (1976), fleyond lijiruil R,.ading. London. Knee, London, Pan Books. G. Allen & Unwin Ltd, Bullock Report (1975). A Languagg for Lifr. IlMSO. Roberts. GeoffreyR.(1969).Reading in Prinwo Cass, JoanE.(1967)Literature ,and Mg Young Schools.I ondon, Routtedge & Kegan Paul. p. 55. Child. London, Longman. Clymer, Theodore (196S). "What is Reading? : Some Riddell, G. W. atttl Ciulland, D. L. 1 19751. Tearhine, Current Concepts," in A. Mcinik and JMerritt Acave or Passive,Edinburgh. Holmes McDougall, cd).Reading:7',,dayandTiiinorrowLondon, St Pierre. Paul (1970).Boss tif,_ihi! Nacnka Drive, University or Lo!!don Press, Harmondsworth, Penguin Puffin Books., Harm Albert(19o1),now toIncrease Reading Seola Survey (1975)..4 survey of the leilt hing of New York. David McKay Co., 4th Edn., Langumte Arts inthetipper Stage% of Srtitti.ili pp. 12-14. Primary Sehoo IN,Ayr, Craigie rolle;'e ulArbdtiCa- Hendry. T. A. (1973), "A Study of the Effectiveness of SRA Reading Laboratory 1Va with .Collegcof Tosynsend. John F.. (197( ),Written for Children. 2nd EducationStudents."(Unnubl. Ed,Thesis. cdn,Ilarmondsworth, Penguin Pelican Books. , UniversityorGlasgow). Ulyatt. Kenneth (1974). The LonithornTrad. Henry, Will (1966). Custer's' lait NeW York, liarmdndsworth. Penguin Puffin Books. Groiset & Dunlap. ulyatt. Kenneth (1975),Cuswr's C7tild,Harmonds- l="k C. S. (1965). The Vo)awe of the Dawn Treader. Harmondsworth. Penguin Puffin Books, worth, Penguin Pullin Books. Maxwell. JaMes (1976). The Teaching of Reading in White. E. B. (19(3). Charfolw.s Ii Harmoods Scottish Schools (in-Pfltss). Penguin Puffin Books,

The newspapers would want us to panic about our supposed lack of high standards in literacy.... BUt. Britain's far bigter problem is that it's costing every workine adult six pounds per week intaxesto pay the interest on money we've borrowed from abroad. About 50%) of that money was borrowed from Saudi Arabiawhere the population is 92070 illiterate. DONALD Movi.E, addressing ifr'rene on English far the Slower Learner, June 1976. Patterns of Progress in Sbottisk Secondary Se ools son1e behaviour. Here, too, might lie the cause FERGUS McBRIDE for teachers avoiding the use or_ texts,for Aforoy House Collesve uf r'ilotedon "spoon- feeding," for using -assignment sheets Hi whicIr the linguistic content is So low as to

- approaCh invisibility, with a consequent failure Perhaps the most obvious difference between 'totrain childreninthe use of the written primary and secondary schoolsisintheir language'appropriate to the subjectin traditional organisational patterns.Tht; class question. arrangements- generallyfound inprimary schools imply an integrated curriculum where A Survey of Competence in Reading In the timetable is flexible and indistinct, whereas Scottish Seepndary Schools inthe secondary school, subjects must be taught by a %-ariety of teachers.. As the pupil Recently at Moray House College, ,a survey passes from the primary to the secondary stage. was carried out of the relating :competence of unity of curriculum in a situation supervised 1827 pupils aged 13 years 0 months to 15 years by a single teacher is replaced by diversity of 6 months in 87 secondary schools of various, studies carried out under a range of specialists. types th roughout Scoiland, Thisshiftshouldbeaccompanied by an The sample chosen was particularly repre- increasing amount Cif study undertaken inde- sentative of . all_ secondary pupils in that all pendently:-, since independent study must be schools in Scotland Were classified according one of the important aims-of secondary educa- to the seven school types used in!' the Staffing tion.Given that,it would be reasonable to SurveyofSecnndarySchools predict that a pupil's progress in the various 1970). A systematic sample was taken of subjectswill 'dependincreasingly upon his -approximately one school in five and a random ability to use the -printed .texts which are a sample of pupils within the age limits was necessary supplement toif not an integrated made within each of these schools. part of. -his courses. Assignments, designed to The test used was. the Edinburgh Reading provide- the pupil with an opportunity to con- Test. Stage 3, which was recently ,s_tandardised solidate. and expand kleas introduced by the on 3000 Scottish primary pupils aged rb years teacher. generally call for an ability to corn-. 0 months to 12 years 6 months. By- using-this prehend written texts, test with the secondary pupils it was possible How well do secondary school pupilsAise to make_ a direct comparison of the pupils' the printed medium so important for Their scores with those .of the primary school pupds. progress? Predictahly the test was too easy for a Small We have come to recognise that there are proportion of the best pupils in the secondary large numbers of ritipils who are so severely\ schoolsample,butthis"ceiling" --didnot handicapped through lack of competence in influence the statistics upon wIfich the findings reading That speeial departments have been of the survey are based. A "ceiling" depresses setup to remedy the situationasfar as the scOres of those individual pupilS who "go possible. Clearly the existence of these extreme of the-scale," and consequently any stitlistic ca;es would givevery strong groundsfor based upon.- data which includes such scores assuming 'thzitthere arelarge numbers of would be invalidated. -But the scbres of pupils pupils just above this level of reading ability well below the "ceiling" are-Unaffected and who have discomfortingordisablingdiffi- consequently thc; percentiles (i.e. scores below culties in using arn.I enjoying printed language. which ak-o percentages of _scores lie) which The situationis as yet uncharted though we were used;in this- study, arc not influenced by have many "travellers' tales" from teachers the 'ceiling:" concerning pupils' inability -to use text-hooks. The/Edinburgh Reading Test,Stage Here:might lie the reason for many pupils' loss which'lasts approximatelyonehour, is of interqst, unfavourable attitude or trouble- -made up of five Sections which sample a variety 10 of reading tasks similar to,- or related to, the 'that many ui these unfortunate people are in types of reading which the pupil is calkd upon no way unteachable,There- areprobably to carry out in school. The overall score which molly more school leavers who find difficulty is the most reliable measure (reliability of ERT inreztding functionally and certainly. never is 0-97.Correlation with INTER Test DE is read with pleasure, let alone for pleasure. 0-90) was taken as the indicawr of the pupils' A prediction from this survey-is that 9 per level of reading ability. cent of pupils in, secondary schools will leave, The scores of the1827 secondary pupils litage16. abletoread kss %Val than the were compared with those of the 2865 pupils average ten-yeallold.In the absence of Any in- primary schools who were usedinthe previous surveys in Scotland, we cannot say standardisation of the test. whether this would be an impTovement or a The most ;ariking conmist wzis the general dett:rior.;ttiofitn the situation but it'Sti.. accept, decline in the rate or progress as measured by the results of a study cited hy _the Bullock the increase in score on the test over a two and Committee (A Language for Life H.M.S,O.; half yeztr period in ezich case. The gain _of 1975-, para 22) i reading age of13 ,.years the average pupil ("zo.crage pupilishere 0 months is "a reasonable level of compre- taken as the pupil at the 50th percentile) in hension for- coping with the simplest daily primary schools was 1-47 points per montll newspaper. whilst' that of the average secondary school A more immediate question is the extent to pupil was 0.76 points per month ---apprOxi- which pupils' lack of competence in reading matelyWall'ofthe. rateorthe -average-n handicaps the .pupil in coping with the texts prinlary schoolpupil.This slowerrateof reatedtohis- schoolcourses.This survey increase in scolc obtained throughout all the gives data regarding the levels of competence lower id-lintyranges.This shickening offin of the pupils and the very marked differences rate of progress of the poorer reader; gives between pupils'abilities, but we have' little cause for concern for itis with them that the information as to how _the pupils cope with tile need for improvement is Most urgent. It seems toits with which they are presented, in 'school. Jcdsonable to suspect that these o'Ider and more One thing is certain--=the great differences in mature pupils faced with the moee demanding reztding ability found in thiS' survey will mean _readingtasks of the secondary school and that pupils. faced with the same materials, will more conscious oftheir needforskillin \ achievevery. different- levelsof successin readingwould at least maintain the rate of bent:fitting from their, reading experiences. progress of the poorer readers at the primary The extent to which pupiinart successful in stage. inderstandingschooltektscanonlybe The residt of this falling ofT in rzite of growth ascertained by means of further' surveys of inreadingisa piling up of pupils V410 are thepupilsItndtheir -textsinthe various retardedinreading. Infact. 25,C176 of the subjects and -in a variety of typical readina secondary pupils made scores les!; than average situations, e.g. study reading, reference work children three years younger. and recreational reading, When information A fundamental question is how adequately from such surveys is available we can attack many of these ptwils wilt meet the readine . systematically the problem of matching the task; they will hzore to face on leaving school. 'difficulty of materials with the ability of the The current Adult Literacy Campaign indi- thepupil's competence inreading and the cates that many pupils leave school unable to preparation of materials at, appropriate levels cope with the simplest reading material and of difficulty.

12 Teaôhing ROOdi0g..inecplidarV: School --)N.hos,e-'Bi.iinOs?

volume of reading at/Wast equIvalent io the 4AMES MAXWELL amount of reading jl9he -within the schobl. Direct Or,- Reading Research Unit, Finally, there is whatAan be called functional Ofteen Markaret College; Edinburgh Teading, that which is done withinthe school . as part of the stud (PT other subjects, Those investigated werefMathematics, Physical n 1972 an investigation into the teaching Sciences, History and Social Studies, Technical of rbading in the upper primary and lower Subjects and HomejEconornics. The techniques- secondary school cfasses was set tip, financed of study and file reading skills involved are not .by S,S.R.C. and sponsored by S.E.D. A report necessarily the same, and a. pupil whp has just on this inquiry is,being prepared for publica- -been reading Kubla Khan in an English class fion.The matters discussed in this artielt is unlikely to be heped by such reading when arose from observations made durinethis he moves on tothe nextclasstostudy inquiry, but the views expressed hltbdy-those geometry, geography r;technical subjects. of the writer only. The reading skills reqaired for effective-study . The- reading activities of pupils in firgt and are different. The other difference _is that in second Y'ear secortdary Classes fall broadly into--the English class, th7 pupils would have-had: three categories. There is what can be called some guidance and instrtiction on how the literaryreading,concernedmainlywith poem should beread,but such guidance narrative-de`seriptiye fnaterial-in novels, appears to be lackinginthe other school poems and plays, emphasising comprehension subjects. and interpretatio nd taught almost entirely The assumption aPpeared to_ be that _the English teacher should teach reading, and that what pupils learned in the English class should be sufficient.for their reading in other subjects. The facts appear to be that English teachers teachthe reading style required--kir, their subject matter, basically' -a- literaryjcompre- hension/interpretationapproach,andthat tedehers of other subjects do not take positive _ stepsto teach, 'the different reading styles requiredforeffectivestudy oftheir own disciplines. To pursue the matter further,alistof commonly accepted reading styles was com- piled from different sources and presented first 'tcrteachbrs Pf P6 and P7 classes. The list was as- follow's; ,

1. Rapid reading for gist; 2,Rapid reading foP special information; 3.Rapid rading for relevant information; 4.Detailed reading to follow instructions; . Detailed rezding to follow argurnent; by Jeachcrs ofEnglisThere is the leisure 6.Reading for appreciation of stYle. reading of thepupils, selected hy themselves and coMprisinga wide range of books, news- The primary teachers- emphasised - clearly papers. comidsand magnzines, and often in that their main requirements were in styles-3_ --. and 4, and least emphasis was clearly on styles -IhL subject teachers are those who shOuld 5 and O. This does not necessarily iniply that know best what their needs are, but both in explicitteaching was givenforthemost training and interests, very feW consider theni- required reading styles; indeed there is sonic selves as competent iii the tedching ol reading. reason to suspect mat the balance of teacher I huuh these' teachers expressed themselves as ztpprovalwasstillgiventocarefuland dissztuslied with the reading abilities of their accuratereading,andrapid and selective pupils, there were very few explicit requests which is more liable to errors and tor anything to be done about it.The main missions, was not actively encouraged. difficultyindevelopingthe teachingof In the secondary school, teachers of first and reading by the subject specialists is that there second year pupils varied'considerably in the would be needed as many teachers as there arv emphases of their reading demands on their . school subjects. pupils.English teachers required all reading. It seems to be more feasible to urge. exten- siyies almost equally, except tor Reading to sion of the activities of the teachers of English. ionow argument (p) which was less in demand. I hey already teach some aspects of reading, History followed a similar pattern, -but the zind all pupils attend their classes. The founda- inner subjects snow a very clezir cut demand tion is already there; the-main point would be ir Reading to tolloW instructions (4) above recognition by the teachers tha.t much or the au,others. I he resemblance betweenthe pupils'reading-isfunctional., reading, and patternotEnglishand -Historyteachers' giving approval to different styles or reading requirements and tnose of the primary school according to their appropriateness. Consulta- t- tt.11t.rs is reasonaoly close, much closer than tion with colleagues In other disciplMes would Mhiance between secondary tnglish be necessary, and some additional training for .iadhersand Me otnersubjects,thstory seleeted teachers of English in each schooj . (epted.briefly, the great demand inthe other possibility would be an exten'sion secondary .ciassesis tor Detalieq reading to OF the scope of the "Remedial" teachers. lollOw instructions (4), with Rapid reading tor Again, the foundation is there, but covers a relevant iniormation (3) and Detailed reading limited area.' Remedial Cends to be currently to follow argument (5) occupying u rather regarded as synonymous with backward,- but nt second place. it deeLL not be so. It would be to the advantage Of the secondary subject teachers, English of both pupils and teachers if the services of (Ol(ce) and 'rechnical, with minimal reading remedial specialists were available to pupils of requirehients (6Wo) are reasonably satisfied above average ability as well as those below with the reading ability of their pupils. Of the average, and to classes of pupils as well as to other subject Leachers, 50% or less are satisfied indkiduals. Remedial teachers also are prob- that their pupils reading-abilities in the various ablylessinfluencedby subjectbiasthan required styles -are adequate. The picture is teachers of English. _ oneofreasonablecontinuity betweenthe While one would hesitate to recommend the teaching emphases and practices of pr)rhary addition di-still another category of specialist, teachers and teachers of English, but -a sub- narnely a teacher of reading and study tech- stantial deficiency in the preparation for the niques, to the school staff, there is also t1-16 kinds of reziding and study required by whet- fact that at present' there is no such animal in secondary school subjects. any case. There is a small but unacceptable Ithas been said that the school pupil iS amdunt of adult illiteracy, there are reported aught evaything except how .to learn.As deficiencies in the reading skills of University 'appropriate reading skills are a major dement and College students, and a recorded dissatis- in effective methods of study, the question is, faction hsecondary teachers on the reading se business isit to ;remedy this deficiency attainments of their pupils. This represents a in, the teaching of functional reading, 'There deficiency- in the Schoolttystem whieh can be isno obvious ansl,ver,r but there are three remedied, and though much remains to 'be possibilities,' The responsibility could be that done in the way of research and development of each of the subject teachers, or of the in functional reaaing, the extension of function teachers of .English, or of a specialist teacher of existing practices seems most likely to pro- of reading. Which v:ippld create least duce some result.For this' requirement the difficulty? teacher of English is one promising candidate_ A Reading Policy for the Secondary School

The Bullock Committee stopped just shors lAINMCGILLIVRAY ofrecommendingthisfirstcourse,being "Adviser in English, Renfrew Division Sirenhel concerned lest reading become detached from- its matrix of language development as a whole. They saw as a sad warning the way the Was itcoincidence that the Bantu of Zaire Reading specialists and the English specialists were found to be both innocent of literacy in the U.S.A. went their separate and uncom- and .free from insanity?Maybe reading is municative ways. Ithink, however, there more dangerous than we thinic. But whether would be interesting results if reading work- or not- madness lies at the_ end of the trail, shops were established in secondary schools . -our society demands that reading remains h e se could operate quite tidily in any S1/2 firmlypartof -thelanguage development curriculum if one period of each day for every pursued in schools. And the 609 pages of A class were allocated to supervised .preparation Language for Life suggest that our society or "hornework..".' rrhose in need of help would - isn't getting- its money's worth. This article at this point be withdrawn to a separate class offers a few ways in which we might make where they would attack precisely the same reading at least a more systematic activity prepirration or homework, but would be given . than it is at present. assistance with the reading difficulties met in If reading is just one aspect of language, as these tasks. Reading tuition would then pro- the Bullock Report dins into as, it cannot be ceed quite properly inthe comext of the tatight as an isolated activity. The prirnary curriculum subjects.In the upper schoolit.' here has the advantage over the secondary would be easy enough to include in the course school. In a pupil-centred curriculum, guided options a reading support class where, again, by a single teacher-r reading is as likely to be help could be given firmly within the context taughs through mathematics or environmental- of the carriculum. How alt this would dove- .!.scudies as through the reading scheMe. But tail into remedial provision is a problem for in the fragmented subject-centred secondary, individualschools. Insomeschoolsthe reading is nobody's business except the English remedial specialist already sits in with subject and remedial teachers. Nor isit easy in the classestoidentify the language difficulties multi-teacher secondary to establish the secure presented by those subjects. This not a big step altd close teacher-pupil relationship that is a from this to the seading workshop. prerequisite of good reading development.I As for life English Department itself, the am convinced that, unless subject proliferation Committee recommended that atleast- one is reversed and the secondary curriculum is memberofthe departmenSshouldhave unified, the individual pupil will remain lost expertise in dealing with reading difficulties.- to- sight and his needs neglected.But while It would seem- reasonable',..however, for the we work for tht..revolution, what can be done whole departmenttobeclear aboutthe in the interim? primary,intermediateandi higherreading skills, although they should remember, too, that a reader will have to deploy various levels There are three possibilities: of the hierarchy of skills simultaneously in (a) establish a post of reading specialist in any reading task. each school; Part 3 of A Language for Life should there- (b) reorientate the English Department; fore be prescribed reading for all of us; and make all iubject departments aware of certainly its first 48 pages would be enlight- the demands they make on the language ening to anyl teacher in the secondary school. kills of their pupils. In particular, paragraph 8: 11 embarks on a

_ useful analysis of readin riling unde linked to the sound. At the same time, the the headings: unfamiliar word- should be relatedto the familiar:inthe case of "implication,the i.theformulationofthepurposes teacher might refer to the, prefix in/im along reading withthe -ply" elementin "plywood" and ii.organization for reading "three-ply wool," iii.reading behaviour A reading policy would also suggest the assessment 'of reading activities. terms and concepts to be used by all teachers in talking about language the word The expansion of the analysis is marked by -syllable itself, for example. For instead of itsconstant emphasis onthe 'pupilbeing talking about a hard piece of reading and taught these activities but being ultimately seeking to construe it with the pupils, it is too responsible for them, so that it easy to dodge the difficulty and paraphrase is he and not Thelastmathematical item,forinstance, the teacher who assesses the success of his would provoke a forest of hara.ls at the word reading in the light of his stated purposes, his "characteristic," to which the teacher should organisation and his str4tegies.This would respond, not by explaining 'The word-himself seem again tobe, a timely emphasis on the but IV yointing out that the writer in fact goes individual. on to explain the term. He would thus teach To prevent the English staff from seeming a something of the backward and forward move- rvice industry, however, the third of the ment of reading. possibilities needsexamination',that is, Reading across the curriculum. Beyond- the sentence lies the key sentence As part of a policy of language across the and the drift of A paragraph, which should be curriculum a school should have a reading as much the concern of the chemist and his- policy.First,this should draw attention to torianastheEnglishteacher., Of trans- the reading difficulties of the texts in use. Asa curricular concern also is the heed for pupils token that this is necessary, there follow a few to ynake clear to themselves the purposes for quotations from SI Mathematics textbooks. any piece of readMg. Certainly, until such a policy foe readingis established, the hidden "Here is a page from a milkman's book. The curriculum will, as Michael Marland said in a figures show the numbers of pints of milk re-cent lecture, continue to support the tenets heedelivers each week in one road. It is of that print is difficult and that itis avoidable this that he keeps a record (no cost per pint anyway. is statedrather use the current cost which So much for the responsibility of the whole ought to be displayed on a wall chart and school. What should the English teacher as subject specialist bp bending his mind towards? kept up to date as priees changc). What, to begin With, does he know of his One of the most important ideas in mathe- feeder-primaries? The term "feeder-primaries"- matics is the idea of- implication.Itis .the suggests a Moloch of a secondary and ,often connection between two statements which not unjustly.Too -often the primary child says: arrives on the secondary doorstep accompanied only by his V.R.Q:*.and reading age, and is the second statement follows from the_ taken in and done for. There is little regard for what has happened to him in his previous the first statement implies the second." seven years. Every English teacher should be interested 'Describe the set characteristic. The special in what the primary Language Arts course has quality which enables us- to decide whether offered his S1 _pupils, at least in Primary 6 and an object belongs to the set or not." 7.He should know what reading has taken place both in class and at home,' and what has As well- as levels of- difficulty a reading been done with that reading.- Much useful policy would have to agree on such things as to-ing and fro-ing is now taking_place between Wordrecognition:itshouldbestandard primary and secondary teachersin Renfrew practice to syllabify_on die board all new items the Erskine secondary and its primaries, for of_ vocabulary, so that the image is securely example, have set up a foldeK system so that primary pupils can be accompanied by pieces He must have a wide range of books immedizitely at his disposal. He can then of. Work in,a.selection of language activities and but. we are: stillatthe polite stage:I-lard more easily treat each child as client questions. are -still to be .asked. _What kind of suit the book to his needs, interests and records can .a primary , make ;available to a reading level (tact, of course, remains sceondary?- Can a reading.profile be provided necessaryit is too easy to become an earnestquack supplyingspecificsfor ery condition). There should be multiple copies to allow a small group- of pupils to discussand perhaps work on the ono title- they all happened to be reading. 3.Readings from all the books, and in some citses whole books, should bc pu on cassettes and be at hand as starters.and as crutches for the less ablewho can listen as they read. All of these conditions could be met if class librarics were to be set up, beginning yith SI /2. Each class would have. five or six copies of each of some twenty-five or sotitle's. The expense Would be about £250-00 for aschool of around 1000.Since this is in effect a re- location of part of the school library function, eliot reudiii g' ha:,- token place sonic of the money could perhaps come from s beet done wi!li dial reading wha thelibrarybudget.Nevertheless,suet resource would offer Much moreflexibility, for each pupil?Is the system of informal humanity and pleasure than two hundred reading inventories''worth looking at? On the copies of a single course book. other hand the primary might well ask the Admittedly aclasslibraryincreasesthe secondary, what on earth do you do to our burden of keeping up with vhat is going on-in children?I have been in primary classrooms children's fiction, a burden that has to .be where the childra.`are enjoying and deploying shared; perhaps bes t. is the Ayrshire system of joint panels of primary and secondary teachers a widerangeofreading, and responding thoughtfully and critically to..the words on the who read and review cach,new arrival from the becoming presses. On a deTpartmcntal 13asis the current page; the same children I have seen paperback lists can be filleted in little over a desultoryand inefficientreadersinthe secondary, performingwell lifider_their year's joipt reading and discuSsion. Of course, potential. May Barclay's work with primary the junior classics such aS Black Beauty, Little elasse-: in Ayrshire (Teaching English, Vol. 8, Women, Treasure Island and Prester John, will, No i ought to havegi,''en pauSe to -many a happily co-exist with such gaudy company; C.S Y,S. teacher. they have a resilience and appeal which seems The falling away of the-reading of fiction in to have deserted their counterparts upthe 51/2 has been well documented by Children's sch'ool. Reading Interests, Schools Council/Methuen. As for the child who is ready for Kafka in The decline is perhaps something to do with S2, the senior fiction section of the school the way the secondary school organisesits library should supplyhisneeds, while the: reading of fiction. Other than the class reader nubile library service mill continue to feed the -iorthe unit study novel, the-main resource for omnivorous and eclectic. fiction is the school library. Books are simply A corollary of such a system would be the - less easily got at than they were in the primary phasing out of junior fictidn from the School library, leaving space and time for research and class library. To keeP a child reading and to . .. reference activities. offer him development, the teacher must have further up the certain conditions. To individualisereading school islesS easy, since one ha's to elicit .candidates have little experience -of,.and less, more intensive and sustained response to a training in, the reading of expository or dis- hook. I'ven though the`range of books there- cursive prose.- It is-usually past papers them- fore h,,to be ,more restricted to allow the -selves that incestuouslyengenderwhat- teacher toCorie-,itneed not :shrink_ to-die expertise the candidates seem to possess. What . three Or even :two novels _studia by most else is there? With luck we may have a few ,Higher candidates, There is Much to; be said copies of Intelligent Reading surviving on our ir a more mipid trzatmenl of,a larger number shelveS or even Prose of Purpose, but generally, _text.S,sothai,ziswell! tishayingthe with the demise of Sir Roger and the passing'- benefit of hetiring nuiny more' voices, the. pupils of Clive of India and Modern Essays of Our can letirnthe techniques of explication and Time. there's little left save the ed:,I biography. analysis by frequent practice.Again, small Granted that one or have groupscouldbemore Oftenused.Class recentlyofferedaternati s on athematic teaching, stillremains necessary for dealing basis, hut thc extracts tellto remain divorced with, say the background to a novel or specific front the wain business 'of English literature. literary techniques, hut only if the experience There is a need to bind our prose more system- Of .a novel can he discussed in small groups, aticatly into our curriculum. can individual responses be adequately formed This can be done in two ways.First, the - and refined.(Inthis connection the reader prose can be used tc, contextualise the reading might be interestedto 'referto the School of fictiort.So, for example, instead of an SI Council'sWritingAcrosstheCurriculum 'group coming cold to Harvey Kendall,. in Top- pap.er, From Information to Understanding, liners' Westward With Their,Wagons, we co-uld -whichdealswithnon-fiction.ratherthan have the group first reading Kenneth Ulyatt's fiction). .Of course. there is not time for a the Day of the Cowboy (Puffin) or The Story whole novel to bc: detilt with in this tvay, but qf the Cmi..boy (Ladybird). They would then if each of six groups were to take a separate have the commortrbackgrourid which would aspect of the text and were to produce a paper stir their interest in the story and which would on it, the class would end up with a reasonable make their response to the story-more share- guide to the text. Better a-pupil take an active able than had they been left to respond out of pzirt in oneisixth of the guide, than contribute their own eclectic knoWledge of cowhoys. one answerto a class discussion which ends -up If a fourth or fifth year group were to read as a note in his jotter, written bybut. not felt I9S4 after an incursion into selected transcripts hy him. from the Watergate tapes, the opinions_of 'the Thu dusty shelf lengths of classics wbuld British War Cabinet as to how our urban popu- once More see daylight, if a modified version of lation would sustainr-an enemy bombardment the S1/2 class lihrary,were in operation further in LivingThroughthi?Blitz(Harrison; up the school. The Brontes and Jane Austen Collins,1975),their owri school rules,the are Certain to he accessible and enjoyable to account of how the Foreign Office tried to stifle fives arul sixes of our senior pupils, as are Oublication of .Anitnal rarnz, and Orwell's The Dickens arid Hardy. Conrad and Wells. To kunguage of Politics, then _their awareness_of support this revival, flexible teaching arrange- political manipulation would he the keener mentsandclassgroupingscouldbring and theirreactionto the novel the more together. saY, Lhe one Dickens expert on the critical.(Blackie's Scrapbook series is a useful staff, and the Two or three small groups of 'source of -extracts for this purpose). Although enthusiasts .ffrawn from various classes. ' theprose extracts are not themselves the .We must remember that, even at these upper ultimate focus of the aCtivity, they should still level.Sout' pupils will read quite unlikely or 'be scrutinised for the arguments, the attitudes demanding books provided that they are made and devices the writer uses- for his purpose. ready for their rd'ading. Reading-readiness-has Allthis comes close to being a thematic to be" fashioned in _all our readers.8cfrodls studybutinfactdiffersinfocus.The who zichievedthis fequently use non-fietion-, Thematic study tends f6.: diffuse and divert zi judicious -scene-setter for the work' or the pupil's awareness of- what he reads; some _fiction. such vaguely sociological label as The Family At this point itis worth heeding the S.C.E. in_ Conflict seduces us intb parcelling up, a Examiners'recurrent plaint_that.their number ofindependentandsharplybut variously focussed texts intd a muzzy combine. ading wilt fall upon the pupil himself, ant To contextualise a work of fiction by a series that it is .he who will fill in the card or leaflet of prose extracts is firmly to subordinate one that will go with him to his next teacher or to the other. The idea has been around a long class;thetaskofsystematicmonitoring time in the better educational editions which becomes less awful. provide just this kind of apparatus for a novel I admit, however, that what I have suggested such as Hard Times. But :t is an Idea worth doeshavevh,orryingimplicationsforthe using systematically from SI onwards. Nothing teacher of English. He is already being asked we read sh-ould be without context. to do 'too muchit is perhaps for this reason Secondly, thereis a case to be made for that the women now outnumber the men in ° reading a full-length work of non-biographical this subjectand to load him vMh_still more non-fiction, as a book in its own right. The ,to pack into his six periods, is to invite him to head of department might offer a core of texts lay down- his burden.Yet there are adjust; as a class library for eaCh of the senior classes. merits that- can be made: why persist in doing includingsuchbooksasLiamHudson's interpretation passages in Sl, 2 and 37 Why Contrary Ingelligences. Jung's The Interpreta- correct in such indiscriminating detail?And, tion of Dreatns. Mead's Growing Up in New perhaps most questionable of all, why persist Guinea. The individual teacher could then be in demanding specific writing activities from allocated, say, 10 to.allow him to add his own children who have not had anything like favourites, provided they are agrceable to the enough experience of reading that particular head of departmentthere my be every point kind of writing?We.. are forever asking our in 'having a!iingle cOpy of The Little Red pupils to Write prematurely.Even if we do School Book: there is none in having ten._ It make better use of our time, however, the/ is probably only the more able readers who English teacher will still be up against it, until will be interested in this material, which should school language policies are established. betreated- very much as an individualised I admit, also, that I see-the English cur- reading resource. riculum as being firmly based on literatufe, The administration of this very flexible and -but .make no apology. This kind of English various reading needs much more care than offers any one of bur pupils much more excite- most departments have had time or inclination ment and intellectual rigour than -the woolly- to offer. But when one realises that most of the minded sociology which passes for_English in responsibilityfor keeping a recbrd ofhis many of our schools.

Reflection upon a Cusiotn-BuiTh Fullvintegrated , Besouire-Based, Multi-iVIedia, Individualised Learning'. ,er er School

_ I visited your palace for a day and More than once I lost my way. The odd thing is, as I span round I could have sworn that I distinctly saW. your feet were off, the ground! John Blackburn -Ehtoutaging ,Effec*ive-19eaditi reference to the passage before them. Group COLIN hABRISON prediction and group doze activities are known School of Education. University of Nottingham to sonu: teachers through Cluistopher Walker's book, Reading Development .and Extension': the teachers' study group working with the The SchoolsCouncil -Eaective Use of/ -Effective Use of Reading" project team have Reading '. project* wzts funded to examine how extended and developed many of the ideas it children are called upon to use reading in contains and designed some new ones. -schobl in the 10-14 age range. This age range A number of teachers have tried out these was chosen specifically to allow comparisons activitieswith children (from lower junior to be drawn between primary and secondary forms to sixth form level) and gradually certain _ practice, and the research was not concen- positive aspects have emerged: trated on Englishlessons,but coveredall arsas of the curriculum. As well as producing (I) children enjoy doing the activities; quantitative research report, the directors, (2) poor readers are able to ,c ontributem,but Professor E. A. Lunzer and W. Keith Gardner, canalsolearnfrom the more fluent vished to examine the ways in which teachers readers; sought to develop children's abilities in coping with the printed word once they had mastered ) reading comprehension is usually examined the basic skills of reading.During the first throughawrittenexercisein SRGD two -years of the project, therefore, the team activities children whose-skills in writing made efforts. to investigate possible areas of are weak but whci are good readers can development, and one which seemed to be make a full contribution; potentiallyfruitful concerned certain group ;(4.) as opposed to (a) individual silent reading, activities which are more fully described in (b)wholeclassreadingfollowing- the the appendix tothis article under., the title teacher, and (c) doing a written compre- "S.R.G.D. Activities.- The initials stand for hensiontest,the readers inthe group 'silent reading with group discussion,- and the expose their interpretation to the activities appear to be of value not only in immediate scrutiny of others.In (a) and LEnglish -lessons, where they can stimulate (h) the reader may not be challenged to -reading for meaning" and analysis of content sethisinterpretationagainstthatof and style,' but also in other subject areas in another at all, and in (c) any response from which the, emphasis is on reading for informa- the teacher as examiner is received at a tion. time when the original reading is, largely

Group-,prediction, group cloze and group forgotten and the passage set aside;' sequencing involve small groups of readers (no the activities involve discussionbut not more than twelve) in a silent reading exercise inanunstructuredway:childrenare llowtsSd by a structured discussion.-- Unlike offered kmuch clearer goal_tban: "Discuss many "comprehension" activities, the exercises this passa-ge.7 involve no written work, and since no reading aloud is required, poor or hesitant readers are Of course we would not claim that these - not put in a position 'where they draw the group reading activities should set the frame- attention of therest of the group to their work for all school reading. Neither would we weakness.Nevertheless, group members are suggestthateach of thepossiblebenefits required to comment on the content of the noted_ aboveis .observed regardless of the passage and to examine its structure closely, content or the passage: if a niece is bland and -- supporting their assertions and inferences by boring, or too complex or technical for a group From 1973-76 Colin Harrison worked on ihc Schdols of readers, they will no lcarn from it.The . Council-Effective Use of Readinr proiectat _ teacher must always make a number of ludg- NottinghamUniversity. HetaughtEnglishat ments about whether a Passage or book is secondarylevel- foranumber of years andis suitable for the individuals in a group.' What currentlY aleourerinEnglishinEducation. at Nottingham University. I Ward Lock Educational (1974). reported what they felt was a realbreak- we do say is that no readerwill learn fr with \it, and through in reading with S4 groups. Theactivi- text unless he actually engages ties were generally rated as "worthdoing- that these workshopactivities seem to reflection in a, (48%) or -very valuable Mdeed- (40%),and encourage this engagement or the children way ihat individual silentreading may not.. many teachers commented that The classroom potential of these activities enjoyed taking part."It got them arguing," has been investigated by a group of twenty- reported one teacher, and this was felt to be-an lour experienced teachers who attended an important aspect of the activity. extended in-service training course based at Teachers were asked to suggest what aspects Nottingham University. Hall of the volunteer of language competence seemed tobenefit teachers were from infant or junior schools, from each specific groun activity, andthe middleschools, answersvariedquitesignificantly./ Grout) undhalfwere Basedin which involves responding to secondary schools, orfurthereducation prediction Altogether over 1000 children were story or passage presented one section at atime college. and predicting what is likely to:happen next . introducedtoSRGD activities. Teachers culls for a number of skills. The reader must . agreed to try out the'lactiyities with their own in bis -el;Asses over two half-terms, and to base the read each section carefully, setting it ges which they had own mind against earlier onesKid the pre- reading tasks onpassa_ dictions made from 'them. -and draw new inferences if possible. He must find a way to express aloud what he feels ishappening antl is likelyto happen, working, on the basisof partial information.Finally, if the activity is to have any real value, he must be able to respond critically to the statements of others inthegroup.With younger childrenthe critical response may only rdate to statements offa6t:., someonemay haveignoredor forgotten- a vital piece of information. With older students the discussions will, relate to the logical or temporal order of events.-Ao what is artistically consistentand to the extent to which personal anecdotes can he accented as 'evidence.Ifallthis sounds rather like an academic ritionilisitionof I he obvious . ntlrhaps one should stress the point that these insights are those suggested by teachers who havetriedCroon predictionexercises with chijklren from the ages of six to eigliteen, Whit chosen 'and prepared themselves..... The decision anv haqicular group can gain will he deter- to.. 'asktheteachers .i'to ;preparetheir own Mined by tyYti`factorsthe passage chosen for materials was not, Thade,.31k!order to simplify discussion and the/language competence of the -life for the researchers; one of. the .advantages group_If the.teacher is able to match these of these activities is-that theY carvbe based on effectivelythen theactivity can bean riri[t.nt vvhich is rehited.,to the/normal Work extre)rnely valnahle one. the chiss of-grotip.. This contrasts with the GrOup doze also involves the participant in essentially arbitrary:content/of most reading discussions about meaning and content of the "laboratory" tasks Or textbOok comprehension pissige asft-- whole hut since the task is to exercises. replaceindividual words which have been Reae.tions from the teachers who took part deleted the focus is generally at the word or were collected using a.,-Ouestionnaire; and froin sentence level. There is little doubt that this this -a. fairly full picture of possible benefits and is a fairly taxing activity, and needs careful .problems emerged/-: Of .the -SRGD-. actiVities handling . hut it was felt by many teachers to- one teacher wrote.. "Should be made corn- offer a fascinating insight into the level of a child'scomprehensionof. anassage. One A puNory by D.ES. circular! 7, and two others

_ . . _teacher who tried-ouPgroup doze with s'ections- exut_INE: -Thegro n-ups wereallgetting(heir --:- from -''science textbooks was-- shocked to find- best- Oh no . -The grown-uns- were all getting into their best clothes...." . that- there -. did- not appear to be a' book in his SARAII: On ..On . -on their best clothes."' 1' department- which tinrd-year grammar School gxouNt:No. they'reallgetting -into" theirbest girls- could- cope -. with successfully. There is clothes. DENISE: All ritgit, we'll \say ''on." curkntly- a- good deal ot- interest in trying- the eAut.INE: "Into!" activity- withsixthform - modern -language,. DENISE -On ! Go on. put "into." gra-ups,- and,:..some English teachers have found SARAH: "Into- sounds more original. it ,an ideal .tOol for encouraging a response psouNt: Go on, put "into.- Go on, putinto, poetry and literary criticism with tentative DENISE: O.K. then.... 01:r and "A" level groups. At the junior level Some-- teachershave. made 'group _ doze a Itis worth noting that the discussion takes .Permanent part of their "reading-, corneri':',- place without any intervention from a teacher, and the .children queue up to take part. From and that the decisions to insert "excited" and are reasoned ones..Denise's teacher's point of view group dozeis- into both valuable because it encourages close attention comment "cos it 'rhymes- is a stylistic argu- to .diction and style in a -passage, and because ment,- butitalso helps to ensure that the the. -.childrenshare the .responsibilityfor inserted word is the same part of speech as deciding- what word is appropriate -they can delighted. For the second insertion, Sarhh's learnfr-om each other. The brief extract from initial response is challenged, and she not only a cloze- passaee and tape transcript WhiCh are changes her word hut supplies an argument to_.: -.reproduced below give some indication of what support Pauline's choice, With more fluent '- can take place, The children -are of junior readers the arguments can become extremely subtle: forexample, a participantcould .--. school age,- and had only tackled group ctoze suggest that what seems to be the hest word in ...-anee before, aparticular place might not be the most appropriate one because the prose style of the EXTRACT FROM CLOZE PROCEDURE author is too poor. PASSAGE AND TAPED 'DISCUSSION In group sequencing, as thetitleof the answers in brackets) activity suggests, the emphasis is on the order (excited) of events or thotights in a passage. Working 1 sn at Pagwell Green everyon e \sas all initiallyintwos or threes the participants . (out) ,attempt to reconstruct the original order.,-of- and delighted.' The grown-ups.were-all.getting -- :segments of a passage which has been cat up (asking) their' best clothes and the children were --- for into pieCes_ The idea behind the activity was _ originallytofinda means of encouraging pennies. . re'aders to examine the,organisation of a piece of writing, and_ ifslogical structure. Many Transcript 7 school that TEACHER: Right-now you can !work it out for your- junior teachers have observed selves. You take turns at reading if you like, like children_ take some time to learn that there did last week. So in fact, you can take turns at may beabetter way ofconstructinga _choosing a word, the-others_ can either agree with story than simply to p.m down thoughts in the it. . order they happen to occur to the writer. SARAH: write it down. I'm not saying anything! TEACHER:. YOLI came- out beautifullyIzist week so Group sequencingoffers a framewo:k for that's why I'm taping you this week., discussing why one Paragraph' ought tobe. SARAH :Ididn't. placed before another. Most fluent readers will . TEACHER :YeS you did. tendtorecognise a generalintroductory DENISE:It iSn't On. is it? PAULINE: YCS. it- IS. paragraph or an epigrammatical 'final para- I'll Co first_ graph without fully realising the features they 014515E: Yes itis on. the thing's going round. COMC have analysed in doing so. Children tackling on. Sarah. the activity, on the other hand, _have to find SARAH :RIF/-4, "Down at Pagnell Green everyone_was ways of explaining, why they have decided a PAULINE: "Happy." certain segment is appropriate_ as an opening smt.ot: "Good and 'delighted.- No . T think it's paragraph when their neighbour has decided "excited and delighted.- dENIsE: Yes, "excited- 'cos it thymes. itbelongs elsewhere. A number of teachers f.c,mnd of child Spellinr woief olnudjzs she _have_pointed out that this activity is by no 21 _ means novel, and have cited English textbooks vcrylengthypassages noonereported. from/ the 1930s in which a series of numbered . d;fficulties in'preparing these, but two teacherS paragraphs have to be given a logically accept- did describe group sequencing as laborious" able ordering. This one must accept, although to prepare, and another noted that it was not the point should be made that having the easy to pitch a passage at the appropriate level passagecutintosectionswhichcanbe Of difliculty for a group. A passage might seem nutmpulatedrepresentsacrucial departure verystraightforwardforonegrdupbut from the textbook exercise.Itallows the unapproachable to another, and this would readertotryout a number of different lead to an absence of useful discussion in the approaches without being committed to any 'former case and wild guessing in the latter. . one initially, oral offers a much more worth- One poinCof organisation of group sequencing while basis for discussion between two readers. emerged from the teachers' comments:itis The discussion is also a crt.TE41 aspect of the crucial to ensure that -second- rcitind" dis- activity.Intheoriginaltextbook exercise cussions take place (i.e. that the "decisions of children would no doubt read and respond on one pair are discussed with another group) in their own, and receive no feedback until their case one member of a small group has been. ponses had been assessed as "right" or too dogmatic. Another interesting insight has wrong!'Ingroup sequencingtheactive beenthat having Very brief segments (for discussion of choices is much more important example 'one sentence each) actually makes than approximating to the author's original the task more difficult rather than easier. This order. Passages vary, but quite often children isbecause the' reader has less information will suggest perfectly coherent alternatives to available on which to base a judgement about the author's order; they may even improve on where the segment comes in relation to the it. Some passages from upper junior '.'inform- passage as a whole. Three br four sentences ation books" haVe been .found by children seems to be' a more useful length for dis- (and_adults) to be strings of /facts with no cussions purposes. One teacher's solution to' artistic or , logical coherence. The_ children the problem of finding suitable paSsages has have been quick to appreciate that this kind of been to ask the children..to bring the previous writing should be avoided sinceit gives the night's local newspaper.',If onlY six or seven _ reader no framework -for. learning or for children do this there is enough Material for organising the contentn -.terms of relative SRGD activitiesfor the whole class for a importance. double period. Once -he students have become ,Teachers' evaluationg of the SRGD activities familiar with the a,;tivity two- groubs,can be._ have also pinpointed a number Of problems, left to choose and prepare passages-for the- Most of which are associated with selecting or other group to tackle. The-groups then work. producing materials. Group prediction works ontheexercisewhich' theirfriends have best with passages which have some kind of -prepared. suspense or denouement, and it-was not always Since the evaluation began, another group;., easytofind suitable ones. Chemistry and actk-ityhas, beentriedoutbyteachers. geography teachers haVe experimented with Comparative Purposeful Reading (CPR) which passagesin whichinformationabout_ a was-devised by Keith Gardner focuses squarely chemical or region is gm-en a piece at a time, on the notion of purpose in reading. Twdsmall and children are required to discuss alternative ,.groups are given the same passage to read and answers as they gradually reduce possibilities. discuss, but a different purpose. For example, Some teachers have tried group prediction on with fluent readers the instructions might be passages written in instalments -by,the children Read the passage from a literary criticism themselves, arid this has proved a worthwhile viewpoint, and comment on style,diction, innovation: apart from saAng the teacher the figurativelanguage, .etc whik theother the prbblem or finding and photoeopying a group's task would be "Discuss this 1..9.--sage in passageit-- canbeavaluablelearning terms ofits _scientific methodologyand in experience for the writer. The comments of particular draw out any ethicaloY moral, the grcitip'an a final instalment which is totally considerations." For a younger grt-vap and a unpreparedforcan. beafairly' salutary simpler eassage, the Aims could be "-What are experience, for, the budding novelist. - themainpoints?"andIsthisstory Since group; doze does not tend to involve believable?"' After a period of discussion .the 22 two groups come tOgether and diseus ir diat children remember at least as fhany facts response to both questions. about 'a passage read us a SRGD activity as Arfotherwayof\encouragingafuller those who merely did ti comprehension test on rcsponse to a passage is to ask two groups to it, and indeed tended to score more highly on prepare their own coMprehension questions on quesiions, of inference or evaluation. These ; it;each group thentacklesthequeffions results a*.e no morti than an indicatioA of the prepared by the Wier. The group's answers posSiblevalue or grOup reading .activities. written down ari'd then "mark;d" by (he N.,,ertheless, thefactthat they have been group which devised them, anffilally in a nd valuable at every level from top-infant discussion session the children examine the sixth form leads the team lo feel that they differences between:the two approaChes. These rant_further serious attention. activities help. lo Make children awbre that Perhaps we should leave the hfst word to a what they gain from reading a passage will !seven-year-old in one of the expetimental study sary according to the purpose with which they / schools: -It was interestingI had to think a approachit. ;Teachers who have tried CPR;-lot though." have suggested that itis potentially the most1 exciting and fleXible -ofthe group reading) - activities: it recaiires no special preparation Of Group Prediction materials and yet seems to produce the "'active Group prediction exercises involve releasing interrogation of the text- which as teachers _ instalmehts of a short passage, one at a time, to we wish to encourage. a group of 8-12 readers.:the task is to respond Providing the passages are chosen with some to questions put by a group chairman(at first care SRGD activities are equally successful ateacherbutlaterasthe -groupgains, with Streamed and mixed ability groups. The experience, one of the group), the questions activities do require some flexibility_ of class- being directed at finding out what has been room organisation, since initially at .least the written in the passage, at making inferences teacher needs to give fairly close attention to from what is read and at antictipating what one group _ eiVechildren. ,Thisisno might haRpen in later instalments. All reading proble rp forydniorschoolteachers,but is silent and no writing is involved. Following presents difficulties fo secondary teachers who reading and discussion of each instalment, the are only used to w ng with a flied group chairman collects the instalments so that n6 -of more than thirty. soltition would be to referenc.eback is possible.Readers ';,,are split the class into thr_groups and rotate encouragedtojustifytheirresponses, and them, with the other two groups working on other members of the group are ent5ouragedlto tasks which require less teacher supervision, challenge the responses. such as keeping a journal or reading a class- _room library book. The "Effective Use of Reading" team have Group Sequencing beenencouragedbytheresultsofthis For this exercise a passage is photocopied luation study and although the research arid cut into sections (which may be stuck project terminated in August-1976 plans have onto card-for greater robustness). Working in .been made to begin curriculum development pairs, children are-encouraged to try to work workinNottin'gharnshire, Lincolnshire and out the author's original orderalthoughit Derbyshire whichWillfocus on developing should he stressed that different orders may SRGD techniques within individual subjects or be possible. Itis important to stress that- the the secondary school curriculum. The rationale pairmustexplainthereasonsfortheir behind this initiativeis the firmly held 'con- decisions to each other, arid try to reach agree- victionofProfessorLunzerandKeith ment.Ifpossiblethisexerciseshould be Gardner that SkGD activities are not simply followed by an opportunity for two, three or a skill-enhancement programme, but- rather "four pairs to compare and discuss their find-. that they can be learning tools in their own ings,'andtosharetheirreactiontothe tight.Naturally one must accept thatthe information about the author's orderitis novelty of the activities contributed to their suggested that 6-12 cards are used,, and that suceess, hut aserios of small experimental cards with less than-twenty words are not used studies carried out in six schoolS has indicated frequently, 23 Group Cloze No constraints are laid. own in relation, to stress being aitron the need for convincing passage content or length. Deletions may' be argument witiliii the &roup before decisions are every fifth, seyenth, or tenth word, depending reached.. The chairman (usually this will be the on- the difficulty of the passage and thIC natum cher at first, but ideally the role should be of. theaudience. Withdifficultpassag8 taken by 'others) calls the sub-groups together deletions should riot be commenced until about to thrash out a final. ve_rsion. The chairman the hundredth word. Sub-groups of two, three possesses the original version, but he must-try or four children prepare their answers, with to avoid notions of "right" and "wrong.

READING A POEM Connect tlw number_ed dot The hidden obJeet. My daughter knows no'numbers but She knows the pattern numbers make. "A bird, a bird." Ves,- it will be a bird. We trace the wandering sequence out. Discover wings, a-beak, an eve, A tail-fan sharp with fretted feathers, And make not just a pattern of a bird; But this bird, with these feathers and- these wings Made this way only, Joining these conlmon dbts.

WRITING ABOUT A POEM

Anyone can peel gn apple With a thin sharp knife (I can do it) And throw the skin To make an initial (1 usually make a .1) And anyone can guess What the'initial stands for (1 is for Jenny) There arc a hundred ways Of peeling and throwing and gu (Who will marry Jenny?) But the skin has only one way of co Ich0.*Upcipro.OhjOving... Child ih -the: M iNectAbilitli,... En

Children with reading ages below, 8still HOWEL JONES need intensive teaching of,mechanical reailing Legurcr in Special E lim,,Jordan skills. An RA of 10+ is essential if children Education are to cope with the level of English work normally .peesented at SI level. Childran with

, Any discussion of underachieving children RAs betWeen 'these two levels clearly present a ,thast -first establish whd they-are, and what the problem, as basic skills, though acquired, are nature of their undertfchievament is, before it considerably '1,inder:developed. .There will he cab go .on to determine what are their needs. anything from 2-6 such children in Most mixed Underachievingor_ ."Remedial-children abilitY classes. An examination of Reading 'eone common characteristicfailure in Ages of the same class reveals a 'range of 6 schaol. -Butitisimportant -todistinguish . years from-J-71-13+. ExpreSsed in school )(far between Iwo broad categories of failing pupil equivalents it would be: 'First, there isgie child of poor general ability .- who- is failing in relation to established norms. Rending Age No. of children We might desigmate such a pupil "backward" expressed as average in class at this and note that his needs can only be met by a for,school year measured level programmeofgeneralhelpwithinthe SI curriculum. The retarded -pupil, on the P7 7 other hand, is one who is of ave'rage or above P6 9 average_ ability but failing in relation to his PS 7 measured potential. Such a child needs specific P4 -2 help. .(ltisgignificant and relevant to our.. P3 purposethatarecentSchoolsCouncil research projectAo be 'published this year bas The significant diccepancy must' throw some found that schools, once they have identified doubt on the validity of such instruments of -7-Z1h-a -children in_one of these categories, cease ,measurement. HoW far,for example, do0 looking for ones-in-the.other).___ . .perfoimance in a test of Verbal Reasoning.,-. RaVing located our underachieving dpend on reading ability? How closelyis we Must also rake accotint---ofthe precise progreSs-.-M--reading_tied to getieral cognitive nature ibftheirdeficiencies.The general develoVrrient? - screening procedures through Which primary The.frnpligations of the need far_caution in school children pass consist of 4n assessment this area of .screening should make us award of -of verbalreasoning(Verbaf- Reasoning thenecessitytodiscriminatecarefullyin QuotientVRQ) and themeasprement pf individual cases and ask if "retardation- is the -reading ability'(RA). resultofskilldeficiencY,1 a slow rateof An examination of the spread of ability as cognitive developrnent, misSed opportunities, measured by VRQ ina typical SI _mixed, lack of motivation, frustration'or other factors ability class and expressed in terMs of their or combinations of factors irChis social or equivalent primary and secondary stages of personal environment. development revealed: Once we have made progress in establishing Primary I Secondary No. of children in- SI those who are retarded 1ve:tnust identify their Level tnix0 ability class areas of need. This will entail a three-fold 52 7 policy of: SI 8- (a) assessing ability and performance:, P7 7 (b) providing for theif needs,1-41 P6 6- '(e) evaluating. progress- toeniureour 6 success. Assessnient and offers within one passage a means There are two levels on which measure- of checking accuracy, comprehension ment by- means of norm-referenced, standard- and speed. ised tests may be undertaken: The Edinburgh Test Stage 3 has a new version suitable for Sl. This tests five i) Tests of General Ability: Since the true areas and affords the means of con- -picture of general -cognitive develop- structing individual profiles ment may, aswas saidabove,be (a) Reading for facts contaminated by the pupil's reading (b) Comprehension of sequences functionality, the unJerachieving (i.e. (c) Retention' of main ideas retarded) child is best prepared to be (d) Comprehension of points of view testedby means ofaNon-Verbal (e) Vocabulary Reasoning Test. , One such is the NFER 3 This test .is both norm-referenced and Educational Psychologists make use of criterion-referenced,-though latelSr Terman and Merl 11Tests which, criterion-referencing has come to be individual and therefore considered more favoured by testers. reliable. Another battery of tests are Class teachers can, of course, make their the WISC series which give% total own_informal reading inventoriesand indeed score as well as a Perforrriance and a this may bemore practicallyuseful than Verbalsub-score: thediscrepancy commercially-produced tests. The articlel-iy betweenthesetwo Scoresis- often Ruth Strang. inthe OU's p4blication The revealing. Reading Curriculum provideost helpful guidance inthis. One Amerig.#1 version of Tests of Reading - Levels: There are such an inventory consists of presenting a several tests in Use in this area. carefully selected passae,V o the -candidate, TheBurtWord -RecognitionTest checking accuracy of rea ing and, by_ question- assesses the child's ability to recognise ling, monitoring comprehension. If the pupil is woLds in isolation. 99% accurate and anyWhere between 75-90% The Holborn Test operates at the level clearinhisunderStanding ofthesubjeet. of the sentence--for example a read-, matter then he is ready for a mardifficult . . ingageof12 ispositedbythe passage. candidate'sability to read the sentence -It is essential that engineering Provision apprenticesshould bhavea good Butoncewe haveacehmplishedour ,technical education:" diagnosis we must consider the provision to be made for the underachieving child. The Sclionell Reading Test Eloffers When selecting materialitis necessary to complete' passages or paragraphs for take account not only-, of the suitability of silent,reading comprehension. books as regards.concept levels and relevance Gap tests use close procedure(i.e. The of ,the content but also the levels .supplying or missing words in context). ssyrhat any text presented to a mi. :er reader They extend to a RA of 121 but tend is known to' be within his ability.Published to give very high RAs. lists giving the reading ages of hooks are useful Gapaaol extends to RA_16 and can be for this purpose. used with adults. Gapadol has been The setting up of established rirocedures are criticised as possibly leaning too much necessary for slow learning children who aje on the candidate's experience. otten at a loss to know what is expected of them and how they are to go abo0 ''t. Whereas WidelSpau (RA 7-15)is being used theretardedchild'sintelligen"may be more widely in schools. This series, utilised,the -backward pupil fu_ zions best li,ketheBristolAchievementtests, within a framework of unchangiw -routine. makes more use of vocabulary. Interaction between the child and external The Neale Analysisf Reading ,4bility stimuli is essential for learning. By definition is a method of tetihindividuals and this has been deficient in the slow learning 26 child's experience.Itisthus necessary for Constant appraisal is essential for edequate much reaching to take place; general develop- provision tor the slow learner in 'the mixed mentinthecaseofthe backward pupil, abilitysituation in whichsensitivityto specific areas for the retardate. " emergent needs and concern for appropriate An understanding of slow:learners' treatment L:re key factors. problems should lead to a necessary degree of --itis, inthiscontextthatthe. Remedial appretiado,n, bytheteacher of thechild's Departmentshouldoperatebyproviding performance for often-times what appears to alternatiVeprovisionforthosechildrenin be a sub-standard is in fact quite an achieve- greatest need or functioning as a savieing ment for a child with learning difficulties. At agency offering the necessary supportive help thesantetimeit isessentialtoavoid for those experiencing difficulty. complacency when the frontiers of attainment could he extended. REFERENCES Evaluation Non-verbal test DB (fornTeify Nit; verbaltest Finally we must evaluat-: progress. Assess- by B. Calvert, N.F.E.R.. 1958. ment of progress should be based on specified Stanford-Binet intelligence test scale, by L. Terman objectives. Within a developmental context and M. A. Merrill. Harrap, 1960. slow learnerS need to learn specific skills. Thus Wechslerbuelligence .scalefor 'children,byD. ate teacher is concerned with ensuring that Wechsler rev.ed, N1,F E,R., 1974, mastery learning has indeed taken place. For Burt ward recognition test, by C. Burt, Hodder & this,criterionreferencedassessmentpro- Stoughton, 1938-1954. Schonell silent reading .test B (Test R4), by F. I. cedures are most useful., Schonell. Oliver & Boyd. 1955. Slow learners, aware that they are.failures. lialborn reading scale, by A. F. Watts,,Harrap, 1948. seek comfortfrom-. some form ofvisible G,.IP reading conirehension test by,J; MeLeod and recordofprogress.- Apartfromgeneral D. Unwin. Heinemann, 1970. encouraging comments showing the teacher's GIFADOLreadin-gcomprehensiontest,byJ. appreciation of their effortsitalso helps if McLeod and J.Anderson. Heinemann, 1973, there is some form of tangible representation Wide-span reading tests, by A. Brimer and H. Gross, asfor example inthe shading of columns Nelson. 1972. showing degree and consistency of perform- Bristol achievementtests,byA. Brimer and H. Gross, Nelson. ance in Reading Lab cards. Where grades or Neale analysis of reading abilhyby M, D. Neale. marks are used they should not merely refer Macmillan. 1957/8. to the group norm but be meaningful to the EdinburghReadingteststage3,Moray House child in that they reflect his improvement (or College of Education. Hodder and Stoughton, 1972. otherwise) :lainsthis own performance or Tlw Reading curriculum, edited by IMerritt and potential. A. Melnik, Hodder,and Stoughton, 1972.

This article is a reprint of a digest of a Talk given by Mr Jones at a confernce of Lanarkshire teachers.It was first printed in a report of the conference and we thank the authorities, of the Lanark Division of Strathclyde for permission to use it,

8

27 The Open University Reading Development Course

systematic frameworks for reading (such as JOHN HAY SCOTT S.O. 3RSuryey, Question, Read, Recall, Principal Teacher of English, Review). With something of theseideasin Gracmc High Schaal, mind, the pupil can realise that he does not read a geography text or a scientific instruction or a short story in the same way. The problems I took this course in 1974 since when it has of comprehension arc also dealt with and this been modified, but essentiallyitfollows the has a direct bearing on question and iesponse. nowwell established'. patternofOpen Barrett's taxonomy of five levels (in order or University work. It runs-between lare January difficulty,comprehension,literal,reorganiz- and late October as an integrated system of ational,inferential,eyaluatiVe and appreci- study:radio/TV programmes; Tutorials and ative)clearlyis -.importantfor theEnglish assigments. The basic units (17 throughout - teacher to realize and utiliseif the best use theyear) come atVarying times and are Isto be made of comprehension. The other reckoned as taking 8 hours eacIt Since they half ofthissection dealsvyiththe use of .are related to material from set texts as well context, including cues and miscues in reading,,5 as Tutorial assignments I counted on which helps us realise a child's difficulties In 'needing. Octobee- fordoingthe-Students' reading. workshop assignmews and revisionfor the I-13e earliest stages of reading are,dealt with -aminationthat left approximately 1 unit in the two subsequent units. "Preparation for per fortnight. reading" includes the problems of decoding The opening unit wasfa most salutary one and reading subskills; which are met with, of for any teacher ingrained as we all arein course. in remedial English at any stage. The our own reading habits. 14examines how, as second part "Early Stages in Readingis of adults. we -:go about , reading, and- how We immediate interest in Primary School, though shou/d approaCh theprocess:thecycle of I suspect that for most of us itis good to be goals, plans, implementation, development reminded of problems we may have forgotten. i.e.haying apurpose. and approaching the I also suspect that a lot of the material (Word "rc'icl vith this in mind. This of course helps ards. phonics, blending, language experience) any Child. in every subjectto keep remeMber- is of use with immigrant children in Secondary inc.,thatthey are reading -for a particular school. purpose (perhaps skimming for facts) and so Unit 7 which comes ne`xtis a look at -the is most useful for an English teacher. other endreading for learning, rather than Almoia incidentally, there:=then follows the leajning toread. Rate of reading and the unit in children's-reading: incidentally because strategy of reading are looked at, as well as the theexpectedanalysisofreadingskills i implications of speed reading and skimming delayed until the next section. Nevertheless, the latter- a useful skill to pass on to pupils. this too is very useful for an English teacher, The following two units look at the "Printed partieularlv if you are concerned as I am, with Media and the Reader." Systematic methods the materials children read at &very stage. The of measuring levels of difficulty in a text are -author examines the value -of children's litera- considered, though anexperiencedEnelish jure: its nature: and the role of the. teacher.. teacher may be a better judge in some eases. Wh'ile,,not accepting all the value. judgments; -Varieties of text are also considered in tone-and I certainly found it stimulating-. to read MOIe register, none of 'whichis unfamiliar in an widely in arr.area so essential to an English Enelish Department.

.teacher. . "The Reading Curriculum" (2 units) conies The two 'drifts that follow are again: useful next. This includes the orednisation of the -for English teaching at rmy level.Reading learnina processreading skills developed, in a purposes.arc emphasised once more as well as rational way across the curriculum. a-sthe -Primary methods cilcutilge.Resources for with the tutor---,a good idea if you can manage reading is the problem-in tOe second part of to attend them-all (but 1 didn't). The assign- tins section, and this clearly affects us in the ments are unavoidable and must be submitted Secondary School, although the level examined by spccilic det.allines, but the self-discipline is is of a dfflerent naturereading laboratories salutary. The radio/TV programmes every library shelves and so compared with the week (Also, I found of little uso. I must confess complex system of storage and retrieval to having missed quite a mimber, generally. of handouts, tapes, books etc, in a secondary because .of other commitments, but those I 'school. saw or listened to seemed too elementary-and

6 "Assessing Reading Competenee"isthe importantstart10,7thericXtunit,with a Assessing the course as a whole.,I found it _structured system of:informal reading ofvalue(ofgreatvalueattimes).New ins.-'entory (measuring oral and comprehension ittitudis towards reading anditsproblems level). Possibly a closer analysis of our own come to light;' specific ideas can transfer, asI pupils weaknesses might lead us to group them have suggested,to the class-room; and the in more protitable waysthose needing prac-. disciplined approach to the whole subject of ticeinword attackskills:comprehension, reading inthe 'Most sense from earliest to extended library reading, or language kits. It the most sophisticated stages made it a worth- might mean also that our class list or profile while course. couldinclude more assessmentofspecific skills rn readingasagents for subs(;quent

remedial' work. _ "ChildrenNvithSpecial Problems" is\the 'DIE NEW 0.13. READINO DEVELO_WEN-1-- subject of the next individual unit, which takes A Posi EXPERIENCE COURSE useful look at specific difficulties (such as Ibis course replaces the one undertaken by Mr. decoding,fixationrate,grapheme-phqneme Scott, but he would recognise most of its content. spondence):: reading and cognitive gkills: The additional emphasis claimed for it is to -consider and ways of helping the- bin:I:ward reader. A what can be done in schools To provide a better --rewarding section for a -teacher. of English, preparation for coping with the reading deibands of the adult WorldI IlL primary emphasis will thus be on The course is brought together in the ensuing comprehension ... it willtherefore be of interest to students' worgshops units which is a starting teachers ... in secondary schools.." point for the student's own special option: The folltywini books arc recommended:Moyle. this is expected to take about 20 hours overall D.. Tke Teaching of ReadMg, Ward Lock Educational implementation. Thelive (1972); Wilkinson. A.. The Faundaiians of Language, prepanitionand 0.U.P. (1971): De Leeuw. M. E., Read Reiter, Read options cover major topics of the course. As Poster. Penguin (1966). something of a postscript, there follows tlw The following are the set books for the course: concluding unit on resumes for re-ading. Hoffman. M., Rtading,Writing and Relevance, So much for the units of study provided by Hodder and Stoughton Educational: the course team. In addition .3 basic reference Williams.A..Readino andtheComumer: A books areusedthroughout,viz:Reading Functional Approach,Ilodder and Stoughton Today and Totnorrmt. (Melnik and Merrit): Educational; The-Reading Curricultan (same authors): and Zimet S. 0.. Print and Prtludice. LILP: Lancnage for Life. (I LM.S.O.) .Reading ProblemsandPractices (Jessie Another 0.13courseof interestand valueto Reid): UnderstandingReadingbyFrank English teachers is E. 262 Languao and Learning. Smith(Holt, -ReinhartkindWinston) was This course together with the Reading Development alrnost a settext as well. These three text Course constitutes ModulesI and 2 of the 4 module hOoks alone amass close on 1900 pages of Diploma in Reading Development which the O.U. materialculled fromdiversesourcesall will be offering soon. All available informationisto be found inthe releVant to the reading course. Even withuut supplement entitled Diploma in Reading Develop- one's own scraps of informatTon "thetexts mentinthecurrent 0.U. Prospectus 1977 Post- supplied tr 'great deal of mtiterial and- inform- Experience Comwes: Complete information on the ation at least unfamiliar to me. DiplomawillheprimedinthePosi-Experienee Courses Prospectus197S. duetobe publishedin Tutorials were.. perhaps halfadozen ,. in April/May1977. Theye publications are available number and brought together a. dozen or, so from: The Post Experience Student Office, The Open students talking' over aspects of the obtuse University. P.O.-Box 76. Milton Keynes. MK7 6AN. 29

3 0 A First Year Class LibraryFiction

Two girls, Bonnie and Sylvia, are left in the care of a Miss Slighcarp, who turns out to bethe archetypal 'GEOR r-',E ARTHUR wicked governess. When Bonnie's parents are reported Crsiigie C..:lege of Education lost in a shipwreck. Miss Slighcarp tries to get rid of the girls, but underestimates their resourcefulness . itis a very entertaining story, vigorously told and witty, but not too demanding in language or plot. If This list of 45 books is intended to appeal children enjoy this one, let them try The Whispering to boys and girls whose reading ages are Mountain or Nighi Birds on Nantucket. between 10 and 14. The books arc arranged by categories and the annotations, while they Elidor. Alan Garner. Armada Lions, 50p Four Manchester_ -childrenare entrusted withthe may not give as much information on the story guardianship of the four treasures of the world of as might be Wished, do try to indicate which Elidor in order to save it from the powers of darkness. children are most likely to enjoy them. But These treasures however, as well as causing electrical disturbances, bring determined and dangerous enemies class teachers should read them themselves in search of thr.m. The story is exciting and fast, before_recornmen-ding them. moving .afteraslowishstart.Thedialogueis As always, the difficulty is in what zo omit handled well. Thig is a good prelude to The Owl from the list. I have tried to keep to certain Service and eventually Red Shift., ground rules, not with total success, in my The Moon in the Cloud. RosemarY,Harris. Faber 60p choice. Firstly, no author is represented by Reuben the animal-tamer is offered a place on the more than one book (but in several instances , Ark by Ham for him and his wifeif he will bring this book isthe' first of a series); secondly, back a sacred cat from the Black Land (Egypt.) most of the books have been published since With- the help of his animals, he survives, only to find that Harn has lied to him and the Flood is 1960; thiraY,I have tried to choose hooks imminent. This is a very witty and amusing book which have qualities that serve the purposes with a range of memorable characters. There are two and needs of both teachers of English and their further books about ReubenThe Shadow on she pupils; fourthly, wherever possible I have gone Sun and The Bright and Morning Star. for paperbacks. 7 he Mouse and his Child. Russell Hoban.- The total approximate cost of this collection Penguin, 50p isE28, but publishers arc not now putting Superficiallythis is a story about the adventures of prices on all the books in their catalogues, so two clockwork mice sent out into the world of the real animals of pond and field (rat, crows, turtles etc.) be pl-epared to pay more. If you buy all the in search of a home and independence Such a mixture supplementary titles mentioned in series and may not attract many readers at firsi. But the book trilogies, you will have 87 books and the is brilliant and difficult. It is violent, erudite, satirical, probable cost will be £47. veryfunny,philosophical.Thecharactersare mernotable,particularly Manny Ratand thereis I. FANTASY much penetrating social comment. A rare book but probably only for the most discerning. Waters-hip Down. Richard Adams. Penguin. 813p Warned of impending disaster, a group of rabbits set A Wizard of Earthsea. Ursula Le Guin. Penguin, 45p out to find and establish a new warren. Their journey Earthsea is a wholly created fantasy world of which leads them into many new and dangerous situations dragons and wizards are part. The hero, Ged goes to which help to define the positions- that each assumes train as a Wizardbeing possessed of great natural within the group, The book has a strong story-line. powers .but his pride and arrogance cause him to diverse and interesting characters and should provoke release into the world a terrible shadow of unlife a lot of discussion about different types of society. which pursues him wherever he goes. The story is leadership, duty loyalty and so on. The language is absorbing and the language beautiful. Itis an utterly very varied perhaps not always successfully deployed. consistent and convincing world. This bookisthe but never dull. For a children's book itis unusually first of threethe others being The Tombs of Atuan long and quite demanding in ideas and vocabulary, and The Farthest Shore. The middle oneisless but this does not seem to deter youngsters: successful; the last one is as good as the first, possibly - better. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase.JoanAiken. Penguin 40p The Ghost of Thomas Kempe. ,PenelopcLively. This story is a good introduction to the works of . Pan Books, 35p Joan Aiken whose historical fantasies are set in the Thomas Kempe was a sorcerer In the 17th century teign of King George 111 in the early 19th century. but materialises in the 20th century as a poltergeist. ,flu Mstens on 10 year old James Harrison and tries 2. IlISFORICAL VA-eluding anh century) to make him his apprentice which CiaISCS consider- able trouble for James. At first Thomas is merely a Little ikalia. L. M. Almedingen. OUP, 40p nuisance but gradually more serious and unpleasant The author bases this novel, really an autobiography, things beginto hapOn inthevillageThis story on the memoirs of her great-aunt Catherine who tells combines humour and seriousness very skilfully and of her childhood in 19th century -1 sarist Russia. She is a good introduction to an author whose books are was the daughter of a wealthy nobleman and con- always interesting and well-written. sequently enjoyed a -privileged and often pampered life.hut the detailsofthatlife Make fascinating Farthfavs. William Mayne. Penguin, 45p reading. Itis safe to say that this book will appeal The irruptionintoour day of an18thcentury togirlsrather than boys (thetitleitselfwill be drummer boy who carries with him a candle that enough for (he latter); but no slight is intended in burns with a cold flame. causes all sorts of upheavals. that remark =this volume and its companions Ellen Giant stOnes move. a boggart disrupts a home, strange and Anna, which describe the lives of other meMbers phantom figures appear, and the two boys who try to of this talented and liyely family, are very readable help the drummer boy lind themselves in real danger. and enjoyable. Mayne can often be a quirky writer, but. here he gives a very sensitive picture of the drummer boy's Madatan. Peter 'Carter. OUP,-40p refusal to admit his world is dead and gone. The The setting of this novel is Northumbria at the time bookisquitedifficulthutfullof rewardsfor of the sacking of Lindisfarne by the Norsemen in thoughtful readers, 793 A.D. The hero, Madaah, findsthatpagans, Christian thegns and monks are equally ruthless in Mrs Frisky and the Rata of Robert O'Brien. their lust for power and he suffers much before he Penguin. 40p finds peace. The story is uncompromising, at times A most imaginative and thotightful fantasy about a stark, but always compelling reading. A- group of super-intelligent rats who escape from an L The Shire Dancer Paula Fox. Macmillan. £1.95 experimentallaboratoryaind developa hijhly _ _ organised society. Their knOwledge is used to 1-,elp BecauseJessieBoniercanplaythefife,heis a family of mice whose home is threatened by ti kidnapped by the crew of a slaver so that he can farmer.- The storyisafivaysinteresting and often -dance the slaves- on the voyage frOm Africa. The .- exciting, and free of whimsy., captain and crew are cruel and evil,but- nothing frightens the boy half as much as the actualities of Tom's Midnight Garden. Philippa Pearce. Penguin. slavery and a slave-ship_ How this traffic can corrupt 40p (approx.) all who are part ofitmakes memorable reading. When an eccentric clock str kes thirteen. Tom finds Sentimentalitysensationafismover moralising may the yard athis uncle's house has been tranformed appear in some books on-this themebut not here. into an extensive garden of Victorian times. Here he- The book is demanding. meets a young girl called (-latty. The subtly changing relationship between themthe puzzling nature of Smith. Leon Garfield. Penguin. 40p time, the beautiful descriptive writing, all contribute Smithisan18th century London pickpocket who to the making of one of the finest time-fautases for stealsadocument which othersare preparedto children. Any sensitive reader should enjoy murder .for. Unable to read ithe seeks help and in so doing endaners hislife but wins an influential The Hobbit. J. R. R. Tolkien. Allen and Unwin. 751) friend_ The plotis rather involved but -,some of the This book is a prelude to the adult trilogy The Lord incidentsSmith's first bath the escape from Nesvgate cf the Rings, but can be read independently as a are vividly told in racylively language. Garfield children's book. The story concerns Bilbo Baggins's givesacoloUrfulpicture of18th centurylifein search for a treasure hoard guarded by Smaug the several of his books. Equally exciting is BlackJock_ dragon He is accompanied by dwarfs ana helped by - Gandaff the wi-/ard. The book abounds in excitement. The Bonnie Pit Laddie.- Fredrick Grice. OUP, and humour, and has some unforgettable characters The working conditions in Durham pits at the turn of =Collum for one. The whole fantasy world is made this century and the struegle between the owners and richlyalive andrealisticwithitsownhistory, the miners form the basis of this story. W-hen Dick geography, legend and creatures.Itisinteresting to Ullathorne's father is blacklisted the bov is forced to compare it with el Wizard of Earthsra. leave, school and go down the pit. A badaccident . however, forces him to look for another career. An The Sword intheStone_T.Ff.White_ Armada honest and unsentimental story which is particularly Lions, 50p successful with pupils from mining areas. Thisis a most engaging and funny fantasy about Arthur before he became king of England and when The Strimghold. Mollie Hunter. H. Hamilton. El.60 he was known affectionately as Wart. Among the This is an outstanding historical novel which re-creates many characters,oneinparticularwillcertainly the period near the beginning or the Christian era endear himself to the readers, King Pellinore. There when the brochs of Orkney were built possibly as a isagreatdeal of gentleirony and sophisticated defence against Roman slavers. The power struggle ,allusion in the book which some children may miss, between chieftains and priests is particularly vivid as but others- will revelin_ The next stepisto read is the serise of .terror felt by the people when the The Once and Future King. White:s retelling of the Druid cursei them ne story movesbriskly with Arthurian legends. plenty of action and excellent description. t

Rif/vs for-Wwic. Harold Keith. OUP, 41:43 hr Lark and incLourci. tiarbaraVitiard. is the Penguin, 24 'the American Civil War in the W,:Ntern states While not the best of them, this book is the first of subject of this quite long novel high -recounts the I6 year old Kansas Mart boy, Jeff live in a series called the -Forest- novels which follow experienee,x.-,of a the fortunes of the M:allory and Medley families in Husseyfrorn the day he volunteers for the Union Sussex trom the acee:s4on a Henry Vit through to Arms- to his return home_ foaar-__years 'Ihe -book --focue-5--ort-Ilifir in a small area id: the countryand the Civil War groat historical eventare thus thus makes the issues easier to understand,Itis a present to the reader :is sometimes-remote happenings eompitssionate book. unsentimentid texeept foronc which nevertheless have a profound effect on the folk characters' liXes, he books give a detailed ageount romantic interlude togards the end when jell' time and make enjoyable ,in love, whigh may cause a few boyre:alers to jump of countrylifeatthis interestingand reading. "the four later books in reading order are, a ch:ipterj, ,hut tilwaysdeyply 1Iw entertaining, It succeeds at vaeious levels, notleast as The Sprig of &mow A Cold Wind Mowing; a good adventure story and ashistory brought alive. Iron Lily: Itarrow and Ilarvest. Read AsoKomanichi. 3. CONTEMPORARY(20thCelina-A ne is One. Barbara EconiePicard. OUP, 40p noi Martm 13:Ward. Armada Lions, 35p Stephen de Beativille is a coward in the eyesof his Nlat) Moggy leaves school, he goes to work on ItimilY and sofitted only for the life of a monk. the London docks with his lather, Hitt in the 19ars, Ile runs avvay from. the menastery and sets outto docker's Ideistough ;and demeaning. oith bleak prove himself alitson lot his father the Earl of prospects, so Moggy takes to boxing as a way out. Origivesby. 'five book goes-far beyond the levelof an some teachers ano parents may find the realism of this adventure story. however, by questioningthe whole book overdonethe swearing, the ,descriptions of an' ethic of knighthood and bravery in battle.it is fairly alcoholicoldwoman,thepregnant motherbut demanding in language and some incidents are notfor perhaps youngsters will enjoy it because ol that, `flue the squeamish. story is told well and the dialogue crackles. Rosemary Stitclilf, OUP, 40p Corrie's War. Nina Rawden. Penguin, 35p Theeolag the Ninth. Carrie and her younger brother, Nick, are evacuated --After Marcus Aquila is invalided out of the armyhe but lind life sits out to find die reason for the ppearance of .to It Welsh vilhige during World War his Lithe;:s legion. the Ninth, who wegf thought to in Councillor Evan's house very different from home. with The characterisation in this book is excellent as is have beet-if dishonoured in battle in Caledonia, A.s the story which is amusing, exciting and mysterious, most of Rosemary Sutcliff's novels, thelanguage is rather literary and so the book may appeal more to Nina Ilawden's books are deservedly popular with is children because she never talks down to them. For better readers. But as always, the background detail sheer enjoyment. they lire hard to beat, although they fascinating, thy characters well portrayed_ youngsfers who enjoy more- leisurely stories than Treece's; for hilve itt'any otheNjadmirable qalities to add to that, example, will want to read more of this author who romihr Mixed-up Fires of Mrs Vasil E. Frankwciler. contributed so much 'to the writing of historical E. L, Konigsburg. Penguin, 20p fiction for children.' -Straight-A's." Claudia Kincaid runs away from home because she feels she is unappreciated, She takes her Jlarned !Mow,.Henry Treece, Penguin, 20p brother Jamie. who is a tight-wad, but shrewd, and .111 many wavs this story epitomises the best in Treece's they hide out in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, books, The boy hero, Bjorn, becomes a crew Their survival taetics are very amusing and touching manb7fer..of -a raiding longship and grows up to be a and more than compensate for a rather weak mystery feared warribrIlowever, the nomadic fife of a Viking element tthich is added to the story. An off-beat book. .beginsto weary Elm ashe- learnsthatthere. are other kinds of courage. The language captures the Ron for Your Life,David l_ine. Penguin, 40p saga style well; grimly humorous. stark- but beauti- "Ellis is a very good straightforward thriller about two -fully descriptive. Excellent for re:idiTig boys gho after trying unsuccessfully to persuztde the police that a murder is to be committed, tind them- Iloime in fi: Woods.Laura Ingalls Wilder selves the target for the would-be killers who must Penguin, 35p silence them somehow. 'Hie pace of the storyis It could be said that this book is too easy, possiblx excellent and the author rmikes use of a good deaLof too childish, tor secondary pupils. and yet the simple colloquial language which matchec .the setting rind charm of the story of Eaura's childhood in Dakota in characters well. 1 his is a book- with wide appeal for the pioneering era of Americli is hard to resist. Light :his age group, further books follow her life np to the time of her marriage and after The stories fire full of fascinating Twelfthnay (ifJuly. Joan l_ingard. Penguin, 35p details of their everyday life_ What comes over most Present-day Belfast and the religious divisons of the strongly is the sense of -a loving family atmosphere community form the basis of this novel. which is the which is free of sentimentality. The other books are liNt of four ;Thom a Protestant girl. Sadie, and a ittle House on the Prairie:-On the- Banks of Plum Catholic boy. Kevin. who cross the invisible but well- Creek: By the Shores of Silver l_ake: The Long defined barriers which exist. Far from being a piece Winteril Little Town on thePrairie: These Happy of overt didacticism. this series -deserves a medal for Goldow-Years; Farmer Boy; First Four Years. treating an explosive subject objectivity and_honestly, and with humour and sympathy. Very good writing sh Road, Ivan Southall. Penguin.. 35p for this age-group and deservedly popular. The other Southall, an Australian,isfond of the theme of titlesarc Acrossate Burrkades, Inw EAlle.A Proper ehildren coping withrealdangers and difficulties. Place, Slost ofhisnovelsillustratethisin some way, although one or two tend tooverload the story. The 11111 of the Rtl-Eox.Allan Campbell McLean, notablyFinn's.Tally, But he writes well and in this Armada Lions, 30p account of children trapped by an advandng bush fire, he keeps a tight control of his materialHis While Afilsdair Cameronistrims:citingto Skye ,on ,holiday he becomes involved in_a -dangerous and hooks are usually Popular and raise many issues mysterious episode on the train, When he arrives in for discussion, Skye, the mystery grows, until he no longer feels safe with anyone, except for Duncan Mor his dead father's IIipCav, Theodore Taylor, Peoguin, 30p hest friend, 'The story- is exciting and haS the added There is always a fascination in stories about casta- attraction of its 'Scottish setting which will appeal to ways on desert islands and how they manage to anyone who knows the island, The characters are survivi.In this___o4, a young white boy and an old wellportrayed andfor once speak withgenuine Negro seaman are Tafrift on a raft in the Carribbean Ilighlandvoices. A good,fast-movingadventure after being torpedoed. They finish up eventually on a StOry. tinymammy. The old man- knows -he may not survive the rigours of the life and carefully prepares the boy for being on his own and having to cope for himselt . M. Marks, OUP, 40p fhe trouble is .the boy has gene blind. The relation-: Jason Wright iS on board a VCIO which is highjacked , ship between the two is movingly clgA-cribed without :by fanatical members of the Japanese Red Army who ever being sentimental or glarnourised. and the book fiareeihe pilot to land in' a remote part of Thailand should prove very popular.Ifisshort enough to where the passengers. are held _hostage in order to persuade even the most reluctant reader to finish it. obtain the releitse of Arab-terrorists from the Israelis,-' The-boy escapes and joins the rescue forces, What niehrlfkK Sheila Sancho, Collins.' £2,50 is-good about_ this story, apart from its brisk pace, 114Aitz:ilIV this ismeant toho a-funny book and it is! isthe -emphasis on -the seriousness of such crimes With char:meters xuch as Sir Vere De PressiooSir and thefactthatthcre are no easy solutions or. Tilf Fide (and his daughter Myste) and Father Ofl .it chanceS- for phoney heroic's, An excellent yarn. can hardly fail. But anart from being a hilarrous tale of chivalry and true love_italso gives the reader Thv Goalkeeper's Revenge and other .ao anastonishing amount ofaccurate and detailed Bill Naughton. Penguin, 35p information about life in the 14th century. At times A book with such atitle can hardly fail to attract the author seems unsure which aspect to emphasise, boy readers although only one story is about football. but itis worth reading nevertheless. This is a very good selection with one leally out- standing short store. -Snit Mahnwhich never fails Dorlwrg &offish Holiday-.Eric Thompson. to impress any pupils Who have it read to thern. All Broekhampton Red Knight, 25n the stories are about everyd:my events and people. The char:lows from the Magic Roundabout are firm favourites With morale of all ages The stories are very-funny. -with Thompson's usual brilliant use of Flambords_ K,M. Peyton, Penguin, 40p(apnrox) language and skilfuleme of timing_ Can anyone Thefirstofa trilogyabout unner-classlifein re,istthe chanter entitled H:12eic Hunt and Golf? Fdwardian days which follows Christina'slife from Persuade your puPilsto abandon iheir pride and ..s_ithe time she is sent to live with her t_Incle Russell enjoy themselves, _ and her two cousins M:mrk and Will to her eventual marriage and widowhood. They are romantic stories Row toRe Toon. GeotireyVilliams and- Ronald hut very enjoyable and hontain irresistible ingredients S--r1-. Penguin 20p for girIs (first love, ,Tival-suitors.horses. a handsome groom) and a possibli, inducement to boys (the early Nigel 'Molesworth svlomis the hero of this saga of lifeatStCustard'sisinthegreattraditionof days of flying). The two later books are The Edge of William Jennings and 501.1lsisters at at St Trinirms. mihr MadandPlambarils Smitmer. If your nunilscannotspellthis book will- only confirm their worst suspicions that they are'right Swallows and Amazons. Arthur Ransome you are wrong and the advice on how to nags exams Penguin, 60p should become their BilsIo. Great fun, and shades of The attraction of Ransome's hooks for young readers the classic1016 AndAll That: is that- they combine soundpracticaladvice on camping_ sailing fishing and swimmingwith completely credible adventures and activities. Though 4, IIUMOUR me of the dialogue may have dated abit,the story-tellingisstillfresh and vieorpus, while the Charlie andthe Chocolate Factor aald Dahl. range of characters allows caeh reader to ally himself Penguin, 40p (or herself),Rwith the one who anneals most to him Charlie Bucketis one of the five winners who are (or her). There are twelve hooks in the serieseach' takcn. tovisitthe fabled Chocolate factory of Mr one over 300 nages long bitt once addicted children Willy Wonka Whieh contains every kind of confec- will demand the rest .so be prepared, Usually. the tionary delight children ever dream of. The book is addicts will be the better readers, / wildly funny with quite a bit of slimpstiek comedy, It never fails to succeed with youngsters of many age- Gore haslost touch with her parents and joins a groups, not least because of the puns, the names of band of Sikhs who are looking for a peaceful place the characters (VerucaSalt, Augustus Gloop etc.) tosettle.Thisisoneofthreebooksknown and the bizarre situations, collectively as The Changes novels. It deals with the origins of the period and themes such as fear and I he Phantom Tollbooth. Norton Justcr. superstition, 'how to survive, the law of the strong, Armada Lions, 45p the need for banding together, and so on. The other rhe humour of this book is almost entirely of the mo books are The Weadwrmonger and Heartsease_ verbal kind (puns.taking wordsliterallye.g.the Watchdog is, a dog with a watch inits middle) and the story is a vehicle for it.It is a kind of Morality 6_ MYTH. LEGEND. FOLK-LORE Tale about Milo, a discontented boy, who is sent on a journey to find out the need for living and hearing The Well at the World's End. Norah and William but it is very inventive and witty. More accomplished Montgomerie. (FolkTalt.sof. Scotland.Bodley readers will enjoy it best, although it has Wide appeal. Head, £3.26 There are over 50 stories' in this collection gathered frcmallpartsofScotland.rangingfromthe 5. FUTURISTIC NOVEL humorous to the tragic and including such famous cnes as Rashie Coat and the tales of Finn Mac Cool. 1 he Guardians. John Christopher. Penguin, 40p Itisan excellentselectionwritteninclear and Britainisdividedintci, Conurbs, densely populated uncomplicated prose, ideal for reading aloud. So few and regimented urban regions,. which are fenced off Scottishchildren seemto know thefolk-talesof from the Connty' and have ne contact with anyone their own country that a book of this'quality should living-there Rob Randall flees there after his father be welcomed and widely used. dies btu although he finds life much more congenial atfirstbe begins torealise thatthis freedomis Hemes and Monsters. James Reeves. Blackie, El.85p controlled. The story isnot fur-fetched and should Reeves's -regellingoffolk-talesandlegendsare give rise to a lot of discussion about the future shape amongst the very best available for youngsters. an of society. outstanding one being the Cold Flame based on a. story by the Brothers -Grimm, Inthis volume he. The Devil's Children, Peter Dickinson. Penguin. 30p presents the legends of Ancient Greece inslightly PIague has emptied the cities of England and the formal butneverpretentiouslanguageand con- people have developed an uncontrollable hatred of centrates on a clear story line without too many side modern machinery . which has resulted in a kind of issues to confuse the readers. A useful prothinciation medieval life being followed. During this firm Nieky guide is given at the beginning.

If reading is so important in school, and we spend so much time on it, how come that so many of our adults ... even if they can read to a reasonable extent. don't bother to do so'? I want to suggest LC) you thatitis the quality of the reading experience that they get in school that influences this situation, and it is there -that we should raise our :priorities.Keith Gardner once apologised for much of the remedial work he had done saying that most of his efforts had gone into "producing.more statistically respectable non-readers. 1DoNALO Movt.v,addressing theNationalCo on Etrglish,-lor the 5/Wel- Learner. June 1976.

34 James InglisTeacher career two things before all othersa teacher and a Glasgow man. Born in Shettleston, he was schooled there andinCoatbridge. After graduating from Glasgow University in 1933, he continued to take the classes leading to the B.Ed. (as it then was). That degree was the passport to educational administration. Committed as he was to the classroom, he characteristically did nottakethefinalexams, butratesthe experienceanimportantone,notleast becauseitbroughL'him intocontact with William Boyd who asked him to work in his Child Guidance Clinic on Saturday mornings. The influence of that experience and of Boyd himslf has stayed with him ever since. In1934, he went to Hamilton Academy. His colleagues of that time tend to speak first of Jimmy the demon table tennis player and star of the staff hockey team. But it was a remarkable English Department, led by the lateWalter Annand andincludingsuch personalities as Robert Miller and Alexander 1 Russell.Thestaff-roorndiscussionsabout Film.) by- kind permissionor politics, society and English teaching_continue The Times Educational Supplcinent (Scotland) to live in the memories of the participants. At the end of September, Jimmy Inglis These pre-war years, however, were ones of retired. - increasing stress and conflict. Jimmy Inglis There is a sentence that readers with a turn claims to have been born a socialist, and is of mind for linguistic philos6phy may, con- proud of the fact that his grandfather was template with more' thaw usual interest. For it oneofthe men who contributed towards combinestotalfactual _accuracywiththe _Wheatley'sparliamentaryelectiondeposit. lowest possible level of probabilityas low, Inevitably, he was politically active at this time- say, as if one should read that the Swiss Franc and made clear his anti-fascism and, as a had collapsed. Retirement and James Inglis loeical consequence, his conkcientious aretermsthatsimply donotcollocate. obiection to war. Even after the outbreak of Whatcomes to -mind is energyboth war he continued to organise and speak at intellectual and physical (in that pavement- anti-war meetings. The antipathy he aroused devouring stride of his, the umbrella grasped hadits outcome in the setting up by the like. a weapon, the brief case tucked under his Education Authority of a kub-committee to arm clearly to some purpose).It would be look into his (and others') subversive activities. safer, in fact, to say that in his having ceased He survived, but not without some bitter tobePrincipalLecturer inEnglishat memories of the YeOerience. 'In the process, Jordanhill College of Education, an important however. he won lifelong friends who saw in phase of his career has ended: hima man ofexceptionalintegrity and He has .been in that job for just ten years, intellectual honesty. andnoothercouldhavebeenamore He has continued to be a political activist, ahpropriate climax to his career. It allowed speaking on Labour platforms at all post war him,toexercisehisinfluenceinEnglish elections, editing Bulletins and news sheets, teaching in Glasgow and. the West in probably and winningtheesteemof Labour party ,the` most potent waythrough 'the training of workerk and M.-P.s throughout the west of eachers.- And he has been throughout his Scotland.Inevitablyhewasinvolved in teacher. politics and his work for-the E.1.S. is end in itself, but as the means by which a story in itself. 'hat work led to his member- we read with precision, and /hy. which ..we ship of the first OA'S__ (he was 'chturman of rettlise_ how languageeitrries' its meaningV the Eimince and (iener,AI Purposes Committee) Tita long essay based on private reading and andofthefirstBoardofCiovernorsof individuttl study. The life of the loeal cattz- Jordanhill College. maniuin allitsitspectsas the basis .for From 1943 onwards he was an Ili:Livein work inthe classroom. (He used to find a Adult Education, tirst as a lecturer in current visit to the_ local sewage works "particularly affitirs,psychology and literature ane-then enriching"V)

(inevitably! ) as a . committee-man and Work of ..this kind attracted _the attention organiser, and heis now West of Scotland of the inspectorate, and, when it came into Chairman of the Workers Educational Assaci- being,' of the Exam Board. Jimmy joined the ittkm mU chttirman of. the Scottish Institute of English Panel of the Board and 'became one Adult Education. of the shapers of C.S,Y.S. English. No-one What must concern us here, however, is his indeed had a greater influence on the eventual work as an English teacher, and for English form of that exam than Jimmy Inglis. We are- teaching. He leftHamiltonto become allused to it now, and- some have developed Principal Teacher at Airdrie Academy ;11 1943 skills- in finding fault with it. BUt itis worth and he4 that post 'until 1966, when he moved remembering what a revolution it represented, to Jordanhill. Twenty-three years is a long time what .anextraordinary achievement ofthe to sustain an ethusiasm for one post, but his free play of ale imagination it was (and is). lormer pupils make it quite clear that he was Some sense of its _originality can be got by teaching, in and out of the.classroom, with the comparing itwith the Specimen "A" Grade same passion from first to la-st. papers inEnglish produced a year or two He had developed, quite early in his career, earlier by an S.E.D. working pitrty and by a philosophy of -English teaching, of unusual attending to. the -struggles going on now in clarity and coherence. He knewthathis England to intwfJuee new forms of examin- function as a teacher was to help his pupils to ittionin English ft.kr the '16.19 age range, discover and create themselves through the Whentheexam wasinstitutedJimmy engagernent of their minds and imaginations became Principal Examiner and his influence with what the world,has La offer, particularly onEnglishteachingthroughout.Scotland as it is reflected in literature, He knew that that continued to be felt. process of discovery and creation is lqrgely a At .the same time he became a member of,. process icifarticulation,ofrenderingper- the Scottish -Central Committee on English ceptions,feelingsandunderstandingsinto under the Chitirmanship of Richttrd Hendry Wards: And h, kn-w thaLm-ntal g_rowth is a and inevitably one of its weightiest figures. -process of continual .adjusiment and reorder- His Work for itfluty .stand for all .the work he im7 'in the:face of new experience. He knew,. has done on,.innumetable committees. as well, tItat the purpose or his work was to' (Radic-als and inn-avatars arc often impatient hem his pupils. not to.become merely academic ttnd dismissive of theinevitiible. slowness Of _1jnt1sehalttrly (though these are not pejorative committee w(irk.Not Jitnmy).First; heis _6drms in his voctibulary) but to go out into the always thoroughly prepared. Second, he has rld' and act. imeyefordetail "-thatfrequently 'escapes a result., much of the matter of later others. Third, till his decisions are made within "curriculumdevelopment" wasthestaple a framework 01 philosophy and values, Fourth, diet -in AirdrieAcademy.. Contemporary he Can think on hisfeet imd articulate. his- -literature speaking to the present condition, thoughts witha speed and skillthatfew hilt' not of .course to the exclii__sion of literature people can match. I'the past, for -it too speaks to the present., That means, of,.: course, that he is a fear- ash literature. "Creative" it riting. not as sortie -adversary. And there's no doubt tharthe has recently been extraordinarily- assurned. as nre °Ibis intellect has scorched it lot of people. -:vocational.. training for short-story writers . It can be a painful experience to have. one's .; dramntists and _novelists, but. as a meanS of seedlingidettsshrivelledbythekindof :exnloring.diseiivering-andarticulatingthe devastating critimie that- Jininly can brina-. to- self -and -social reality.. T',actual Criticism,- hot bear. And not eyerybody ''findsit: possible to -; remember that the atm_is directed at the lt_ always comes as a surprise to thusew ho not the person. don'tknow him well 10 discover other aspects But what everyone remembers and speaks of ofhispersonality.Most iniportantisthe inhiscommittee Work arethosemany discovery that in personal affairs he is the occasions when his-contribution 'has shirted most gracious, courteouS, antI"kindly of men, the whble fkicus of the discussion and moved loyal 'and supportive particularlyto junior it'to new and more significantlevel.An .colleagues.. And he is somebody who relishes outstanding example of this sort occurred, on livinga lover of music, .drama and art, a a hot July afternoon when the S.C.C.E. met connoisseurofwine,a gourmet (albeita to discuss its submission to the Munn Com- vegetarian one! ). and, when he puts on the mitte. A draft had been prepared and W as on style, something of a dandy in his dress. the lable.It was a competent, ir unexciting: What will he do. now? Of course, he will piece of work setting out the place of English cultivatehis garden(strictlyspeaking,his ° in the school.It was the sort of ,draft that plot). But then he has always done that among would- have gone through in the absence or 'all his other activities, Doubtless the various Jimmy with hardly a changed comma. He tictivitieswithwhichhe,continuestobe , destroyedit,revealingitsinward4006ing associated will enlarge their demands on his nature, the conventionality anti insecurity or time. But he should do more. He should set as unspoken w;sumptions its ovcrly academic himself a major task. view' of the nature of English, and above all its Jimmy is a good Write'', a fast writer -and a failure to show the social relevance or the Frew:tent writer. Witness the remarkable con-, experience of English, But his critique was tributions he has made to -the T,E.S.S. in the not.merely destruetivii, for he was at the saMe- pi-ist year or -two. But vve know him only as a time replacing what he removed with new sprinter over .shert distances and usually in a structures and new signposts. ,That afternoon polemical setting.Perhaps now hewillset ---_ profoundlyeducative-for, ., everyone himselfto produce a book.' We need a history present. When he is on that kind of form, he of English teaching in Scotland -to set beside non-pareil. the work that Shaver and Mathieson have- He has brought honour tO the profession or done for England. Without such a work -our English teaching-in other ways. His contribu- view of our own professionisliable to be --' tions to discussion in the CbeSters conferences. dishalarct:d .one.Jimmy Inglis could write forexample, probitblydidmoretowin such a :-,oksettin& the activities or English respect for leachers from visiting acluiesnics itois within-the total social, political and ..thimany 'other .singlething.He would covii,:1-1 in a way that few others discourse ,wbh erudition on rnatters of high flre equipped to undertake. That he should"do scholarShip. perfectly at case in any eomptoi-. so is our wish for his retirement. Then he would inthe next breathdo.p.1 intinufle &Rill with the most Mundane a.,p,:cts S. B. S. of classroom management.

37 New Books from Heiñemann Alpha-to Omega Young Fluent Second Edition. Readers The AZ of Teaching Reading, Margaret Clark Writing and Spelling In an attempt to understand more about Beve Hornsby and how children learn to read Dr Clark investigated a group of 32 children who Frula Shear were able to read well on starting school. -An extremely detailed and comprehensive Their progress through school was then collection of practical teaching material, monitored over the early years and their which most reading teachers are likely to developing interests and achievements find quite irklispensable." Tirnes Educa- closely followed. -It is a striking and tional Supplement. important study, the implications of which may be far-reaching, not least in the way The first edition-of Alpha to Omega has we tackle research.--Times Educational established itself as a uniquely useft.il_ Supplement. £1-70 language programme for reading retardates of all ages_ For the second edition the text has been typed in an improved layout with various corrections, amendments and forthcoming additions including four spelling tests which enable the teacher to judge the pupils' Language Across level of attainment at each stage. £2.75the Curriculum Michael Marland Alpha to Omega with specialist contributions by Flashcards Keith Gardner, Schools Council Effective Reading Project, W. A. Gatherer, Chief Be've Hornsby Advisor, Lothian, and Nancy Martin, The cards cover Vowels. single letters and Schools Council Writing Across the sounds, consonant digraphs, assimilation, Curriculum Project. consonant blends, vowel/consonant di- This major study appears in January 1977 graphs, -magic e," hard and soft "c" and in the Heinemann Organization in Schools "g,- vowel digraphs, open and closed SerieS.1Headmaster of a London Second- syllables, final syllables, and useful social ary School, a member of the Bullock vocabulary. 250 cards £5.25 Commission, and as Chairman of the Schools Council Engligh Committee, A Michael Marland is well qualified to write on-a language policy that can be applied right across the curriculum, particularly as iHeinernann he has been able to enlist the support-of gdocational Books the most able specialists in the field of reading and language in the Secondary .:48 Charles St., London W1X BAH School. about-C4-50 Notes and News

to- questiou the lecturers atthe time or tothink- Conference Reports through their significance for the practical side of the course. The effectiveness of the practical side only time The National Course: English for Slower Learners csilltel!. The course was divided into small groups ofnineortenandtutoredinprocedures and 21st-25th June, 1976. techniques by (mainly) practising teachers. There was No one-week couNecan metamorphosea teacher no time to take this one stage further and actually without any knowledge or skillsinteaching slow preparematerialsforourselves .anda slightly learners into one who -goes out dazzling with the longer course might have allowed for this crucial ring DE confidence.It'snot a toothoastenor was step. All the same we felt for the first time that here theintentionevermerelycosmetic.Insteadthe was the material and there was how to use' it :now intention was two-fold:to confront ourselves .with it was up to us. the best thinking in Britain on all matters pertaining These practical sessions consisted of three courses . to slow learning: and to take away some fundamental one of which was donc-by everyone. with -a choice practicaltechniques which we might actuallyuse between the other two, The "compulsory" one was in our classrooms.It's not surprising that we are concerned with the basics: what do you do with child- stillassimilating the thinking; butit shouldn't stop ren of minimal literacy, how do you develop the read- us from ordering the stuffv..e need and meanwhile ing. Writing oral and listening skills'? The choice was trying our prentice hand at some of the techniques. between a course. on organising for- slower learners At -the heart of the course was the draft of the in SI and 2 and-one for dealing with them at the S.C.C.E-:, report-Englishfor Slower Learning S3-4 stage.Innearly allcases the haid practical Children\in the Scottish Secondary School." so much detail of the courses gave us clear ideas and rein- approved sof by Professor JamesBrittoninthe forced confidence for returning to the classroom. We opening lecture of the course. The Report is shortly felthowever, practically inevitablythat if only we to be published by H.MS_O.1 and itis hoped that could take such gleanings from all the tutors '(eight it will give suP.port to teachers faced at the moment in all) instead of only two we could be quadruply by children with learning problems they can neither efficient. Perhaps something can still be done about analyse nor cure, This was the required pre-reading this: and :certainly we welcome the 'news that the forthe course anditsthinking proved to bein lectures are to be made available in pamphlet-form in tude -with.-- though complemented and extended by, the near future. the .lecturers to the Course_ . After all this,we 'were tired, which one part of an Apart from Professor Britton who. ina remark- afternoon off. and a visit to see the resources of the able performance called on the best _research from Torphichen Education Centre concerned with remedial many parts of the world toclarifythe complex educationdidn't, altogetherassuage.Butinthe nature of language and learning and to point to evenings we weresubjectedtoan Audio-Visual _ the Darticular difficulties in these processes for slower Course which consisted of one voluntary and very learnersthe course heard from Donald Moyle on interesting evening of teachers showing how extremely Reading. Dr Joan -Tough and one of her research useful work can be built around tape-slide and 8mm teamonthedevelopmentoflanguageskillsin movie-making by thechildren. and -three lecture/. votine children fa most stimulating and illuminating demonstrationsbytheeducationofficersofthe day in which videotapes Droved once again that see- B.B.C. and S.T.V. of the radio 'and T.V. programmes . ine is b6fieving). from Torn Meenach who made us devised to be suitable for slower learners. all revise our notion of the slow learner as nassiVe In short a very worthwhile course. The sun shone . Victimhydemonstratineatoncetheenormous theenvironsof PollockHallsarearrestingarid , economicandsocialdisabilitieshe managesto beautifulthe food and accommddation very accept- survive and the richness of the linguistic resources able_ When do we startspreading- the word at which he brines to the school and which often are Regional or Local level? ienored or stifled there, Finally, Andrew Chirnside. Tutors on the course were:Richard. .I3inns.St H.M.D.S_C.I.fT-terMaiestv's Denote Senior Chief Mungo's, Academy, Glasgow;Brian.13oyd. St Inspector)brilliantlycalledattentiontothe wav Cuthbert's High School. Renfrewshire: Brian Carson. in which the very organisation of the school and' Greenfaulds Hich School. Curnberdauld: Rob Lovett, the edlication -system makesitdifficultto Prbieve Remedial and Special Education Deoartment, the kind of flexible response to the needs of children . FordanhillCollege of Education: Jean McClosky. narticularly the slower learner, which should be our Cranhill Secondary School_ Glasgow: Bob Maxwell. Tornhichen Education Centre. Edinbureh: Ian Nicol. One criticism or the course must be that there Perth'Grammar School. CourseDirector was didn't seem to be ever enough tin-re left for members GOrdon F. Liddell.AssistantDirector. C Secretary and dogsbody was lain Robertson. English No nuNication date Lc vet arpilahte. Department Moray House College of Education. -1 39 'ALanguage ,For ,LIte:ResidentialSerninarfor . Aims, organisation,: activities, resouires and, - teachers In the Ayr Division of Strathclyde Seamill correction sYdre des4ibed -Snd given a context_ in the _ Tedchers Centre, 14-16 May 1976. speaker's philosophy: ; . Utast:4 MuRRAY Write.S: :TM attemptingtocreatea livelyenvironmera f,:pwardS Of sixty delegates from Nursery, Primary --s=kithihsyhich there\is practiceintbe skillsarid and Secondary Schools.the Advisory Service and class teaching Where necessary.- ii Minspectorateof Schools attendedthiscon- ference whia, as Mr J.L.S. Waddell, Education Mr. Patricky ycLaughlin and Mr Brian Tvlurrav Officer (Curriculum Devdopment) said in his Intro- hared the session of Language and Literature:the -auction, set out 'to illuminate and offer the occasion former invoked,Sluzdes of Acceptabilityin a Q!fisely fordiscussionofseveralcrucialaspectsofthe .reasoned treatment of attitudes tolanguage wnte aullock Repot hiscolleague made arila for consideration of a Whilesinglelecturespotswereoccupied -'by wider range.of literature inFor "Dagicl Coppefietd- Sydney Smyth, Michael Marland. John Q'Neill and read "K ex"? Anthony Adams most sessions involved tWo speakers . RemedialEductifidnfoundspokesmeninMr exploring different-sections of Bullock in the light of ThomasMeenligh. -and Mr CharlesWilson:on _their own experience.Discussionperiods took up Advisers' views onHelping thi.. Skiw Learnerbeing issues raised in lectures. while seminars allowed small accompanied by ifSchool Approach to Remedial groups to concentrate on questions of their choice. Education:Itwatr interesting tto note how many of 'The number of cross-references and thelevelof Mr. Meenagh's' referencestothesocio-economic discussion suggested that the forinat was a successful factors affecting the sloW learner were recognised .ritic although asonemember put it. -More seminars by the-head Teacher'S organisatioti, m,ottldhave been welcomc. butnot, ifitmeant Mr lain McGillivray and David Menzic.s examined missing any of the lectures!" _ the philosophy dnd practiearimplications of Mixed- Two of the speakers sumined up the members' Ability.'refuelling.-Describing Ths: Renfrewslure awarenes-sofresponsibilityfor language being far Experience thefornier pointed to-the extent to which mom :hartthe jealously gaarded preserve of the his UDC. Report- on lhad been confirmed and English-! Department and whether or not thiswas strengthened bg Bullock ana Britton.Much more acknowledged in the schools: aware of language, teachers' had begun 'to back out of the class situation into a group oae. Mr Menzies"- "Of course_ we are all familiar withthe content experience made him "prepared tb sweep aside the of the Bullock Report, OR ARC 'NE?Ithink we CoMrtfittee's e:splacements, all save. one ... 'provided '.'.OiJlAlbe VC iss indeed,ifwe assumed arrameNr our colleagues and amongst the public at itreceives a great deal of thought and planning. lar, e. any real understanding of the sort of issue wi'dt "the P.T, as the unarguably ruciat figure," wc have heard expounded Mr Michael Marland is celebrated for being "die and with which we voice of the Seem-Wary' on the Btillock' Committee.- have been tryingto grapple `over the course of .IIis lecture on A'Whole-SelwolLdnguage Polley and r.c week-end," (An thony Adams) theOrganisation' of a Secondary Sciwoland the ensuing dissusion occupied the slot from' 8till- 10 "ta. whole-school languagepolicy)is a very Oathe,Satilidayr-njght And much longer,inless task for a secondary school: bbtIthink formal circumstances. ,- itisa' necessary task if our pupils ire going to = Mr John O'Neill looked beyond Bullock to',the indeed have what is me title of the Bullock Report, level of performance actually achieved by our pdpils -Lanettage.lor Life,"(Michael Marland) theschools," Language intheUpper School ...trained"standards," _theB-composition.experi- What iNBullock's message? How relevant to us? ilients..witb. new forms of 0 and, 4-1 papers and gave How canit be sracad and by whom".106These,were' thefaetson, pupilschoice of texts,' the dominant themes of the coatribirtions described Mr. Hamish Ross .and Mr Gordon Liddell made below_ "memorable contribirtions. onVis-nol Evidenceand The Friday evening session was devotedto an Using, Fdni Their,' illiistmted leetures were crammed 0:Position of the Seminar7s rationale by Mr J. L. S. with Valuable teaching suggestions and references, Waddellbefore Mr Sydney B.Smyth examined And so to Mr lpithony Adams. whoseLangatige teachers, theory and pupilpracticeinAspects of Acrossthe Curriculumaddress wasthe expected Language and Thought,an address which set a high display of fit:eworks, -syith' anecdote.resoarch and standard foraudieneeparticipation.Subsequent passionatc-_conyictionbeing follbwed by alistof . discussion was animated and prolonged, cntu.un Poirlts= for further consideration! Saturday morning began withEt-sonrces for Learn- ing_ Mrs Mary Nettlefold and Mr Alastair MacDopuld * outlinini .demonKtrating and making apleafor imagirrtivesystematic employment of the Library #. Service- andAudio-VisualAdds. A seminar on A report of SOMQ MO pages will be published on Resources .chaired by Michael- Mariam': produced a 4th October containing' the texts of -addresses, dis- greztt nualber of insights. -I cussioris., seminars and backgroond paperS. It should Missi Jean M. McKcIvie...gave a summary ofThe he of me to teachers of English and their colleagues Primary Scen, ..characterising the latest research and in ottier subjects. This Report will be the subject of -reinforcing theprevious speakers'refemneesto discussion at a meeting of all interested parties on resources, She was iollowed by Miss May Barclay I3th Oetober. It is proposed to establish small groupv alai an inspiring account ofLanguage in tlw Primary to stu I)particular recommendations of Bullock. Enquiries t heScottish Council for Educational Local Publications Technology, 16/ 17 WoodsideTerrace,'" Glasgow 03 7XN._ _ _ _ Gramphin English Views Lanark Division Publications 1976. _Ability Teaching in the Early S la ,I4CAis a No. 2 ot this,publicatiod appeared in June, Searnill Ithasthe same lOnd otvigour and challenging collecti-ia of papers from a conference at liveliness of the tirst minsber. Alec tail of Rubislaw Teachers' Centre.InadditiontolecturesbyBill marks his retirement with an eloquent anti deeply- Jackson(ThePrimary Legacy),HowellJones ten appeal bortheabolitionotdie compulsory (reprinted inthis issue), Gordon Liddell (based on meher Literature paper. Malcolm Livingstone writes work . following up the report Problems, of Group wan sarcastic wit about tne use byeducationalists . Teaching), and Margo Nicol (Group Work inthe in and out of teaching, of language as an instrument MixedAbilityClass),thereareconclusionsand ot power, pomp and mystincation. John Roberts recommendations of seminar groups oh Primary- pkirsueshis concern with the nature or the com- SecondaryLiaison, On OrganisationforMixed municationlandthereforealtherelationship) bility Teaching, on Assessment, arid on Thc Stow between teactier and Pupils, based on examples from Learning Pupil. his .own teaching.Rob,z_rtscontributesas well,a !Wier Eng1411- Ideas and Models 15the report of _.s.oncisereviewoftheresearchpublicationTlw theDivision's SV Working Party. This admirable DevelopmentofWritingAbilities.1 I-16.Alan report describes itself as follows: -McIntyre examines the examinersprosein -0- grade English papers. Peter Stubbings writes about --our remit was to consider the needs ot the pupil the .Region's Adult Illiteraty work. Adam Findlay svno has acnieveo a pass. In Oruinary Grade_ wit!' gives an entertaining eaccount of a couple of years a struggleand WhO consequentlylinos the workinnigheraconsiderable teaching,f:Queensland. And there is a review of transition -to It'dwre' -;= Down..by a 'third year pupil at Rubislaw. problem, whether it takes one or two school years. A O publication. Chailts King. Adviser in English, With these -poorHigher candidates in mind, we. should be able to answer queries about getting copies. have provided material, most of which iaspcpernotarecd on the theme of AOTHOHIEV. Our general has been to search for an integrated course where Idiom all. .the.--elimentstestedinthe examination for 'Ilse Lothian Teachers' Broadsheet has reached Vol. HigKerEnglish arebrought tifgetherin a 3-No. I (September, 1976). It is as usual informative 'meaningful whoie. Consequently, we have taken onmauersofconcerntotheregion'sEnglish certain things for granted: the work is carried out .teachers',.anditcontains as- well some provocative inblock-unitsinsteadoftheoldfragmented rdnections on rractical Criticism by John Blackburn approach whether the course is language-baked or ot Moray blouse; a report from the Regional CS,Y.S. literature-based; teaching in groups, which we find woriong party- a valuable note on running a schodl thisstage even slightly has nsually been discarded by bookshopbyScott ,griftiths;and some 'whereit has been widely used in SI to S4..The apprehensive anticipations of going -open-plan'' Irons reportprovidesthetollowingmaterial:new uroxburn Academy./ approacheS to the teaching of drama; examplek of EnquiriestoIdiom.DeanEducationCentre. schemes in which language and literary work are Belford Road, Edinburgh.- closelylinkedusuallyrounda-core"text; exaMination material from various schools in the Scola Discussion Paper on die Language.: Arts Division; book lists of recommended material," A most interesting attempt to provide a framework for school-based in-service training has been produced Formal and Business Leiters by itie Language Arts Sub-Committee of .the Scottish This is an eleveu page paper by John McCaderty, Central Committee on Primary Education: It is in the AdviserinBusinessStudies,settingoutforthe' form of a paper setting our 4 series of discussion guidanceofEnglishteachers .notesonformat . topics -under rive main headings with a number of punctuation, and layout currently encounteredin sub-headin0 in each. The topics are intcnded to help busine4s correspondence. Examples of various -styles teachers' to -look freshly and critically at their own of letter are provided. A very useful little paper. practice in the light of a number of recent researches, Enquiries about all three papers to Adviser'in English. surveys and reportsprincipally A Language for Life .The Orchard Educational Development Centre,19 (the Bullock Report), the SCOLA Survey, and the Auchingrarnont Road, Hamilton ML3 6JP. report the Craigie Language Project, Teaching: Active or Passive. Enquiries to Scottish Central Committee on Primary A Few Voices-4976 - Education. Callendar Park College of Education, ThispublicationbyDumfriesand .GallowaY Falkirk. RegionalCouncil'sEducationDepartmentisthe outcome ofaregionalpoetrycompetitionfor Index of Broadcasting Resourec,s -,Secondary schools sponsored through the Regional The littleoaniphlet usefully brings together all SchoolsBulletin,and judgedbythepoetand eurrenteducational broadcastingina handy and academic Roderick Watson. The poems in this twenty- thoroughly well indexed form. It will make planning Liz page collection formed his finallist from which the use of broadcasts a lot easier thanit has been he chose the winnersplus some others noted as in the past and, one hopes, will enable better use to -good efforts." be made of this rich but neglected resource. It makes a most enjoyable and heartening read11 41 4 2 would be invidious to cornmeni on individual pieces experienece includes a ten year spellatNorthern egpecially since Mr Watson has a range of pertinent Counties College of Education, Newcastle-upon-Tyne; things to say in his'introduction. the headship of English in two schools, first Duke's Enquiries should go to the Editor, Regional School's Qrammar School, Alnwick and then Hayward Corn- Bu 11r6n. Dumfries and Galloway Regional Council prehensive School, Bolton: and teaching experience Educatil Departmeni. Education Offices. Dumfries. in the R,A.F. Education Branch. Ile confses to having felt nervous about moving "fromonecountrytoanother-buthas -much appreciated the friendliness he has encounteredin the College and inGlasgove.With an interestin KATE CHAPMANwrites: music, he is enjoying the culturallife of the city. The ,Library has paid increased attention to the creation and stocking of the exhibition collections. Children's Book Fair at Jordanhill Therearesome new collectionsamong those, I mentioned below: all _are available for a three week JANETANDREWSr,Engil.Th Department.Jordan/ail _- loan period, first come, first served. College: writea:-- TheSeottishcollcction hasbeenconsiderably A Chil6ren's Book Fair will be held at Jordanhill expanded to cater for teachers creating new schemes College of Education (Crawford Building), SoutIN--- of work with the inspiration of Scottish Literature brae -Drive, from 10.00 to12.30 on Saturday,1 1th in th"Seeoudary , School. We alsohave a good December, 1976. selection of Scottish music and song on- cassette tape, LaviniaDersventand JohnGranthavebeen There is Muchexciting _newmaterial -being invitedforstory-telling sessions:. some hook-titles publishedwrite for the currenDaccessions list so that will bc high-lighted infilm and theatre shows, As . you can choose material you wish to see, ; well as giving young readers opportunity to browse Loans can be postal as well as taken out personally. through books before buying them, therewillhe and the libraryisopen during College terms on quizzes, competitions and a Swop Shop where they Wednesday evening until 8.30 pin. can exchange books alreadyenjoyed.The range of books for sale will be mainly for 8-12 year-olds. List of Exhibitions sets: Tickets (adults- 20p, children - 15p) will be on sale Course hooks Plays from1st November at_ the Crawford Building, or. - fromJanetAndrews(EnglishDepartment) and English out of doors Creative writing Margaret Tomlinson (Speech and Drama Depart- Short-stories Graded and reluctant ment). Thcse tickets can be exchanged at the Tea- C.S.Y.S. readers Bar for coffee andbiscuits,or orangjuice and biscuits. Primary poetry Rea ding series antholoires English in St and 52 C.S.Y.S. Dissertation Success Language work English in 53 and 4 Morag Shankland, apupillastsessionatAyr Drama scripts Selection from the Academy, was awarded an *Agrade inC.S,Y.S, Drama (teacher's boOks) Scottish Collection Herdissertationwasentitled"TheInfluenceof Rudyard Kipling on Robert Service.- This being the centenary year of Service's birth, the Canadian government had organised a Tour for New Principal Lecturer In English at Jordanhill Service's thiughter and two grand-daughters, and the Following the retiral of James Inglis. Mr David celebrationbrought themtoKilwinning, Services J.Rostron.B.A.. M.A.. M.Litt, Ph.D., has been birth place_Irvine Burns Club organised a reception = appointedto, thepostofPrincipalLecturer in where she read out her dissertation. English at Jordanhill College.Mr Rostron comes Sincethen,Morag has beennotifiedbythe fromthepostofHead -ofEnglishStudiesat Mitchell Library. Glasgow, that her manuscript will WorcesterCollegeofEducation. His prtn;lops be lodged with the library'sn-vice collection. Review Edited 1).,G.ORDON. IDDELL

LEARNING_THROUGH TALK Mcintosh,-Princzpal Lecturer in English at Dundee Col ege of Education, ieviews, Iwo books which' examine the place of talk in learning.

From Communiestion to Curriculum implication taking their view of the subjectleriously, Douglas Barn6. Penguin Booki, -202 pages, 90p. even though he may wish to extend and modify -it. _They Don't Speak Our Language This strengthens the learner's confidence in actively Edited by Sinclair RogerS. Edward Arnold (EXplora- interpreting the subject-matter; teacher and learner are [ions in Language Study series), 128 pages, 12-/40 . in acollaborativerelationship. -When ateacher assesses what his pupils say he distances himself At first glande,From/ Cummunicmion lir Curriculum from their views and allieshimself with external looks like a smallish, junpretenuous paperback,/ to be standards which may implicitlydevalue what the read quicklytor-...nterest.- ".1 hiswouldbelike learnerhimself has constructed.Both reply and assuming that E=mc-' can-t be avery important assess are essential parts of teaching; assessment is forrnula since it's so short and simple. turned towards the public standards against which I. lound that the furtherI got into this book, the pupils must eventually measure themselves, whereas more I had to read a given passage several Utiles both reply is turned towards the pupil as he is, and towards _to understand it fully and to-relate it to the rest of his own attempts however primitive, to make sense the bookand the .problem .wasn't in any obscurity of the world.. .-." ot style or disjointedness of argumenti ended up - The tone of reasoned and balanced, corrc_ment, not imprecsedana depressed.impressedb cause Mr flying wildly into the face of traditional attitudes, is Barnes has some veryinteresting and /stimulating one he maintains, and, I believe . means, throughout thirigstosay;depressed bemuse he makes even the book. At the same time I feel that he comes down clearer something 1 ye become more ant more aware unequivocally on the Side of clear and fundamental of . that is,-the near impossibility of th ,task facing changes in teachers' attitudes (I mean actual, effective anyone charged with the training of teitetiers, whether classroom change, not alleged or merely verbal corn- College lecturers or classroom schoolteachers.' mitrnent). so that more chance wou!d be given for the The author has tackled the dilficultIquestion of the learner to be actively involved in creating the know- relationship between communication /and learning in ledge we wish him to have (as well as in learning school. -I don't mean in the relatively straightforward the established corpus of,krtowledge available). and sense of classroom,'-domination by tile tmcher, the more respect would be accatded to what the learner prevalence: ofcldiedquestions,andthealleged brings to the task. deficiencies of rote-learning _(although he touches on The author says, incidentally, and casually, "I lave these), but in the much -more complex matter of how argued here that, since the learner's understandings learners can iffare in _exploratOry talk to "recede- arethe raisond'areof schooling,anadequate , knowledge, what strhtegies "do groups of pupils adopt curriculum theory must utilise an interactive model of when set interpretative tasks, and which of these are teaching and learning. more profitable?" and what teaching styles contribute Although many people might nod piously -at the most- to profitable and genuine learning on the r -...t claimed -raison d'etre of schooling. I'm not at all of the pupils? entirely convinced that schools generally practise a Iri- discussing these problems and others (for the system which embodies that ideal. Nor is Mr Barnes. scope of the book is wide and ambitious) Mr Barnes Even, admitting that his sample is ,a small one, which is -forcedintoexaminingassumptionsmade by he himself also admits, the author quotes enough -of .different kinds of teachers, and infact has to.. go the actual classroom talk, backs up his ideas with -.outside the school context to consider educational a wealth of relevant research data from other now philosophy. He inquires into the value of .group dis- more familiar writers such as (inevitably) Bernstein, . cussion with and without a- teacher the ways children Labov and: Rosen.' and arguessocogently and react in coping, with a group learning-task. partial- unsensationally that the final impression is- one of _ larly in the kind of language used (involving perhaps, sound.principles and stimulating practice. tentativeness and'hypothesizing). and the attitudes of He does not present fully worked-out lesson plans; teacherstowards'finaldraft"as compared with he does not sweepingly obliterate the more normal -expleiratory" work. _ classroommethods;however,heexploresin a Above all, he gives some thoughtful attentian to genuinelythought-provoking waythenatureof the importance of a caring attitude on the teacher's/ learning and the role of language in that process, the .schoar a part. As he says. "The teacher's traditional assumptionsvariouspeople make about whatis task has two aspects which Ishall callReply and happening in- classrooms, and the teacher's r5le in AssessWhen a teacher replies- to his pupils he is by helping learners to learn in an open exploratory waY. cidentally, what he says is- ar from being limited Scottish ear, Ile shows how adults shape the child b)--,- my to erigiisti teachers and their problems, Um: ot traditional phrases, commands, appeals, puzzles. ' Reading over what I ve wrahni here,1 god me mreats and other kinds of linguistic strategies. Ihe _usualdissatishietion; thebookispackedwith essay is both interesting and entertaining.T he:whole [important questions, full of data- carctutiy analysed, piece suggested -some intriguing retlections_on. the find Luso bristling with jargon, some Of If adopted parallel (and, in sorne ways, unconscious) means used .11rom other people, some et a new-minted Cdecentra- by teachers to control classes. don, reflexivity, ale I ransnussionhatierpteration view The other essays in the book are more obviously Or waning, dencieney/interaction theones at tadure.. relevanttoteachers: Mr Sinclair' considers 'The eie.)--no snort review can do `an ot tins justice. now- Language of ChildrenantiAdolescentsandthe eXer, tiespite this density ot matter, and the slightly Langtiage of Schooling," a useful re.view .of current on-putting verbalbarrier,I must sayifoundIt and rival views -of social class differences in language. imorrnative and thought-provoking.Neither radical performance, being careful to_state what Bernstein- chic nor the. mixture as betore. said rather than the misunderstdod version of what .To do it justiee, it rnust be read thoughtfullyand he. said which has apparently become the dubious more than once.-Ibis is a book to be -classed with . support of recently qualified sttfdent-teachers. in less Language and Learning, Language, the Learner and enlightened areas. Mr Clem Adelman write's- about the School, Lo.yt fatWords andLivening to Children "-The Language of Teenage Groups,' giving a kind of linkingas a baste unit in a teacher s tanguage;ka. ,historical surveyidescriPtion of groups snch as 'Teddy 11 ney Don't Speak t,..tur Languageis mane up of Boys,- and considering their mode of dress, their atti- tlie essays on varlou aspects ot language relating to tudes and their language.. He emphasises-that "what triddren and young people.in 'ine nrst essayby the ' special -languages ofthe grmms embody 'ar...- binchair Rogers, there is a quotation tram C. Cazden, ditlerent sas or ,,ysterns of values.- Teachers might be ,astotiOWs; -it iS eafiy tor oS teatherS_ to -admit that expected to give inOre consideration and sympathy we needto know 'more about mathematics. MR to aus matter, anu might lind sonte help as wen as

begause. we all talk, we assume that we-re all experts I some insight in me kind Or material presented. nere, on \language.I he_ trouble is that the knowledge about 1 he last essay in tric book:t aik About Pop,- by language we require as teacners is one levet beyond Mr le. NY. Rutheriord, probes into.the particular way using it ourselves, no matter how richly we may do in wruch young people talk about pop music; and so. ' We need to know anout language. And then we periOrmers. He-presents transcribed tape-material and have -to plan how to use that knowledge in the class- suggests the. notIon ot -"unanalysability7 tor our con-_ room.' 1nisisthekindot pronouncement inat sideration after having looked at the stretches-of talk immediately strikes a reader mese days as a platitude i he language youns people use to talk about pop obvious as not to be worth enunciating. Neverthe- rintsiei'snOt analytical, explicit or adult, nor would less, it needs repeatIng, and it needs_ to be acted upon. such language be appropriate, he argues. He specu- 1 his book and the series it belongs io can provIde lates on why children should del;':-!raHy choose to help to tnose teachers who, like me, were brought up - adopt such language, given -thatthey can be more on Literature plus Angio-Saxon.;,tin the argument explicit and analytical when talking about other tnat practically any knowledge about language cap subjects, as he maintains they can. 'Ine.'main reason beused wanprolitbyti------thdughttulteacher,I- isthat they wish to exclude. adults, while signalling eommend the book to your- attentiOn. . their own °clanging to an identatarde group. What In case that sounds, by implication, deviously dis- may be needed by adults (moreespecially, teachers), missive, let me try to elucidate. Every essay in the is a greater understanding of what is going on Sul), book is worth reading, I.vvould say: ltie slight reser- text, as it were. He says, -More actively, adultscan vation is that some -of them are not of direct and partiallyparticipateintheadolescent cultureby obvious relevance to secondary teachers of English, taking nonce ot the particular objects of sub-.,grgup for example Catherine E. Snow's es ay on -The totems(i.e.the selected pop-hgures), and avoiding Language oftheMother-ChildRela ionship,"or irrelevant cultural condemnation,' perhaps Mr John Widdowson's Hie La ginige of the This brings up what scents to me an interesting . Child Culture:Pattern and Tradition in Language question :the possible consideration ot the whole. Acquisition and Socialization." t matter of the deeelopment of discrimination, not only However .a great deal' depends onthe teacher- in music, but, clearly, in such things as poetry,and readers initial attitude. Ms Snow's essay is in its own I'd be interested in hearing Mr Rutherford discussing way fascinating .tracing the various ways in which that. He seems to accept that the pupils' unWilling- mothers talk to children (simplifying the grammar. nesstodiscuss pop analytically (andin _fact the repeating words, exaggerating intonation patterns, etc.) irrelevance of such a discussion) is something Nve have__ 'and-showing how children respond. She draws atten- to go along with.Is it? tionto elements in communication of which most There. is no doubt that this book is warth reading people are unaware, thuS creating in the reader, one May I, however, simply point out one- or two factors hopes . a greater awareness in a general sense of what 4hich I rel must be taken into account if you are' .7 goesuon in wider human interactionsomething far considering buying it, PerhapS I had bad luck with my from irrelevant to- language work at any level: review copybut thefirstthirty.or-sopages were Mr Widdowsorrs essay is 'a, good example of the extremely badly printed: print from one side- of a page kind of work being' done in that aeon' which thiks showing through very -often to the other, side. The linguistics andsociology.- Helooks.' at 'theway, dther point is the price, This is a paper-covered ,hook; . children areto some extent moulded by linguistic costing E2-40. The Barnes book. Front Conlintintra- means at the familylevel.His investigation was thin fa ClirriCIditin,is certainly- aivaluable akook carried out in various areas of northern England so and costs 90p. If] were-Pressed for cash. I must gay that some ill- his material has a familiar tone to a .I'd spend iton die-cheaper book: . c

a treasure house of- caustic -Let me finish Scottish Writing .th_motto oftheReiff's, .Earls Marischal; which appbars at the beginning of this review and on page 12 of the anthology: Poetry of Horth-East Scotland Edited by James Alison.Heinemann,. 178pages, --nay half said,' E1-50. Let thame sap." HelenU. Cruickshank reads from her 'collected poems Do not ignere what this valuable rnthology says_ Vol, 1,66 poems; Vol, 11, 46 poems. Mono Cassettes,- It should be read by all Scotspupils and teachers Ca ley Recording Company, 1975, each £3-24. interested in poetry. Three Glasgow Writers And may the curse of the Kelpies (page -72) light AlmHamilton. James Relman,,Tom Leonard The on all those Scottish teachers who think that:the rural Molendinar Press, 82 pages, El -25. poetry of the North-East should only be studied in the rural North-East! -- "They say. The'collectedpoem( ofHelenCruickshank Quhat say they?" (Reprographia) are 121in number Here inthese two cassettes ate1 IL Some of the omissionsfor Tailors,jewellers,trafficcoritrollersand Royal example, -Lily Lochs: Harris" and "A Lang Guid- Physicians keep company with archdeacons. dorriinies. nicht' are easily understood, but why did the poetess _ministers and surgeons in an anthology which reveals retainthe rhythmless "Water Ouzel"instandard thi.variety of poetictalentinthe North-East of English and exclude 'Noices from the Waterside"? Scotland. After reading-it, one is tempted to speculate Devotees of the late Helen Cruickshank will know' on the mysteries of soil or diet whichincertain how well she sings simply inher own tongue= climes and times. produce. for example, 'Provencal -Tokens Three." -Hamecnvre Song For Angus," the poetry, Neapolitan song-writers and this wealth of muchanthologised"PonnagePool-and ..',Shy talent in one particular part of Scotland, Geordie:7 This recording isfull of the integrity of The volume was edited for the Grampian Regional the womanan integrity whichis emphasised by a Council by James Alison,and the range of contents rough, throaty_ contralto voice which bidsits Rs and the succinct and informative biographical notes and makes a poem like 'Prayer- ring so convincing!y are a credit to the scholarship of the Editor and his that one wonders how one dared to discussit bri fellow-researchersaband- ofAberdeenEnglish paperasWheeler-Wilcox-like.- But some ofthe teachers. As John R. Allan's foreword clearly indi- standard Xnelish poems still embarrass="The Eye- cates. the boolCis meant for pupil-consumption but. brow." for example, or "Beech Leaves." asthe Introduction statesand the overwhelming There is no-doubt in my mind that F he js at her success of thefirstprinting provedit is a book best in her own rhyming, rhythmic use of her native _ .. _ which has much to offer any Scot interested in the tongue. . I poetry of his land. A possible market would be tape libraries catering The collection is in the nature of "a sampler." The for Sixth Year Studies and tho-,e of Colleges of compilers were faced by Such an cruharros de riehesses Education. Two cassettes of this calibre in a school that they had to become more exclusive than they tapeglibrary might lead to interesting dissertations on originally would have wished_ In spite of this, there.. thesingingpoetessesof Angusinthetwentieth is an exciting diversity in -this selection which ranges century,In Colleges of EducationIseeitas a from Barbonr Vs 1320) to Munro (h. 1946)from means Of providing more poems in Scots for teachers the, wealth of dialect in the writings of Flora Gai.v. of primary- school children.Itmight alsoinspire Alastair Mackie and Alexander Scott to the Standard student or lecturer to write a biography of this strong Scottish of Roderick Matson. Andrew Young and passionate lady Whose unbounded love for one oth,x---- George Brucefrom the great ballads of the North- human being was obyiously awall-spring-- cifher EasttotheBothy Balladsand fromthehigh poetry and whose literary salon-m-Corstorphine was seriousness of James Graham's lines on the eve of . one of the focal points-of-the Scottish Renaissance his execution to the unforgettable saga of that North- The Molendinar Press have already published two Easterngo-between, Macfarlanp'theSprottso' yolumeS-of vivid Scattikh prose, the re-telling of tales Birnieboosie. ----and legends by a masterly,"raconteur." This latest To read this -anthologyisan education -arid an offering, Three Glasgow Writers. is a number of short incentive to further researchWho-was Vanhi who stories and some poetry, about fifty per cent of which wrote Fuch a spiendid__Sdratishnoem by translating isin. English -withthis Glacgow. accent" (James Horace's Njnth-odefflook IV What difficulty is there Reiman in preface to his contribution). How suitable in_reconciling the author o'f "Trawler with the expert is Scots for what has become the sonhisticated genre mn the teaching of the basic skills? Was it a dominie Iof the short story? Whatever the answer, one-cannot sacked bv the Kirk Session "for faults and gross-mis- Ideny that this Western experimehtation is interesting carriages" who wrote "Logic o Buchan"? I in the preface to his three stories. Alex: Hamilton In my opinion, thisis a book in which several ' states that he Wrote two with a specifiE audience in things would give much pleasure to all Scottish pupils mindpupilsina Glksgow Comprehensive; As a whether they be Central Belters or Highland and story. I found "Gallus.-did you say?'' unsatisfactory Island dwellers. A neglect of it by Scottish teachers inthat/ Wulliethehero remainsanill-defined would seem to me to be as iniquitous as the neglect , character1. 'Wee Merry" has an artistically satisfying of Provencal song by any self-respecting Frenchman , conclusiorf and the- beroihe is alive and real, Alex Scatteredthroughout thishandsomely-printed, Hamilton does rai.e the auestion of supplying a need. strongly-bound volume are the popular rhymes of the Should we not feel obliged to supply our own Scottish `Sesqu

You won't find those words -arriong the 80,000 Fisted in Longman Modern English Dicdonary:But you ._ will fmd facts,about the man who wrote them among the 13,000 entries on the arts, people, places, sciedce, aistory anctspon. Much more than you would find in other dictionan wily 0.50.

b' Longman PI PI PI Dictionaries & IIII Reference Books 'Situations- material?But we face another problem suggestions in the Report, and pay particular attention when we write -about the pupilsconcerns intheir to their recommendations for the Early-Stages, own language:the language of the earisnot the First and Second Year would seem the natural place language of the eye.Ifeel that poor readers in a to begin a consideration ofthe place of Scottish Glasgow CoMpreheniive would have as much troubler . Literaturein-school. Unfortunatelya momenrs in decoding the following: thought reminds us that this would ignore entirely the work of the primary school. That the Committee have "Thi biggist thingmmi nib e could lay is hauns had to do this is ,a weakness in the Report, but a oan.But by hereit wiz iz if Wu llie wantit tae weakness which must be attributed to the structure of mak irn really bass thi heid tull then- wiz nuthin the Scottish Education system rather than be blamed left.ois wee bit sanity ataw" ("Gallus, did you on the Committee, who were given the specific area say'rf Alex Hamilton, p. 12), of secondary education to consider. Nevertheless the first thing a classroom' teacher must do isto. discover as they -have in de-dodingte standard English ot theliteraryexperience which the secondary pupils their other texts. are bringing with them from their various primary Toe.Leonard in his poem sequence, "Unrelated . schoolsonly then can he plan his next moves,It Incident (1-9)." is preoccupied by therefore goes without sayingthatthe secondary teacher should take every opportunity to make contact "thi diff with his primary colleague% The attitude to Scots Rince twecn writing and Scots speech forms is one maior area yir eyes where discussioh would- be valuable.--Preiudites and misunderstandings are formed early in children and yir cars" (2) arehardtoeradicate likewise a healthy and enthusiastic attitude to their own language and' the _ and the marvellous discovery inIn/ that"inthe writings of their own countrymen can make the work beginnine was the sound." -This is pawky humour of the secondary teacher so much 'more creative and a t its best--reflections on absolutes in the Leonardese enjoyable. variety of Glasgow speech.The one shortstory The Committee although making no investigation offering, "Honest," should be prescribed reading for of pnmarv experience and making- no assumptions any short-Story writer.It is also one of the- funniest about attitudes already developed rightly- emphasise monologues I have ever read. that the most important qualityin any lesson on Of the three writers, James Reiman. author of Scots literature is the sheer pleasure of the work itself,: "Remember Young,Cecil," seemS to me to be the This is probably true of all literature teaching. Scots short story writer of the three. He is not so much -or otherwise but itis as well to continually-remind concerned with Glasgow speech as with experimenting ourselves that though we may have highaint'sin with the short story form. In ';The City Slicker and our teachine of Scotssuch as helping the pupils the Barmaid." a Scottish lorry-driver finds himself i.nderstnnd themselves and their society and their south of -the Welsh border surrounded by "Oi bee" heritaee.-they are unlikely to appreciate such aims or accents. The narration is inshort sentences which any heavy-handed approach to them! -have- apoetry of . their own: -And no comfort On the other hand, the pleasure need not be super- entering my tent with the boots soaked through with ficial nor confined to the humorous areas in which the Scots excel. The Committee emphasise the desir- "Jim- Dandy: the last talemight be the Rubicon ability. of studying a variety of writings in Scots: ror a teacher selecting short stories as class texts for poetry and prose and drama; humorous and serious: the Fifth and Sixth.' It is a tale: in Glaswegian. of the fietional and documentary: past and present; national randy Jim Dandy in which the prelude to intercourse and local,Along with this they urge a yariety of is vividly related. treatment- asappropriatediscussion. group work, 'The cover looks frail but the spineexposed to my choralrecitatio:texpres'siveWritingdramatisation, simulation exercisesirpupil-attackis very strong. or simply reading and listening. DE113DRE KEANLEY. The. Committee alsci suggest work -whichisnot literary in its base. For instance, there-,is great scope, Ci'alslockhart College of Education. they believe, for investignting namesfamily_names, street names. ,place names, as well as local idiom% popular rhymes. streetsongs, epitaphs. etc.They Scottish Literature In the Secondary School recommend as materials a Chambers' Scots Dictionarv . =An S.CiC E.Report.H.MS.0._1976. /2.55(bv- a localstreetmap andtelephonedirectory,a post £3-00). Available from H.M.O. Bookshops and gazetteer and appropriate Ordnance Survey maps. To collect idioms and rhymes iind stories, they suggest visits to old people's organisations and that some of If you do pot yet have a copy of this Report in the material could be tapeck and anthologised: Such your school buy it nowitis an invaluable book on visits would certainly be welcomed by old folk_ all aspects of Scottish Literature which, are likely to When they turned to poetry, the Committee found be touched on in schoolc . and is the obvious starting wealth of material but no really adequate collec- Point for any new- attempt to come to terms with the tiOnsofScottishverse whichcould beused teaching of Scottish Literature in the classroom. I exclusively with the Early Stages. They manifest their reviewed the Report in the last edition of Teachine enthusiasm for our ballad poetry however, and give Enelich (Summer 1976). but in eeneral terms.This' suggestions for thematic groupings. Although this is short supplement to that review is intended to draw an area Which most Scottish teachers know well, and attentiontosome ofthedetailed andpractical I need not go into the Committee's survey in detail. IsBallad poetry isin my view the single most- Irttrn the title of one of Vernon Scannell's poems, important area of Scottish literature for this age group. which the book includes. As a title of :Ili anthology it In my experience- of Scottish schools indeed-it -has suggests a thematic approach, which it' is not at all. seltom been negidcted,One-thing:-Ifoavever, which Betterto have calleditsimply'S Contemporary the Committee reconaMend, is the possibility of the Poets," or somesuch, for thatis what you get for ball-ids being presented as song and as drama, but your money. particularly as song or with musical accompaniment. Consider These Pactns is aimediPt the hard-pressed There are other poems beside the ballads available teacher to relieve him of the nettessity of preparing and the Committee recammends narrative -poems, his own materiala welcome/and an immediately animal poems and poems on people as individuals or suspect aim and one for which the editor admirably types,The Report giveslists of poems which are apologises his vtay through his preface. The form of likely to be successful along with books where these the book is that of poems sometimes singly and some- - poems may bc found. times thematically presented, attended, by questions The practical approach of the Committee is greatly which would take the student into the *poems. Alan to be commended. Although thgy are unable to,glean Proud sees the book's ielevanf uses as various as much from the meagre harvest of Sects drama which practice in thinking and/writing about poetry, formal would be .suitable for the Early Stages, they do pro- exam practicea source of homework assignments. vide comprehensive and detailed suggestions for prose An early fear is thht the book will simply be an readings. both fiction and non-fiction. The Committee uo-dated questions-at-the-back-of-the-book approach, indeed goes -so far as to include a classroom study. the obvious and dreary two or three questions scardely "Fox and Wildcat," as an illustration of how a set of fulfilling the editorial obligation.In fact. Alan Proud relatively short Scottishr prose texts can be used in a does a gOod-deal,More.I liked the caution and frank- thematic way. They also give prominence to Scottish ness with which/he anproached his aim.-and I admired historical novels.' where they ShOw that there is con- the thoroughness with which he carrieditout. To siderable scope for imaginative treatment. ,test the worth/of his follow-uns I separately prepared The importance of the SchooUlbrary is not for- a lesson on Alasdair Maclean's "Crow"' which Proild gotten.In the Book Lists at the end there are large has treated ".sufficeittosav that with inevitable sections on Children's Fiction with a Scottish setting, variations/intreatment. I found hisrigorous and antl on Non-Fiction with a Scottish emphasis. . satisfactory.- It will-be gathered even in this short review how A small rCservation" is that he has treated poems much material the Committee have gathered together I wouldnotteachmvsglf---1do notlike- Spike and made available. I can only repeat the adviceI Milligan's poetry or that of Roger McGough. But- began with. Make sure therels a copy of this Report., there was plenty to satisfv mepoems by Scannell. in your department, Hopkins. PlathAuden. MaeCaig. Maclean.If you DAVID WHYTE. feel the need for wh.at Proud savc.he will supPls . Arbtouth Academy, then he assured he does _supply it A Sudeten Line attempts the most difficult approach: thatof a sirrgle crintinualIvbroadening theme_ V.:fit-king by similarities or contrasts in mciod stibicct Poetry Anthologies and style. it woald attempt to illuminate the thoughts and experiences of _voting people.It works in three Here-and Human staiats:firstly .fitwould exploretheir environment . Edited by F, E, S. Finn. John Murray.148 pages. their streets and homes and the people who inhabit El -30. them: then it attempts to develop a critical awareness Ccinslder These PoeMs of voting people's own ways and those of the larger Edited by Alan Proud. Arnold. 54 pages. 83p. 1 social world: and in the last stage to-direct reflectionS upon their private world, upon their love. A Sudden Line Ina workin which the editors have been so I. Armstrong and R. Mansfield. OUR. 87 pages. 95p. ambitiomi s. oiegling criticism will not do.It does not These three books represent three quite different _succeed_Certainly one appreciates the sohemoone approaches-- to anthology. ---onem does set off-the next hut itissues in a series Here and !Inman exemplifie perhaps the most of sparks. not 3 lin- of fire. The anthology does not straightforward appfolich:it, is simply a collection of herom.--- individual. Such a theme reouires custained 150 poems contributed -byt eight contemporary and _sensitivityn d an underlying seriousnecs. Too often known poet s. a section of ffitt book to each poet, Toe ..f Sudden Line lapses into pretension and frivolity. editorial artis therefore and appropriately minimal . Foi instance consider its close. It includes a poem consisting mostly in the selection of the poets to be by Edwin Brock. "Let's leave the nursery." Only the included.Itis sufficient for me to tell you who they title suggests an aptness for the noem and itis rir are: Patricia Beer. Arthur Bull. D. J. Enright. Seamus poor poem atthat, one of adult resentment and Heaney_ RobertMorgan, Vernon dierust.Itis followed by two poems. one by Hardy Scannell and Anthony Thwaite, Each poet prefaces god one by-Yeats which lift the study htfck towards' his section and while some discuss the backgEound or its theme, only to have it fall back 'again at the end nrivate importance of specific noems others discuss with two very trivial pieces. "Pidgin on the Lorne by larger and more general ouestions of the nature of Andrew Crozier and "On the -Grass" by yiyoshi Poetry itself. Make of them what you will: with the 'Tatsuii.To honour itstheme,itshould not have exception of Searnus Heaney's introduction. I found ended so triyially. That it does so indicates the reason' thi-m largely extra to the noems. for its fgilure. My onlv criticism is of the title of the collection, ALAN STEwaa-ri and of that because I found it rnisleading It is taken Kirkcudbright Academy= I Ever?" by Michael Baldwin. Black and While has Stories on Tape and in Print he Park- by James Matthews, -Iwo Children" by Fay Goldie and "Brackley and the Bed- by Samuel Selvon). "Dimensions" Series Withregard to the subjectmattLr school _ Wheaton. Each $9 pages approx. adole.,scenceandloveand marriagearefamiliar School enough themes, and it might be difficult to justify the. Edited by John L. Foster. 70p.- money for books that contain already frequently Adolescence anthologised pieces unless they also offer new and Edited.by Mike Samuda. 70p. interegfing dimensions on these themes. Do they? The main dimension inSchoolseems to be reflected in Love and Marriage the introductory, poem --The Lesson" by Mirosles Edited by Mike Samuda. 70p. Holub: . Black and White Edited by John L. Foster. 75p. -here iiegias -Workcards will be available to io with the books in the massacre the spring. of the innocents.' The "Dimensions" series offers four anthologies of Pupils sriffer "di& system" as in Wm. Saroyan's "First poetry, drama and prose (largely the latter).. Each Day at School" and also suffer the teachersMr book is cloth-bourid and has an appropriate cover Gryce, Crabby B.. Old Joe and Windy Bill. -Teachers photograph in colour. Apart . from that, illustrations ,aIsooccasionallysuffer, asintheextract from -_are limited-to a photograph title-page for each section -Unman, Wittering and, Zigo." Exams ahd Sports Days (4-6 per book). add to the injustice of it all, and while some amusiug My Main criticisms of the series concern the subject 5-and interesting written work could no doubt be pro- matter chosen, me age-groups aimed -atandffie duced, the overall impression is a negative one of a appeal or'Ottermse or the caYout anu print.'hese too-easy disenchantment. 'time points ars so Cioscly hurrwlitisdirnerlai to Material that could lead to interesting discussion scpalate rncrn.ru deal orteuy will the last point and writing is included in the sections `-What is school -Iirst, that or layout aria print, the series presents tne for 1and Future School,though these were much _ material- concerning the daterent topics inano- "shorter than the earlier sections and presented material nonsense, business-iike way. Here is a usetul colleL more suitable for 4th year -0" level pupils than..-first Oil ot written material with no extras: any visual years. It is difficult to see how an extract from the aids me teacher MUM supply WI- thmseit.in these beginning of "Brave New World" could be used much -_ ways or .sinct economy we certainly get our money s earlier than the fourth year. worth ot reading from these closely printed pages, hut Adoksceitee begins with abit of dry text-book .aithoughiam intavourotlongIsh mearungmi prose from "The Normal Child" by C. W. Valentine . extracts,rather than superficialbits and pieces,I citing some social and psychological difficulties caused wonder how .many pupils who are not already dedi- by sexual maturity. Non-certificate classes wOuld need cated readers, allot lie put off by the appearance,of a translation. After this, the editor seems to think it unrelieved pages of close wraing in extracts of twin necessary to supplernent the extracts with a brief, three to seven-sides each. andoftenunhelpful,runningcommentary. For Who are the books intended for?I found it/very example .he states that 's'Adults are very skilful at difficulttodecide.'Thetitlessuggest that School making you feel .-an actite sense of embarrasSmenr: might be for SI or S2 (and certainly here the extracts as a---prelude to Bill Naughton's -crudely funny story donotusuallyexceedthree-- sides--each),whIle ot the woman teacher who reacts with-disgusted rage -Adolescence, Love and Mafriage and Black and White at the sight of a -small boy in her class who has would be relevant to third and fourth years. (Black . ingeniously managed tofit a full ini2-well over his and White I Could easily usc also as back-up material "pinkler," as he calls it. The mind boggles at possible foe 4 "0" and,5 -W) Whether they would be better ;- work card suggestioni to follow this! used for non-certificate groups or for "0" level groups, On the whole however. apart -from some difficult however,isuncertain.The critiCiSms,- E mentioned poems by R. D. Laing and Philip Larkin, the extracts' above about close print a:nd lack of- illustrations might inAdole.scence are interesting and direct intheir Serve as an immediate barrier to weak or disinterested . depiction of the "baffling impulsestand emotions" of 'readers in non7certificate classes (though the teacher youth. The story -SuekeC is a good example of [Ills, _should be able to hold:the class s Atiention with an though most of the extracts preclude.careful prepara- interesling reading). On the other hand because of tion or follow-upi.work. Perhaps again there was an the number of . extracts rather than complete stories over-emphasis on problems and difficulties so that by included, their use for examining short-story form or the last two (again) shorter secticins. -The Meaning -literary-style with "0" level groups is severely limited. of it All" and "Grown Up?". the sensitive adolescent (As some indication of whether complete stories in might wonder- how so many grown-ups in-the-world these books are likely to duplicate those already in have survived such traumas. Reseurces RnomsSchoolhas "First Day at School" Love .and MarriageI was not very happy about The by Wm Saroyan and "The Fun-They Had by Isaac extractS here seem to me Often superficial and fail to Asimov: Adolercence- contains "SuckeC by Carson explore,the subject in any balanced and creative 'vvay McCullers, "Indian Camp" by Ernest Hemingway and No doubt-15110s will enjoy the coy innuendo of "On "One Saturday, Afternoon- by Alan Sillitoe.In Love the Happy Coudon and Phyllis" by Sir Charles ahd Marriagethere is The Fury" by Stan -Barstow, Sedleybut where does one go from there?Write Spiv in Love by Bill Naughton and "HOW Should your own risque poem about sex'?Is this an honest Lukes=Garden Joan Tate (prob 60p -* Save the-Last Dance for.. Me and other.stories Jan Carew (prob 50p). *-Stranger than TornorroWThree Stories-

of the Future . Jan Carew / -.The Robe of Blood Kenneth McLeish

_ You:Can't Explain Everything

_ALREADY FUBLISHED In the Beginning. * A Northern Childhood: The Balaclava Story .:andiOther Stories George Layton '''--The.Bike Racers Bruce Carter :Ginger Mick -- Joan Tate * The Marco File Peter Buchanan 'lc- The Six Janet 'Green Gunnel Beckman The Mid Wick Cuckoos John Wyndham

Knockouts the neW paperback fiction series for inexperienced, poo reluctant readers in the secondary school. Cassettes accompany six of the titleS (*) at-E3.50

Send now for inspection copies to: Sally Hurwitz, Longman Group Ltd., Lon Harlow, Essex rM20 2JE.. and er;:kmd appto ch to the subjiga? There gas little really suitable tor the acoustics of, normal-siged abogt the realiziof a young married couple's expert- classroom. enCe,- neither, was there any questioning of the tradi- Ideally this is a glorious opportunity for the Enghsh tionalroles of wife and mother; surely a relevant Department to encroach on the Language Lab, in the xodern i,stie. A brief extract fruM -Alpha Beta" by school, for the optimum use of these cassettes is when A_ Vhitelwad was the only hint of an alternative to the pupil can -switch oti- from fellow pupils and t- 1 a iii rnarrim;e. -Achievement" suggested briefly other distractions around him.and concentrate oh his : at some marriages might be happy and durable and own little world of-sound.1 would see the tapes being tontrastc3 with the cever picture of a young couple us'ed in this waY either with or- without the text staring at a bride leaning, alone and disconsolateg enhancing bothlistening and reading skillswhile against the church porch. adding a new dimensiontothe enjoyment of the Black ont'WitifeIfound more intriguing and stories.I do not feel that much is to be gained from moving. Thy axtracts werelargely from coloured playing the tape in the elassroom if (he pupils do not gritersfacing the moblems of livingin an alien have the textin -feopt of themattention rapidly community. Here, tgagraphical sentences, rather than wanders. little pieces of- dialect-are lost and the plot comments, are helpful. Thi:e is humour, as well as rapidly disintegrates. Perhaps limiting the audience to pathos, as in '-'.;:ut.kigy and ghe Bd ThOugh many._. a small group might alter thaL but obviously this of the extracts sg-ess i:te unfounded prejudiees of the wouldintroduceanother_ problemofclaisroom ,whites, the jam which includes Martin Luther management. King's- -1 have a dreag1,- is called -Side by Side." With the texts and most English _Departm'ents,I -Prejudice is an .-,-trescat problvm in an uneasy r -am sure, will stock a set of at least one of these gorld, and th- ,t of itpresented inthis book four--and the Cassettes there are real possibilities for might go towarus 1..-!ping third year pupils upwards the teacher. Here is an excellent, varied selection of (certificate or nog ,g-tificate)to vain more uhder- .stories.These are stories about people. their lives, standing and hun.:. dty. their joys and their sorrowsusually extreme but As a member gr an English department with a pertinent examples of what the.bulletins referred to as limitedbudget. 1 ,Innotview . DiMension.swith the -laughter and tearS, that lie at the heart 'of the enthusiasm,it,:ggplostoo - manyunsatisfactory world_--. They are for the,reader, of vihatever age, to elements for tba. _fe-gatof the four books.Iwould smileatperhaps tolaUgh at alittle,alwaysto suspect thatfr analreadyreasonably-stocked sympathise withand, particularly in Chaplin s.to English departng Black and White would be the think about more seriously.It would bc diffigult to ngast useful accr.g.,...a. preseribe with any degree of accuracy what years K AnutyNIgy, would best benefit from the stories for some could Ki-kiond glen School, Medal. be read with differing bonuses and for differing pur- poses with almost all years.(1 have heard that Seeinit a Beauty Queen Home has been warmly receivedby Longman Imprint beau; pes both first and fifth years although one suspects a little E ach f3 50. of the irony in the situation is lost on the younger And the Third Day and .hv aft set!) FromThef/ Leaping Lad;;,:.IOtherStories_ Sid All except Chaplin's And The Third Day are suit; Chaplin. ableI fed, for use with an ',average" third or fourth- year class.Chaplin,s would be Well worth-discussing gThe Bike and On Saturday Afternoon with a good fifth year investigating the Vicar in the From A SWIM(' Selection, Alan Sillitoe story as he undergoes ,a gradual re7appraisal of his The Human Element and bne of the Virtues beliefsthrough hiscontact withthreediverse From The Haman Element, Stan Barstow, members of the communitya gravedigger, a factory Tdm's Sister and Seeing a Beauty Queen Home- manager and afatally -injured miner. One of the From Late Night on Watling Street.Bill Naughton. Virtuesin.thir case, patiencecould quite profitably be used with a mixed ability second .yearmost, if Those of us who have come home at night suffering not all would be able to identify with the young _boy from a bout of laryngitiswill no doubt welcome in the story.The Bike, On Saturday Afternoon and such a selection of short stories from Lorigmans on Seeithe a Beauty Open Home are all suitable for a cassette tape.Further, never being adept myself at wide range .of third year classes. while ,The producing any convincing dialect other than a rather The Haman Element and Tom's Sisier would be more strong Ayrshire twang which even Glasgow has not appropriate with an average or above-average fourth .yet erased. I particularly appreciated the performance year, of_ these, stories in their appropriate accent (Barstow In' conclusionat f3.50 the-cassettes are by no and Sillitoe read their .own) although one must add means cheap but they de add to the enjoyment of that on.occasionswpout a textmany pupils north the storiesThey foster and develoP in the pupils -of the beirder would have son-le difficulty in under- the ability to listen attentively and they ars° increase standingt'icf. the,foundtrack Of the film Kes from awareness of the .effectof :aknowledgeable and Blackie's Situalidns Kit).Certainly these recordings intelligent- reading of a passage on the understanding are, on the whole .first class and barring one or tWo and enioyment of it.Ideally, they are best'employed short sectigns are totally- comprehensible, However. with individual headphone s. hut they are still a useful althoughzeassettes are certainly more convenient and addition to the resource's of most departments without easier tri -handle.I would prefer the greater clarity sach "luxuries"for< usein-normai-classroom and giolume tobe had from areeltoreeltape surroundings. recoider.for in my own department and. I judge in KEN CtINNTNGHAM. mfist departments, the best cassette recorder isnot h eivinside Secondary School 'Shepherd (18-4rObviously girls cari'read or act boys' Drain rnd Discussion parts, buAit seems awity that this should be necessary, particularly when girlsare,on- the whole, more inclined to enjoY drama and playreading than boys. Baker's Buy, luck Shepherd and Brunel are only Pleasure and Repentance suitaqe-for -the senior classes of secondary- schools. Baker s Buy,- set in a large bakery, relateS theexperi- Terry Hands. Wheaton_ 79. pages, £1-20. ences al the main character with a newjob, new Drernascripts colleagues and a new girl-friend.It combines a well- Edited by Guy Williams. Macmillan Education. balanced caSt with robust language, and thethemes Baker's Boy of adolescent sexual relationships and_the dehuman- Ray Spcaknian and Derek Nicholls. 56 pages45p. ising effect of factory -life shouldstimulate discussion . Jack Shepherd a his play Will undoubtedly be greatlyenjoyed as a Ken Campbell. 60 pages, 45p. class play, or romped th'rough with gustoby a drama Brunel group. Keith Parker, 41 Pages, 45p, Jack. Shepherd is set in eighteenth-centuryLondon jail-breaker, his Gny'a Revolt and concerns a notorious thief and Bob Taylor. 32 pages, 40p. life, his friends and his eventual deathby hanging. The editor warns that the play "is notsuitable'for use Torn Sawyer in schools where anyone is likely to beshocked or Derek Lomas, 58 pages, -45p. unduly influenced by its more outspokenpassages" The Island of Three Mad Monkeys and thisis perhaps justified. Thelanguage is very Pat Buik. outspoken and no attempt is made to playdown the and The Enchanted Shell violence, corruption and immorality ofthe_ society1, Jean Ware, 27 pages, 40p. represented. So adolescents, especially boys,with a . rigid prejudice againct literature will loveit, and may even be tempted to join in. iikasure and Repentance is an'unusual-yanthology, Brune4 istht most original and striking of the not because its contents are startlingly original as scriptseven taking into a-ccount the_above reserva- individual items, but because a grew_ out or a live tion. Centring on the life of the engineerBrunel and performance.It is, in tact,- the newly-published pro- hisindividualistic attempt to interest theVictorian gramme of the show that the Royal Shakespeare Establishment in his engineering projects,it involves Company has been presentinginternationally and a large cast.of characters whoillustrate between them with great successsince 1967.The theme of the the social conditions and prevailingattitudes of the - collection:is 'a lighthearted look at Love,- and the time. This play_ is more suited to, the stagethan the poems, songs_ prose and drama excerpts included classroom. "where much of its impactwould be lost. present love in all its,moods, tram die idealistic to It woula be a splendid play for an enterprisingdrama the cynical, The hook is well suited to classroom group to tackle, with thepossibility of imaginative work with senior pupils. and although the inclusioa design and effects, and the inclusion of danceand ofworksbysuchwritersasDonne,Suckling, mime. ; Campion and Hazlitt might indicate that it is suitable Moving down the 'school, quy's -Revolt would only forthe more able pupilsthereisenough appeal ,tomiddlesecondaryclasses,thoughit humorous, racy and modern: material interspersed is the weakest of the Plays under review. The rather to appeal to all. contrived plot cent:es around an attempt by a group The individual piecesofF Z 7antholggyare set out of.Guy Fawkes Guys to stage a protest demonstration. in the orthodox manner, but *.production notes" have Derek Lomas's Toni SawycOis a, lively ;adaptation-- been added unobtrusively at the foot of each page . of the novel, faithful to Twain's characters and events, and the different voices of the original production but choosing those incidents most- likely to aPPeal to indicated ba" initials. Further hints for public presen- a young audience; such as ..theadventuies with the tation are furnished by the simple set planas easily thieves in the graveyard and on Jackson's Island. The" accomplished inthe =classroomas on the stage top-primary classes might enjoy this play, and certainly and by suggestions as to possible styles of delivery it is an-excellent choice for the lower secondary given at the back of the book. The basic idea of thc grades, where suitable clull-length plays are hard to production could wellinspirethe compilation' of find. similar entertainments, and thus encourage children Top primary classes- will also appreciate thetwo = to view poetryso often the least tiopular form bf short plays in one volumeIsland of Three Mad literaturein a new light, Monkeys and The- Enchanted Shell. These are both Macmillan's Drarnascripts is a lively and unusual fantasies. the-:fortner rather more original than the series of longer plays written specifically for use either latter._whichisa straightforward re-working of the in the classroom or by the school dramatic society. fairy tale "three wishes'. theme. The quality of the plays varies widely ,. but they-have Drumascripls is a series to be welcomed. The plays certaincharacteristicsin common.All have large are not Intended for close classroom analysis, and casts, with 'the obvious and laudable aim of involving would not7survive such treatment.But they will be tither an entire class in a reading, or the maximum profitably enjoyed as lively and imaginative drainatic number of aspiring actors in a school production. A experiences. _ . cominon failinghoilever: isthat the male-female ratio in the casts is often un'even.In Brunel there JUDI'HAYMAN, are two parts for girls in a cast of fifty, and there is Esk Valley-F.E.-Coll ge. -a similar imbalance in Guy's Revolt (25-I) and Jack 52 Study Guide, 4S pages, 50p. -= Viewpoints Sprier Blackie, each 42 pages, 78p. Read All About it A TIme.to-Care Bill Ridgway. Edward Arnold, 4S pages, 9Sp. A Start in Life Occasions by Richard Mills, consists of four theme It's YoUr Future books, asuldent's study guide and foursetsof The publishers specified purpose in producing this slides. .The complete set costs 16-90. The intention series is to -interest groups of all ages in issues arising isto focus on areaS,of real, unavoidable experience within common situations," and to -give pupils opportunity to explore their. own The books attempt to arouse the interest ofpupils %%odd, partly through the reflections of other ;writers. y introdueing them to suchtopics as c.a. the prob- Mr Mills has wisely chosen Me= topics which ems facing the illegitimate child irrsociety, home- arewell withinthe experience and skillsof his school conflicts, industrial tenkions and Other matters intendedreaders. 1 seehis work gearedtoward of social-concern. fourth year pupils sitting an English "0' wade and, Tht2 materialispresented in an attractive style: with certain modifications and help from- the class the print is clear and the maximurn use is made of teacher towards the capabilities of the non-academic pictures presenting aspects of the human dilemma pupil.1 also see.possibilities for fifth and sixth year Empathetic responses are encountered hy means of minority time courses, where perhaps Art. Music ahd appropriate questions and each "view.point" is reached Drama or English departments could gettogether., 15y the pupil offer he has carefully studied the situa-' and come up with a rather good fifth yearDi3eu- tion, followed through the inferences -and evaluated mentary Prama -On one or all of the themetopics. the possible.vonsequences al various solutlbrrm to the Occasions is versatile not least in the kind of wprth- problem. EachsituationpresentsaRata. human w.hile discussion it will provide. dilemma inwhichiiisobvious thatno person. The booksthemselveshavetastefully-designed .teacherincluded isinpossession :of the-right" covers which are also durable.1 like the idea of black - answer. Thus itis the kind of approach to compre- and white ph tographs or sketches inside as opposed - hension recommended bythe -BullockReportin tocolour.This doesnotdistractthereader's chaptcr ten where it is stre-ssed that -asking a question attention. where there is a genuine problem is more likely to ,The varidof authorsimpressed me andthe provoke genuine thinking.' ,Furthermore, because of dramatic potential is extremely good. The back section the way inwhichthe questions are interspersed to each book contains questions for the pupils and throughout the presentation ,of each situationpupils suggests ways-in which the topic cOuld he extended are encouraged to . pause and _evaluate- each stage in and elaborated. A set of six slides for each topic is the development-6f the problem. . provided. They are.nice to have but are by no means A wide range of follow-up activities is suggested at netessary. With -requisition -money so restricted and the conclusion of each chapter and in the very helpful books becoming mere and more expensive, the slides -Note5 for file Teacher" at the end of 'the .book. are somewhat of a luxury at El -35 each set. Lists of film sources reference hooks and background The Study Guide covers a variety of techniques and- .-,reading arc 'provided, The nature of the material is elves lets of ideas. The folder idea, shagested bit Mr such that inter-departmental planning is encouraged Mills and extensively .explained in the Study Guide is Each-.putail. choosing one of, the four _ to implement fully some of .the suggeitionS for follow- appealing. up work:" It is obvious that such co-operation would topicsBirths. Weddings, Funerals and Moments of be with the Departments of History. Geography, Home Truthmakes a folder and works his or her way ,Economics. Mathematics and Science. through the book adding as much and' fisvaried A possiblecriticismof the booksisthat they material as poz,sible. .The folder could, be dssessed nreaent a number of diverse simations which are not after a givea time and added ta the pupil's record of in any discernable seauence:Thereforeitisnot recommended that the books be used as text-books -1 would -recommend Oceasionsi stronaly to those "one-a-week"-Situation but rather as nart of a Enelim-h teachers who have a flair for drama or dis- bodir`of resources within a theme or.as initial stimulus cussion work or who would like to tackle thc themes Material for further exhloration of a theme. stipaested in a fresh and interesting way. Sufficient scope i5 given for the language develop- Nies Lama BLAKE. ment of average and 7a hove-a wage pupils of 13-16 vears of arte but the material can be easily adapted Tinnier Weil School. East Kilbride. for lase with the less-able pupils of the same age group. Time hooks would be worthwhile additions to -the existine resources in any English Department, Kidnapped at Christmas LON Mortals. Willis Flail. Heinemann, 80 pagec SOp Airdrie A cadet-Hr. Prompt One Prompt Two Occasions Prompt Three Richard Mills. Longman. Each theme book is AS Edited by Alan Durban Hutchinson. -each125 paceS. 50p . and -icrompinied . byiset or six slides. pages, each 85p. each Set £1.35. Kidnapped atChristmasisa livdy.1 witty and Births athusing pby by Willis Hall. The play iscentred Weddings around two inaM characters. Gilbert and Crosby, two Funerals convicts serving their sentence in a shared prison cell Moments of Truth Their ambition is. of course, to escape, which they New English from Oxford Educ tional Begin Here John WaY.and Keith Dennis -Whatever else the pupil takes away from his experience of literature in school hesshould have learned to see it as a source of pleasure, as something that will continue to be a part of his life. The Bullock Report. Some of the most gripping episodes in children's literature have been collected together in this volume, and even the most reluctant readers will quickly find themselves involvecl in the stories. They will want to turn to the books themselves and so to other boo4; the habitf reading for pleasure should then last a lifetime. ( Pupil's book 168 pages, paper covers illustrated 019 833362 5 El -25 Teacher's resource! book 216 pages, paper 019 833364 1El -95 zA-Su.,dden Line Rodger Mansfield and libbel,Arrnstrong A companion to the successful Every Man will Shout, this collection apoemg emphasises the thoughts, experiences and feelings of young people, and as in the earlier book, many of the poems are by students.. 128 pages, paper covers 019 836108 4,-95p In Context Language and Drama in.the secondary school John-Seely English and drama share-a common concern with language and the use of the imagination. In.Context seeks to break down the barriers which sometimes exist betWeen the tWo subjects, and demonstrates that the use of improvised drama can be of direct help to l4nguage development: -A book of great intelligence anb care in writingI can think of no aspect of drama-more worth studying just now.. : It is to put no finer point on it, a necessary buy. And one hopes too that it will not be confined to drama specialists, but-that it will find its way into English departmentsL'--- Young Drama. 176 paws: paper covers 019 913222 4 El -75 net. In prerAation for Spring 1977! Dramakit John Seely The principles Of In-Context are Were riut into practical form. Dramakit is a folder of about 200 copyright,cleafed pages which schools can reproduce, containing ideas and activities for drama EngliSh related to a central scene,event or human situationThere are practical,notes -- for the teacher, groupwork, playmaking kits', themes and projects, and the kiwill be invaluable for both specialists and non-specialists teaching Enblish and drama`to 10 to(15 year olds. 200 pages, loose leaf ring binder 019 913238 0 .-E5-95

Oxford University_Press, Educational Division, Walton Street Oxford 0X2 6DP eventually do and the audience are invited to take off In Prompt Two, three of the plays deal with the with them and share in their fun-packed adventures. transition from school into the big, bad world, The Audience participationis a !.trong feature of the people we meet see no use whatsoever in striving for play: and the play itself is geared towards a younger any qualifications hut want to make asucce.ss of audience on the whole, It certainly -makes a change :heir fives in other ways_ Bob Ii-vlor's Johnny Pitts from the traditional Christmas pantomime. but is not in "Here Isour Life- wtints 015 success through really the most suitable of plays for classroom tke. kicking 3 football, while Peter Terson's hero in -The The characterslackdepthandtheplot .thoulth Ballad of Ben Rigor' has more adventurous ideas, amusing. does not really lead anywhere too quickly. and ideas they remain because they are never put into lin/napped at Chriontas is a play to be seen rather practice. than read, and will more readily make an enjoyable The other two plays from Prompt Two, -Burgalars" play to be done by one of the school's drama groups (written in verso), and -A Question of Honour,- have seasonal entertainment, a more menacing. violent theme. Prompt One. TWO (mud Threr k a collection of On reading the third and last book in the series . fit teen.shortcontemporary plays.edited by Alan the overall feeling is somewhat pessimistic, Everyone Durband, previously editor of the popular Plavhill must decide their own values in life, but does anyone series, inour society have therighttodecide that, on The plays, five in each volume, offer a wide choice reaching the age of sixtylife shouldbe terminated by of theatrical fOrms, ranging_ from theatre of illusion the touch of a switch? That question remains to be to-realistic" drama. The interest of the readeris ..ans,,vereil in John Hale's -Decibels." aroused by the various themes and by the way in Equally rnenaeing in style is Roy Mintoff's "Bovver." which they differ in style. The many uses of drama where Vic and Terry work ofi their grievances against society by tormenting a first-class university student . are possible withthiscollection of plays. 1 stress drama as opposed to theatre because I feel that every and turn a tolerant. non-violent articulate person into opportunity should be taken to show our students that a vicious threatening human being. drama,assuch,extendsbeyondplayreading. To conclude. I found the Prompt Series stimulating. embraeina rOle-plav. improvisation, movement mime, fle?cible and exciting to use, and feel sure that the- -- dance drama, situational drama and so on, and these series will be enjoyed equally well by both the teacher plays, apart from being e-xceptionilly good in their and the student, own right, offer interesting and solid-material to be Mas C. SHERMAN. used as a springboard for work in the drama room. R.C. Mph School. Airdrie. The books are recomMended for usein the fourth, fifth and sixthformsto be enjoyed by both- the certificate and the non-certificate studenh-althoughs it Written tor Children is to be expected that the studenr-Siudying for S.C.E. John Rowe Towns ns.Penguin Books, 368 pages. examinations will_.study---the selected plays in greater 95p. __It-AY-661d prove too difficult a- RA- to give all the High Way Home --plays a mention, but here are .a selection to whet Nicholas Fisk, Penguin Books. 107 pages, 35p. the appetite: , The Jersey Shore "Applesby Cecil P. Taylor deals with the real William Mayne_ Penguin Books, 143 pages. 40p, and the imaginary_ The apple tree is a symbol that RuthCrane isbeino searched for by a group or school leaveti. .Alison Morgan. Penguin Books. 191 pages. 50p. To find the tree would be to attain their goal in life . The Boy and the Monkey whatever that may be.As the play progresses. the Leon Garfield. Penguin Books, 128 pages. 40p. '--trec become--; harder to find, and in time, they forget The Midnight Fox what they were ever searching for. Later. a new group Betsy Byars, Penguin Books, 123 pages, 40p, of schoolchildren arrive, asking to be guided to the apple tree, but now the older ones ask the question. occasionally reflect on why a writer chooses to what iv the apple tree? write for children, Ithink writers of children's books An interesting play for a large cast Ia very up-to- often adopt one or the other of two viewpoints. On date version of the Noah theme: "Voyaoe or a Life- the one hand . a writer may attempt to create a special time- by Trevor Harvey. In this ease, the ark is now world that he believes conforms to what he under- J( riace--hip. but the basic characters and message are stands to be a child's-eye-view of things. Often this On- same. viewpoint reveals a closet pubescent with a nostalgia I.ike the characters in "Apples.- sve are all settrching for childhood recollected as simple and innocent. for some idealinlife In Chris Bond's "George.- Anotherquite.differentapproachtowritingfor David and Judy, a young newly-married couple, think children requires that the author interpret the world they have found their ideal: a home of their own a and human experience faithfully, but in terms that car, and all the mod-cons that money can buy. Out can be understood by the young. since David's mother died a few days ago, they have in the United Stateswhere Itaught English for a new addition to the family in the form of_George, thirteen years at the high school and ec;l!rtme t Mynah bird who had been the sole co-nipanion to the librarians, teachers and parents who choose most David's, mother.George has the voice or an old of the books children will read sitem to prefen'ffetion woman and allsve hear arebitter complaints of thatattemptstointerpretreallife.recognisable poVer'ty and loneliness.Eventually, the bubble bursts people and relationc .in candid terms.In a general = for David and Judy asthebitter- truthof their way. this comes clown to a question of values and selfishness and desire for material gain comes to the value theory.Children's fiction in America may be surface and makes their happiness extinct. more value dominatecl . teachers-and parents choosing w teach and reinforce some values at the same time a believable rarity. The novel's greatest weakness is a that they damn others through ;neglect. Am 1 wrong concluding chapter that leap-frogs the reader a decade' in thinking that in Britain, on the other hand, teachers into Arthur's future when World. War 11 and the seek pupil liter:icy but regar4 the fiction they read ,Nmerican Air Force bring him fun circle back to ips valueless? England and Osney, his grandfather's home village, John Roge -1-on,end-s fine history of Chink en s 't here is no restraining the indefatigable Mayne until hooks, Written for Children, takes a stand on this Arthur stands before the Loving house from which issue when he writes. -1 believe that children's books emerges the most recent descendant of the castaway must he judged as a part of literantre in general. and Nlave'schild Annie Lovink, another greatbeauty therefore by much the same standards .as'adult' herself in whom Arthur can immediately discover his books." No duplicity here. for Townsend certainly fated" love, free at last of the ancient curse of mis- denies a double standard. His children and mine liw cells:nation.Itisalltoo much really, aprodigal in the real world with us. The common values -of our induleenee by- a major writing talent,- --- culture, the accumulated conscience ofpeople should Leon Garfield's.-triyenriircy--- of theii and the find expression and meaning in children's literature, Mankev, i trio of.tories first published in 1969, 1972 Townsend pot7.1itthis way when he asserts that a and-197-3 and now issued as a Pullin Book . bears that child's reading should " stretch his imagination . eralLtrhin'sby nowfamiliar stamp ot exuberance extend his experience_ give him_Some -new awareness and wit. These three tales of Tim, a street child and of people and the world about him." a thid f. and his trained accomplice Pistol the monkey, To make my prejudices clear at the outset. 1 believe are stagedinakind of costuni-e party version of thatgreatfictionhasvery-st__Idombeenwritten eighteenth-centuryEnglandwith NesvgateGaol, expressly for children.I remain convinced that the convict trarkportation.-id aplantationin America best and best-loved children's fi ction wins the affec- fignring importantly in the plot of a boy thief eaug,ht, tion and loyalty of generations of children because or tried and sentenced who finally discovers a Nil fer way . the universal appeal of some themes,sittmtions and tolive bv his wits, characterstotheyoung.Nevertheless,itisnot The three storiesareuneven in quality, 'Flie second, altogether cynical to remind ourselves that a sophisti- -:1 heCaptain'sVslatch" succeedsinlargepart cated knowledge of childhood development and the bectiuse of the presence of Captain Stumbers a wily interestscharacteristic of a6hild's precarious and son of Ciesea and acomic masterptece.Heis sometimes tumultuous worldis as available to the perhaps the most vivid ttnd the most fully realised writer or fiction as it is to tile teacherSo if tea-hing character inthese three stories sylvere most of the has improved withthe advent of thedisciplined other eharacters tend to he two dimensional historical study or the child and his development, then we may.' mouthpieces.But with CaptMn Stumber. Garfield expectthatthequalityofchildren'sfictionhas rises to the best prose in this collection, generally improved. too,I think this is the case. William Mayne's The. Jersey Shore (Puffin Rooks), -1 he first week of a voyage always pleased him hest. was first published in 1973 and Ins nosy been re-issued. Oging to the way the Sophy Mack sailed. passengers

Itisthe kind of novel that fmchers and parents - and, convicts alike were peaceful with seasickness; admire_Hem is .the lyricanti sensitive tale of a -0 he and his officers could dine in comfort, But young American boy who crosses continentto when nature had taken its cors-emndu the convicts. actually sit at the feet of his age.] and frail English were allowedon the maindeek, Captain Stumber's grandfather,He sitsstaring..ntthe sea for hours temper gorsened. Each batch he took over seemed listening to his grandfather's voice trace his own roots niorc !.hilty and villainous than the last. Daily he in the romantic and gossamer stories of the old man's caught himself counting the masts. He svas not a distant boyhood and young manhood on another trusting man.. . Coast far across the sea in England._ Arthur k surely a rare lad. one of thdse quiet and thoughtful loners int the!leis. and Mr Mulkey is upon whom little islost.He sees where others only sparkling Garfield. butitis more yinger ale than look. champ:wile. 1 lie children will love it, My reservations centre CM theV;ilue-; of Tirn, whotransportedto Something tore a hole in a cloud and a spout- of America, flees with,the run3Wa y NI3vC Mr Wilkins to sunshine came down, and was eaten up by the San Salvador. there to ".. pick nature's pocket: for frilling rain. The gap did not close, but grew larger, lid - won't bring charges against-us.- says Wilkins- Tim and soon there was a body of sunshine floating in s ntaHuck Finnfleeingacdrruptsociety.Tim the atmosphere .. some way off to the side of the rem_iins im rogue intent on exploitationinthe un- r.iilgay track. The sunshine became warm enough to developed open spaces where the rules are lesser and burn its way to the ground where it began to lift less stringent. As an American 1 am also troubled by up a stringy mist_ There grew more of it and more_ all those scenes a Tim on the broad shoulders of the and then the cloud and rain had gone and there was black Mr Wilkins. There isfriendship and trustin a white-blue sky and a disc of sun, almost with a theirrdationship.trueenough buttrimlyblack black line round-it where if had been drawn. children are only going to see another case of a black man serving a white child This kind of value rrivoPia Uom wc all sometimes long to have a boy like in Garfield's book makes me hesitate to recommend that sitting in our classroom. But this rare breed is largelyfoundinchildren'sfiction_ TheJersey Alkon Morean%; Ruth Crama new Puffin book Shore is only a cnialifled success For all the charm of firstpublished by Chatto & 'Winans in1973,isa the old man's involuted tale cif love and error and the novel fabricated according to the tim familiar formula pain of lossArthur, the boy who hears and learns, of the voting girl's big adventure, Rnth. an American- the acolyte of romance, is so idealised as to be scarcely in Wales, is deprived, of her father in a road accident that severelyinjures her mother Ond her younger that it was just the wind that hail_caused-the- grass sister,she and her second brother. tittleIony. nod to mos e. she rantr-stchrror the grove ottrees they must lit into Aunt Mary N family and make some where- I-VVa7V;TIOing. kindotlite,an arrangementthatcould neeome It was so =great thatI wanted itto start over perminent, in the tiny Vielshvillage-or-LlanWern. againlike you can turn movie film back and see he crisis in the novel iSons's flightto see his soursclf repeat some_ line ihing sou have done. and juntred-5is-ter-Patsy and Ruth's- search for her lost little -I wanted to see the fox leaping over the grass again. brotherI here is a crnsty eccentric, OM Mossy, who Its all my lifeI have never been so excited. incomprehensible attimes but never threatenink . and a helptul, gOeld 10eId ladeousin Pete.IIall From this point on, Tom devotes his days to quiet Wøiks out just hingin end, but we always kneW it waiting in the countryside adjacent to the farm tor the ,foxto appear again, Tom sees the fox many Ruth Crawisaveryroutinenovelflawed times, arid he gradually assumes the rOle of protector, throughout by forced and towkward writing, Of Tony. particularly after he discovers the den and tilt, fox's adifficult and Miniature child, Alison Morgan can pup.. 1 he contlict with Uncle Fred's more traditional write, "Before the disaster she had %Vouched, uncom- view of foxes as natural predators of Mdlie's turkeys fortably, Amino M,iry and the other Welsh relatives develops predictably untd theinevitable day when grow LIliffic: Irt%Aty 10%Vords Tony. NA tiONV they all Fred sets out to hunt the fox and uncover her den. exudedunlimitedloveandforbearance.andhe 1 his is agony for Tom who knows there will be no revelled init."Ruth is an aloof and lonely child . storybook ending to _Allisadventure. but talented and successful in school, This is the way So I %Vas not like the lonely king after all.I had nu she sees herself. beautiful daughter, no muscular triend %vatting in the She had no wish .to be noticed or admired; that hills. andI knew that rny siory would not end would conic later when she got back to New Yory with wild song and joyous dancing. but with a runny and would write penetrating CSS3YS for her teacher nose Ond svet eyes, about the Welsh way of lite, and amuse her con- temporaries with portraits of the local characters. Fred's Mint is a partial success when he captures the pup, ctiges hint and sits back, rifle at the ready, to his heavy-handedness is almost enough to capsize the Nhooi the lox when she appears to comfort her, tern- nimsy plotbilt it is a commentary on tried and true lied puP. On that stormy night font frees the pup, .pioners that many girls will even wade through this and Lox anti pup run on to re-establish themselves kind ot sludgy prose shoulder_ to shoulder with Ruth deeper in the iorest tar trom man, by tar their most in order to save the exhausted 'luny from the wild anti dangerous predator. lonely hills of yzales.Ithink this is somc kind of Aliatughi kox is a gem of a novel that succeeds ute to the sweetness of young girls, by avoiding Mc hoary clichsis of the usual town-boy- Perhaps I should say young itritistt girls, for I do in-the-country -tenon.Tomisafullydeveloped not-think young American readers couid tolerate two chanicKrw110 - speakstousinaccentsthatare pages of Buth Cranes sappy sexism. Run, struggles uniquely his. Nature is not glorilied by Mrs Byars, lor.pages to prepare ri mgai tor the men of the house nor is the lox humanised. 1 Ms is a small story, after that will stand comparison with her absent mot_her s. all of one boy's encounter with an animal in the wild. kitchen wizardry. How pleased she is when me:Men, `I heir paths cross, the boy watches and admires, and including cousin Pete, approve and praise her domestic their lives separate again, Awe and wonder yes, but skills, ,Lven the rescue of 'luny is only accomplished there is no sentimentality, with the masterful direction of Pete's chummy and This novel is a toughminded exploration of personal clumsy kiss on the .hark of her neck. Some of this and social values and value connicts. Roluetant Torn hokum is just amusingiy mat of date, but many girls is ambivalent towards hiS aggressive father; parental andtheir mothers will find Ruth's easy acceptance demands vie withixiendship; town opposes country; ot a compliant and subordinate Ole in her relation- tlie fox _threatens Millie's turkeys: Torn and Uncle ship to Petc.ind the other males thoroughly oltensive. Fred conflict over the value of the fox's life.We Bel,* Byar s The Fox, published first by watch these.conflicts shape young Torn, and we see_ , Faber & Faber in1970 and now a Pullin Book in him grow and mature during this very special summer. 1976,is young Tom's account of his- summer on NicholoF, Fisles High Way Home, published by Aunt Millie and Linde Fred's farm and his encounter {tarnish Hamilton in 1973 'andt Puffin Book in 1970 . with a black fox in Me wild. Tom, a town boy, is is a tam adventure tale of mishap'and shipwreck. anti from thefirstareluctant hero.His parents. both thestruggle of three teenagers, Baba, Harry and vigorous and athleticare .,olf to Europe On a two- Rupert,toescape froma,desertedisland where month bicycle tour. 'Tom has no choice but to leave abandoned concrete buildings anti equipment portend hiA hest friend in the world, Petie Burkis . and face up something terrible that is made all the more frightening to exile on a farm. bythepresenceofstrangemachinesthatclick And then Torn sees the fox. ominously amidst the desolation. The -ingenious esctipe from -the islanda balloOn by Ruperta Idid not believe it for a minuteft was like my ascenr; conceived and executed eyes were playing a trick or something. because I brilliant English public school boy who is proper and was lust sort- of staring acrosS this fieldthinking reserved and the butt or jokes bye two Americans. about rny letter..and then in the distance, where the Baba and Barry. until he comeup with the only grass was very green, I saw, a fox leaping over the': means of escape.Designing and constructing the crest of the field. The grass moved' and the fox balloon is a complicated and exhausting labour and it sprang towards the movement, and then, is the high point of-the novel. The question is always Action Pack Li Multiple Choice 48 Card_s for Drama English Sue Porter Clifford H. 27isher Cards designed to act as a stimulus for drama. They are suitable for Suitable for students of lower ability, mixed ability groups.of 9-14 year this Multiple Choice Test Book olds, includes some general English studies Puhlicittion Octoher. to assist the student. A reading 1,ist Boxed E3.approx. given at the end of each section and a series of follow-up studies is provided. El Smudge and Chewpen Limp £1.30 Paul Groves and Nigel Grimshaw Takes some.of the most common Li Experiments in errors made in'writing, and deals English Teaching with them in a novel and humorous way. For average and below average Edited by David Craig and Margot pupils in the first two years of Heinemann secondary schools. These fifteen articles describe courses PuhlicationDeceniher. recently taught or still in progress Limp1.10 approx. which break new ground. Together they give a factual, evaluative and E The Goodbodys sometimes polemical account of-the transformation iniitetiiry and Psul Groves and Nigel Grimshaw cultural studies today, and the Cattoons depict amusing episodes in tangible results emerging ' the life of a pin-man family, Cloth £5 net. Paper £2:50 net. providing reading and writing work for remedial pupik i.vith a reading age of about seven. Limp 92p

Please send me thctitle(s)I have ticked for my inspection an Experiments in English Teaching on approvul.. Name

School

School Address

Edward Arnold 25 Hill Street, London WIN

58 whether or not these three 'novices can make a work- most seribusweakness.Physicallythe books are able balloon. Atter all that \work, die reader knows about the size of a jotter, bound in paper and liberally mat the ascent will be a success . sprinkled with cartoons . drawings, photographs, news- the common task welds thee three into a team: a paper headlines and so on.Pages are divided into loyal band, as they stitch and glUe the days and nights two columns of print which is easy to read and the away. Baba, the spoiled rich brat who weeps when books are convenient to handle.Unfortunately they her Italian sandals are ruined in 'the shipwreck but are not robust and wouldnot survive anything but the promptly forgets about lorry, her friend lost at sea most careful handling. in the same disaster forgets to be areh and-snide and On a more positive note I must say that The Writer's nasty in the urgency that surrounds the escape plan. Approach to the Short Story has some very positive Friend Barry, a wounded foot festering and weak with merits.ChristopherLeachdoesa good lob -in fever, works on in spite of his pain. Evert Rupert puts explaining the essential elements of a short story in aside his English reserve as he directs and organises a simple straightforward way. He shows us some of their massive undertaking, But once safe on the main- the ways in which the short story writer catches and land again, the bonds that held the trio ingether are then maintains our interest. He explains with the use severed. Class distinctions and old prejudices prevail. of original examples how character and situation can High Way Home isexcitingandsuspenseful. be succinctly evoked.Finally,using examples of Nicholas Fisk makes the details of the shipwreci and short stories by Hemingway and himself, he illustrates the fabricating of the balloon intensely vivid and the general points he has made, The criticismI compelling. The prose is energetic-and muscularif make is that too much space in an already short book somewhat predictable in its imagery. is devoted to printing three-short stories in full. The book would be useful in introducing 14-19!___-- Rupert watched her go. To' his surprise, she shut .year-olds to the craft of the short storywriter-btif rt the cabin doors. Why? Oh, of courseto snub is material which I would recommend should be pur- him,literallytoshuthimout.Having done chased for the _class-lihrity rather than for use in thisshe went forward over the top of the cabin. Rupert watched her go.She was wearing__faded- 5etheWriter's Approach to The Ballad makes a very shorts, once red but now_a_strange----nink, and a earnest attempt to explain and illustrate the perennial man's white sweater -with- the sleeves rolled up over appeal of the ballad form. James Rlieves convincingly thc slerf&r glowing brown arms. -Her shapely little makes the point that ballads were and are popular monkey hands spread out to grip this, clasp that, because they deal vividly and directly with exciting as she made her way forward. Her long legs finely or.sensational human experiences wasting no time on boned as a racehorse'sflexed and straightened; detailed description and explanation. tapered muscles appeared for an instant then melted -What cannot be denied is that those who listened again into the shining brown surface of her flesh. to ballads were as, spellnound by a sensational story Her bare feet never hesitated, never made a mistake. as are the readers of a modern Sunday paper." Several lurid newspaper headlines are printed along- A tale of intelligence and creativity brought to bear side examples of ballads with the obvious intention of on the problem of survival, High Way Home also reinforcing the idea that the contents of ballads are shows three very different adolescents before, during essentially the same as the contents of the sensational and after a crisis.The shipwreck, and even their stories of the popular press which grip Our attention escape and rescue, isfinally just an interlude.Life today. The author goes on to encourage pupils to goes on in its everyday way. "Back to normal." is write their own ballads, stressing the importance of the the way Rupert phrasesit.High Way Home isa ballad tradition. balanced and shrewd depiction of human personality This is a forceful little book, persuasively written at, the best of times and at the worst of times. and well illustrated by a varied -selection of ballads from the obscure to the familiar. An original and JAMES H. HOWARD, useful little book which I recommend in spite of its Braidharst High School.' Motherwell. rather high price. The Writer's Approach to Newspaper Writing is the the longest of the three books but it is the least satis- factory. Lionel Birch attempts to deal with Just about Language and Creative' Writing every kind or-newspaper writing from the problem page to feature articles and he also devotes his atten- tion to the work of editors and sub-_editors, the history The Writer's Approach to the Short Story of newspapers, the rale of TV in news reporting and -Christopher Leach. Harrap. 34 pages. 80p, the effect of advertising oh newspaper contents.In The Writer's Approach to the Ballad such- a short book itis not possible to cover such a lames Reeves. Harrap. 47 pagei, 900. wide area ,effectively. The result is a rather bewilder- The Writer's Approach to Nevispaper Writing ing kaleidoscopic effect. Lionel Birch. Harrap. 61 pages, f .20, Cartoons and photograph as well as actual news; paper headlines are in the main effectively used in so The Writer's Approach to. .is an attractive idea far as they do make an initial impact on the reader carrying with it the implication that we are going to and gain his attention. Unfortunately-the material in- : see the creative process from the inside. The three thetextislessimpressive: To befair,the,boo.-, books under consideration here do not always fulfil dges provide a very wide introduction to what goes the promise of the titles.Itis obvious from their on behind the scenes in'producing a newspaper and it length that these books Cannot present an exhaustive would be quite useful in fulfilling that function. On treatment of their subject matter and herein lies their the other hand it contains little that one would expect 59 anEnglishor., Modern Studiesteacherdoesnot -I he third seetion begins with sonic infornlation on already make use of in studies of newspapers, Likc reeister and ends with views on the usefulness (or the book on the short story.- it could be, useful to otherwise) of examinations in English. have three or four copies ivaitabk for pupils to refer In attempting to do too much the authors- haVe to, but in these days of savage cuts in educational aCcomplished too little. The book is unlikely to be expenditure, many teachers %vould:consider this one an of much interest Vr use tO pupils preparing for certm7 expensive .Itesury at E.20 per copy, ate examinations:\ /-celittgs into WOrdssis a creative writmg course, GoarioN litstan -I he authors hype th-'at pupils will learn to master the Efgin ,-icade my language by personal involvement in the svriting of it. to ...- Stage 1 is ooncerned with encouraging the pupils sharpen "their five wits-.-Each sense has a Varied ant.t . for the most port, well-chosen selection of prose English !or Living Book 4-- excerpts and poemsandisadequatelyillustrated Albert Rowe. Matmillan. 160 pages, II -35. (although the picture introducing "Food and the Sense BridgesWays to English of Taste" may well cause some sensitive pupils to be W. F. Stevens and J. P. Wilkinson. Ginn, SS pligei, non-starters at the meat course). Tim bookabount4 El -25. in opportunities to explore the senses and write about Feelingsinto WordsA Creative writingcourse, them. The iniportant factoristhat the pupik are Stages 1, 2 and,3 compelled toturn to their own experiences and to Christopher Copeman and Graham Barrett.Ward write sincerely about them. For those teachers who Lock Educational Ltd.StageI. 96 pages; Stage 2. have long preached the doctrine of ';write about what--- 112 pages; Stage 3, 112 pages: each El -25. you know.' this book is ideal. Stage 2 leads the pupil front an examination of self to a study of response to external stimuli. Awide English for LivinR is the fourth in Albert Rowe's is covered, again with passages -English for Livinr series, and like books one. two range of emotions _ and poems of literary merit chosen to arouse the and three It Is more suited to the needs ano interests interea"tof pupils.Joy,fearcourageguilt,self- of thenon-certificate or "bridge" croupsthanto consciousness and affectIon are all adequately repre- - those of eel-title:de classes_ sented I would, however, be very dubious about Several linked passages come from the Macmillan encouraging pupils to do a tat of linger trending anu Tordinee'series andtogether wdh others from Doing nOthattheycouidthenwrite abont tne authors such as John Wyndham and Laurie Lee, les uitign painpQvilon txgain, atter each sectIon; should englige and possibly hold the interest of the 4me exceiient opportunities tor Qreative writing, less able readers, starting Isom personal experience, Mimine (books- on e. two and three) has given way . mage i takes the puma- stage 'toilet by involving- to rOle playing. and there is an attempt at preparing himiii in an examination of hunsett in relatiom . to others. the school leaver for the rigours -of the outside world Drienos, groupsparents and school ore dealt with byintroducingdiscussionRessions onintervieWs . successtuily.I it'e authors have made a patucularly choice of ctireers and simihr topics 5t. cautionary good choice ot matergit inthis section, and have tate concerning teenacers and under-aee drinking is included sonw very interesting introductory remarks put in as a timely warning. While itis laudable on to various-_passages as well as asking leading questions the part of the author to attempt to inlighten the alterthem eassages trom the works of George saltine teenacers about mental illnessthe article by UrsscltWilliamuolding, Johndetternan.LIt Da.vid Sheppard is hardly reassuring. and the ae'com- Lawrence, to mention only a few..writers. cannW fail panvine photouraph,of psychogeriatrie patients is at to meet with the approval of both teachers and pupils once disturbine and mistral-ding_ Some of the suggested exercises are quite useful atiiktVvouldbe wrong to assuMe that-the authors intend ; and a identhascope thepupils;othersare of the bovilma to be used in secondary classes, indicated . loil1eroils in their expectations. by the stages of the course. Although the material The authors of lirido, asetI,nt their ain- inthe in Stage I is more suited to the I2-13-year-old stage, introduction to this book. much ofit could be profitably used at all- levels of thcsecondaryschool. ClaSses4 and3 would It aims to make studen6;--of fifteen and above more undoubtedly benefit from the work given in Stage 3. comcioas of what languageis, how vitalitisto 1C-would not be necessary, or even advisable, to them and how they can use it effectively in different .work thrOugh the books systematically. Teachers will: situations. obviously wish to select the time and the material. Ido not see; Feelings info 'Words replacing the They also claim that itis mitable for students pre- more traditional type of course book, but, as excellent parine for C.S.E. and -0- level examinations. sources of creative writing, they have a place in the Hmldin_ yoltr Bridges," section1, skims over a English department. 'aide range of language. from the use yf punctuation keepinginmind the flecessityfor economy, E -to autobiography. fiction and scansion, would suggestthatthegretitestbenefit would be- Section 2 opens with the physiology of speech, and derived from the course if one set of each stage was goes on to discuss English dialects. Standard English Made availabk1tothedepartment and eould be- .and phonetic symbols_ Much is made of the dialectal -booked- by teachers for class use, %mortis for ''`fhe weakest Pig in the Litter." and the accompanying map (stopP1Pg'aterzt.ptly at the Scottish ELsin M. WiLsON, border) seems superfluous_ Garrionlcadtnuy are Westerns with adolescent heroes who, like the Reluctant Readers hero in The Long Road Hom e. prove after a set of testing,adventures that they are made of the right kind of stuff.Diamonds Highhas alistof surefire Spirals AnchorBooks ingredients.It has a private eye hero who has just Anita Jackson Cassell. engaged an assistant.She isbeautiful, blonde and Hutchinson in associationSet I, per set £2-00. resourceful. Together they--track down the diamond with 1.L.E,A. Attack In Dark Lane smugglers, following the trail in and out of Boeing -G.R. Crosher, 64 pages, 747s fast cars and Hilton Hotels, What more could a AGame of Life or Death poor-to-average Third or Fourth Year want from a The Austin Seven 55p. class reader? . The Actor Strangers In theVillage G_ R.Crusher. 64 pages. Cassell's Anchar Series would suit the 15-year old Dreams 55p. reading at about the 5:0 mark_ My own experience The Ear with their now-familiar format of text chopped up Runaway into Danger. into short widely-spaced lines and pictures (black- Bennet Manor G. R. Crasher. 64 pages. and-white and not very good) on almost every other Each 30P. 55p. page .is that they do not go down very well with the NoSun at Sunnyside ptimls. The books do not quite meet my first require- G. R. Crosher, 63 pages, -ment of looking right. The covers are alright but. 55p. unlike the othef sen ts reviewed here . you might be a Getaway Books little ashamed of being caught reading them. Sirangers Nelson. in Village is_quite a readable tale about a Young The Long, Road Home Set--2. per set £2-130. woman who has a row with -'her husband and- tikek Joan Tate. 75 pages, 35pPolly andthe Barrow Boy the baby and clears out. The heroes, two boys and a Stageto Nowhere Joan Tate..56 pages, 55p. gir1,- become involved and all ends happily. Crasher's William 1-lirsi. 96 pages, Crow and the Brown Boy other three titles are less successful. They suffer, as Joan Tate. 55 pages, 55p. does muchoftoday'sjuniorfiction,fromthe 35p. -Timothy Winters" syndrome. Itis all sacial workers . Little Cayuse When the Song was over probation officershigh-rise flats, derelict slums, poor Eugenie L. Myles. Anna Higgins. 64 pages. old ladies, rows at home, etc. etc. Even if this is life 96 -pages, 35p. . 55p. as our children know it. and I accept that -this is the Diamonds High Dangerous Thieves. case with many of them do we have ta make the Roy Bebbington, 92 pages.V. B. Chhiba. 64 pageN. poor devils read stories about battered wives and 55p. battered children acting but their lives in rat-infested. boarded-up hovels? There must be a better way of As teachers of poor readers, what do we look for bridging the culture gap./1,11130 and the Barrow Boy in a reading book? First Of all.I think, it must look and When the Song was over which both deal with -right inside and out. Great slabs of print daunt the boy-mits-girl situations. and Crow and ihe Brown reluctant reader, but no One wants to be seen reading Boy which is about a three-way relationship between A Oily. Pondy-type books with twenty words to the a white boy. a West Indian boy and a rcrow, arc much page. The only other requirements are the appropriate more appealing. Icannot find words to deseribe blend of interest and reading levels and of course, -a Danp.roitY Thieycw by V. B. Chhiba.Itis enough to passable prose style. Not easy, but Hutchinson have shake one's faith in a normally responsible publisher brought it off with their Spirals. of remedial books. Although slim. average 40 cages they do not look DAVID 14111D, like remedial readers. There are no pictures, and no Invernrie Academy. one would be ashamed to be seen reading one. They need a reading age of around eight but they could be read and enjoyed by anyone They all have a super- The Carnfernj Gang natural theme and if you have ever watched the first Alan Jamjeson. Arnold. 123 pages. f 1 -2.5. fecv minutes of a Hammer Production with your hand The Motivation Reader on the "off- switch and stayed on to see every pre- J. F. Stevens. Methuen. each 32 pages.each El50, dictable trick, you will have a fair idea of the level of Water Skiing their appeal and of their sophistication,1 tried them on a Second Year remedial class, some poor-to-average Trail Bike Action Third Year -girls and an adultlearner.They' all Hang Gilding wanted more. By the way, my motherin-law enjoyed Sailing Skiffs them too so that should clinch it! The Nelson Getaway books are very good of their -The Carnferry Gang is intended for the 12-13 age kind. too. Aimed at competent but reluctant, rather group and ispresented in an attractive soft back . than learner, readers they would not look out of place illustrated with pen sketches on the cover and -in on a railway station book-stall. Again no pictures with each chapter.The book comprisesfifteenstories the text, and a cle-ar type-face. nice line-spacing and depicting episodes in the experiences af three boys Sensibly short paragraphs give the pages an inviting rand two girls.Set in a Scafitish industrial town with appearance. The Long Road Home is -about a young the countryside nearby, the-group becomes involved in lad who leaves home and finds himself involved with contemporarysituationssuchasstealingillness . agroupofhippie-type-do-gooderswhorunan camping. vandalism, rescue, sometimes bringing them unofficial soup-kitchen/doss-house for derelicts and into conflict with authority, with gangs and with them- social misfits.Stage to Nowhere and Link Caylise selves. SRA affers,aWI Os of Shoit CoOrsosin C9mposition V&aliulciry -Reading Con'preheiition: .,fidoni Si-to $6

Recent Publications Researchla to develop referenee skills NewsLab I &II to encourage wider reading of newspapers and magazines

If you wish to discuss _LB. Gray. Regional Manager, the potential of SRA 2263, London Road, materials in your Mount Vernon. Glasgow, E2. school please write Tel: 041 778 45.85 or telephone: 1 H. Andrews. Staff Associate, SRA Limited, 23, Hunterhill Road, Newtown Road, Paisley, Renfrewshire. Henley on Thames, Oxon. Tel: 041 889 4407 Tel: Henley 5959 These Ntor w, are entertaininglynritten_ and the Sailinx SkilIAonee again well illustrated pictures characters zre nell-drann. within the limits of the depicting some particular preparation or activity that vocabulary iNed, One-such story involved Fiona who. takes place before and during races. -Handicap" and- aftersOITICartfulpersuasion. managed toget her -Scratch" ways of startingarace arc explained: parents to agree to her going on a school outing to sailing into the wind. -tacking,- trapeze, and harness study -rnarine life."The pupik had been reminded wires and several other technical points are mentioned_ or the tasks they had been given to do for thc "fickl- Altogether Ifeel that this series must succeed in its nork" and on arrival .thirty-odd pupik burst out appeal to the spirit of adventure in young people and of the bus like gas escaping from a ginger beer bottle.-- represents a valuable addition to a -slower learner- When Fiona and her friend Alison found themselves library. on the beach they soon became less eathusiastic about RAystoszia Osi. their fieldwork-- and the Mvitatien to sniff' was more Carnanatic It,igh School. than Fiona could refuse. A strong swimmer. but too late she finds herself carried away from the beach by currents. Eventually she is rescued by some fishermen but by the time She gets back to the beach she dk- Primary covers the bus has gone, - Alison. however. IS SIM there not so much ont of Beginning Write Away InNalty. Fiona was to discover. but because she had Robert 1, Hoare. Longman, 48 pages, 50p. also missed the bus. An Bound English with Work-books The bus =returns: the driver grumbles about kids Konald Kidout and Michael Holt. Longman. 64 pages. and fixichers:the teachers become tight-lipped and 90p. furious. The Run girkwiththeirgirs empty and Skills in English their question-sheets uncompleted, slowly make their Kenneth Thompson, Cassell. hook I: 42 pages, 65p. nay into the bus looking as,-if they did not have a Book 2, 42 nages (50. Book 3, 5.8 pages, S5p.Ltook care in the world. 4. 60 pages,r85p. 'Is ithalf-past four then? Alkon asked, innocentl5 . l'ou see Miv s. sae don't have a watch and Three language devekt-pment series, all different bpi there are no clocks on the beach'." all with something in common, First the differences! At the endof. cmch story there areideas and Beginning Write Away is the introductory stage to suggestionsforpupils'nork.Lindertheheading --ficuy by the same author_ IL-preNents a number Questions for Discussion" there are, on average ten of topics like holidays the family, TV. fantasy which . unestions on issuesraisedinthe episode. Writine the publishers say, awaken childrento the joy of assignments are suggested such as answering question, creative writing. about the storydescribing what will happen ne'il . _ Graphically, the series is not entirely a success and giving factual reports': also writing a Doern or story despite a claim to high-quality illustration the pictures inspired by the chSpter. anti so on. Drama ideas are are in many cases barely satisfactory. soccested also.. The contentfeaturestheusualelichd situations I thinkthisbookwouldbe stimulatingand likesurprisemeetingswithcreatures from other interesting to slow learners in second and tbri'd year planets (this would appear to be mandatory now): secondary and well worth_ haying. horrid spiders and so on. T/w Motiviaion RPiulcrs set out to appeal to the Some of the units invite the children to illustrate sense of affventure and action in boys and girls and their Awry but no real help or advice is given. consist of factual introductions to some lesser-known Ill Rnund Entgishisaccording to the publishers, sports. -a galaxy of colourful language work implementing a These books arc excellentlypresented withstiff verythoroughapproach that is traditional yet covers and a half-page colour photo on each page. different.- Each double page spread presents_what is Each illustrationis referred tohi the text below it . intended to be a week's work covering itdms such as nhich consists of no more th5n -fifty words TheEe sentenceconstruction punctua tion comprehension are about thins' pages in each book t he material has and so on. There are associated work-books which an ape interest of fourteen years and beyond but a concentrate on vocabulary and spelling and the series reading dge of about nine. is meant to be used in conjunction with other books Iraiez Skiinv starts by describing the launehing of nhich are devoted to creative writing. At any rate, a family- inboard motor boat and goes on to describe this is how the publisher sees the material, skis. wet Soils, the starting of arun, etc.Different The graphic presentation of the book is undeniably boats are discussed briefly and various trick-skiing. colourful,butinitcrude way -andthegeneral lizirefoot skiing arid even a dog on skis is commented impression is somewhatuntidy andunpleasant. noon. Clutterratherthangalaxyspringstomind. The Trail BA?. Action dezi is with the elementary features content itself is the usual mixture of exercises which of a trail bike: the different types_ the importance of testrather than teach and certainly are ,unlikely to maintenance. etc. Most of the book is taken op with inspire anenringdu interesCin language. One. on the the hazards 'encountered on trials-and emphasises the Alphabet. asks the chiklren to complete 26 pairs of -Kills that are' called for_ sentences preeisely emulating this model. Mink,Glidingis a leSsersknownsportbutis My name is Angela and my husband's name is superbly illustrated in this book. The reader is taken Andrew, We Come front Acton and we sell apples. through -the procedures and preparation before and The authors thoughtfully provide alist or- names, during launching: the conditions required with respect pktces and products .whigbNitherdiminishesthe -to wind and, height:differentmethods orflying: opportunity for initiative MY -the-chijsirens' part. landing techniques and hazards to be avoided. There are four books in the Skills iiMig/ish series 63 ; which provide (according to the publisher) a language own cave people_Perhaps a frieze could depict a course for first to middle schools. Each book com- landscape where primitive survivalispossible,Let prisks a sequence of short chapters which is intended them deride for themselves where to find food and to _form the basis of a year's work. The aim is to shelter, how to make tools and weapons. improve thebasic structureof children'swritine . Help them to relate to their imaginary situations tApparentls . this includes even hand-writing. The first by finding Points common totheir Own experience letter and that of their cave dwellers. For example. the three chapters of Book One are devotedto children will have come upon imimal tr:icks in the formation). snow or in the sand just as the primitive, hunter wift Once again the graphic. presentation leaves some- tind a trailto follow.Use passages of poetry and thing to he desired and though not by any means as prose to intensify the children's awareness of their untidyas I If Round Engish, the books arenot They have that particular quality own experiences and their relationship to those of visually satisfying their imaginary community. When allthisis done whichmakes a ehild'sheartsinka little.Mr Thompon maintains the sinking feeling with exer- the children will be deeply involved in a situation cises like the one entitled -From the Future to the and still have thought through its problemsproblems Past- which is illustrated With a skyline of a futuristic: which will hare become their own. What they have city and invites the children to imagine what school thought through they will surely understand and be will be like in the year 3000. It promises well . but a able to state coherently. few lines later, it turns out to he an exercise in tenses Language has a lot to do with thinking. The better./ future. present and past_ the thinkin g. the better the language,It makes sense, What we haVe, then. are three yets of books-- one then,toexpect language programmes to promote of which provide.; topics tor creative writing with thinking situations_ Language develops through talk allied art work: another which isa comprehensive and therefore itis reasonable to look for.eonvers.a- Englishcoursewithassociated work books: and . tional opportunities in a language development series . finally, a four-year course aimed at the improvement ft is part of the function of teaching to enable children of the basic structures in children's writing.Each foattain. increasing competence and therefore the series hasits own characteristics and differs quite language course must include enablement devices. In cle.crly from the others. More important, however is 1976 theleastone should expecttofindinnew the way in which the series are similar.All three publications is clear evidence of this modern thinking. have in common the fact that they pay little or no WrUe ..Iss.ayoffers motivation but no attention to modern thinking. enahlement. All Round Enelish tinkers away with the Chddren develop language by talking and must be various superficial conventions of English in a manner engaged from an-early stage in purposeful conversa- which has been shown to do very little indeed for the -tion. They come to school already posse;sing a great development of Children's language, Skills en Enelish deal more in the way of language potential than they ranges wjdely faint= handwriting to the WC of tape- are normally required to use. This applies even to the recorders but despite stated claims does nothing to disadvantaged or deprived children A language course improve the basic.structures of children's language. must therefore set tip situations which-generate those It is not possible to recommend any of these series' kindsof conversationwhichrequire .ehildrento for use in today's primary schools. Our children have e*rcise a greater, range of _language- structures. For a right to expect . and usually geta good deal better . example. in Skills in Enelish, Book One, the author though perhans it should be said that much.,of the apologises for asking the children to make a box to better material is provided by individual teachers and eontain their 'word-bank, He feels thisis handwork is only rarely available in published form, rather than Hnguage.Itis an unhappy distinction, BitMorryr. for in this very situation lies a basis for purposeful Thorn Primary School, Johncronr. conversation. Children who perhaps discover a better way to make part of the box may then wish to describe this to other group members or to the teacher, 'They A Likely Story may even wish to speculate on other aspects Of their Pleasurein Reading.Edited lay Xlan Lynskey. box-making if sensitively encouraged by the teacher. Longman. 122 pages. 'I-he structures required for this kind of conversation Orbit Series are already possessed by the children but are rarely exercised in the, playground or in day-to-day adult/ Holmes McDougall. child intercourse: Minder of Brannin Children write best when they want to %%rite and Books l-3. Margaret Lennox Salter, Each 32 pages, therefore a language course must include motivation . The Adventures of Magnus and this is what nV,ZinninV 11. rite Away aims to pro- nooks I-3.Margaret Lennox Salter_Each 32 pages. vide. Mr Flo;tre states that in order to enjoy writinc . Livfng on the EarthMan all you need is something interesting to write about.. Books l-3.Margaret Lennox Salter,Eath 32 pages, Unfortunately, this is only half of the story.In order Living on the EarthAnimals to write well .children have to know svhat they are Books 1-3.J. T. Francis_ Each 32 pages_ talking about and in recognising, this, ReRinnine Write Away offer s. for example, a two-naue spread providing Teachers of P4 and P5 classes have in the past often %time jnformation. pictorially and in wordsabout envied the wider range of reading materials available cave people.It then invites -the_ehild to he a cave to their colleagues teztching older classes in the school. dweller and write a story. Such an approach is irrele- Now Holmes McDougall have zone some way towards vant because itis too simple_ If children are to write ,Keting the undoubted need for supplementary reading about cave people .thenthey rnusthepersonally aterialforthis7-9-yea.--old age group- withthe involved, albeit imaginatively.Let them create their Btiblieation of the Orhil exiension rraders,scries_ 64 De4gned originally to provide fo11ow-1:p material dictionary training Lom a picture book starter to a for the same publisher's-Link Up infant readers. the firstadult dictionary containing 15,000 references, 1' books the Orbit series should prov: equally This series could not be described as a new concept usefulwithpupils brought up on otherreading in dictionary publication. The approach is traditional schemes/The books ard platformed on two levels of but inpresentation andlayoutitcompares very difficulty with three fact and three fictional books at favourably with others of itstype. A noteworthy each Aevel. featureisits adherence, us far as possible, to the Dr the non-fictional books all of which come under natural expression of children_ the one heading of Living on the Earththe easier Although essential to the completeness of the set. three deal with animals while the more difficult three Dit.ffi5tutr31 seems the least effective of the series /progress on to looking at man and how he looks but could well be given a place, with other picture r' after the world in which he lives. book material of a similar type. iff-the Infant Library_ The easier three of the six story books all feature Dictionaries- 2 and 3 (nicely illustrated with good line the Adventures of Magnus and each book contains drawings) have the quality and potentialto carry two tself,contained tales.Pupils can thus enjoy the through a sound programme of dictionary training for- satisfaction of finishing the story, while their interest the 6-9 age group, where they could probably be used is maintained and they are encouraged to read on. as to greatest advantage in class sets. the same boy heroisfeaturedineachone. s The last of the seriesI would place inthe top Mpst interesting of all the Orbit books are perhaps primary classrooms as part of a collection of varied the finalthreefiction books by Margaret Lennox dictionaries.-It would seem More economical -at this Salter, in which she has created the mythical kingdom stage to provide a selection than to equip each child of Brannin.All six stories in them have a distinct with a F mailer and less adequate volume, Dictionary 4 puce and a number of truly, cliff-hanging endings. iscommendable forelementary requirements and which I feel should make them very good material for eminently suitAle in its clarity of layout for less-able older remedial readers. pupils.Howeveritclearly does notoffer nearly All the Orbit books have attractive full colour illus- enough references to satisfy the requirements =of soMe trations, well linked with the text which appears on senior primary pupils whu are ready to use a more the same or the opposite page. A separdte workbook comprehensive reference work such as the Twentieth will contain exercises linked to all twelve books. but I Century Dictionary by the same publishers. feel that some of the books, especially the Brannin three. could well be read-simply for enjoyment. 'ISOBEL STOMART. Unlike most of the titles in the Pleasurr in Reading Thorn Primary School, Jolui.%ne: Series, published by Longman, A Likely Story is not one story at all, but a whole- selection of tales from whichitis indeed likely that senior primary pupils of above-average ability will find much to enjoys: With authors including Alan Garner, Ted Hughes and Phillippa Pearce .the standard of writing is high riticism.for CSYS and the, range of story wide, from the fantasy of William Trevor's "The Sunflowers in the Snow- to the everyday world of Coming Home- by Keith A Preface to Hardy Wa Icehouse. Merryn Williams.Longman "(PrefaceB oks 182 Most of the book's fourteen stories are short stories pages. hardback 13-00, paperback f2-00, and where extracts, such as "Tadpole Time' from A Preiace to Pope Barry Hines' famous Kestrel for a Knave have been I;R.F. Gordon_Longman (Preface Bos),-196 included, editor Alan M. Lynskey, Head Teacher of pages, hardback f3-(10. paperback 1.2-,00. Greenbank School. Rochdale, has chosen well so that An Introduction to Pope - they can either be read happily on their own or Pat Rogers.Methuen (University Press),182 pages. serve as an introduction -to the whole book. hardback £5-00. paperback 12.50. tikely Story is illustrated with black and white line drawings and itis interesting to note that itis Inthese clays of desire for some return tothe printed in Hong Kong. which may account fur the classics: in[hi; CS.Y.S. opportunities to concentrate -reasonable price for a hardback. upon authors as opposed toisolatedtexts;inthe Gibertitlesin .thesameseriesinclude: The magnificent scope of the Dissertation; in the listing of Magician's Nephew by C. S. Ixerts. The Last of the Hardy as a Specified Author in the 1977 and 1978 Vikingsby, HenryPreece, .4 Dog SoStnull by C.S.Y.S. Literature lists; in the development in Paper Phillippa Pearce, Stig of the Dump by Clive King. of the open question, providing possibilities for and First Choice which. like A Likely Slimy isa answers on Pope; and, most important of all, in the collection of extracts and short stories. need to provide young questioning minds with writers WILLInsa P. HENDR IC, of stature and relevancethese three books.are very Afarroy field Primary School, Blackburn. welcome. The Preface books are written to the sante tight formula referred toin John McPartlin's review of earlier Preface works, to Yeats and to Jane Austen. Chambers Young Set Dictionaries 1-4 in Teaching English Volutne 9(1) October 1975. And This setof fori'rdictionaries, now appearing in similar judgments may be made of theseotew works. limp. covers, .was originally published in hardback in all but one respect. There is the same helpful and during the period from 1971-74, attractiveseriesof mapsphotographs,diagrams. Itconsists of a earefully-pliinned progressionin pictures .engravings, manuscripts- about twenty-eight WHEATON STUDIES IN LITERATURE General Editor: Thomas rrehon Each book in On, valuable ne v.eriei opens-with a lone essay on the poet or poets to he studied. his writing. and the times and circumstances in which the poetr% was produced. This is folky.sed by a selection of poems which fully covers the areas commonly set at advanced le%el. Exhaustive notes which assume no previous knowledge of the subject are a. are supported alio by synopses or the mom difficult works and. %%here the material is asailabk. the poeri own comments on hii ,Aork_At the end of each book is a selection of critical opinion, rrom writing coptemporary with the poems down to the criticism of today. GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS THE MARTIAL MUSE POETRY AND PROSE SEVEN CENTURIES OF WA R. POETRY Ed. Dr K. E. Smithi1.20 net Ed, Alan Bola£1.35 net THREE EARLY TUDOR POETS WILLIAM BLAKE SKELTON. WYATT AND SURREY SELECTED POETRY AND LETTERS Ed, N. BielbyLIAO net Ed. Dr A. S. CrehanE1.40 net THE MINOR POLMS OF JOHN MILTON Ed. T. Crehan£1.20 net

LITERATURE FOR-. LIFE SERIES General Editor: Kelm rop The first four or these no% anthologies of short stories by contemporary %%rimers have alreudy become best- -sellers since their publiczttion in April. Alan Sillitoe and Bill Naughton haw both made then own selections or the very best or their writing and added their own introductions to the anthologies. The late Mervyn Peake's novella Roy in porkin.sv is introduced by his %%ire Maeve Gilmore and John Foster introduces a selection of some of the nlost outstanding studiesIty H. E. Bates. Four v.riters, in lour completely different - styles demonstrate their mastery of the art of short story writing. The latest addition to the series (November 1)761 is The Seeds of Von; by John Wyndham, %k ith the authoei own introduction.' DOWN TO THE BONE THE palsoN LADIES Alan SiIlitoe80p H. E. Bates90p BOY IN DARKNESS THE BEES HAVE STOPPED wORKINg Mervyn Peake60p Bill Naughton 80p 8 THE SEEDS OF TIME John Wyndham E1.05.

DIMENSIONS A provocatke new series of thematic anthologies. publiihed May 1970. which takes a close look at issues ol immediate interest to young people and provides a wide range or material for classroom use. ADOLESCENCE BLACK AND WIlliE Mike Samuda70p L. Foster75p LOVE AND MARRIAGE scJIDOL Mike Samuda70p John I_ Foster70p WHEAT\ IIENNOCK ROAM EXETER LX2 8BP

66 67' in cali book.here are the same gellerous Reference area of Popes ssork) and -Pope and Age.- respec- _Sections,comprising shortItiogr5phies,Gazetteers, tivelyapart frontthese. he has sixchapters,the Chronological labies01 the Main Eventsinthe bulk of the book eombining criticism and background Author's Lite and 'Finics. guides to. Further Reading: in the order established by 71:hg Twickenham edition.'" and in the Hardy Book. an Appendix on Serialization ea!, Butt, 1939-1969. "now in every respect standard.- and its:11.e.2ts on Hardy's texts: in the Pope hook; a So readers ableto cope are immediately given a glossary otI echnicalI erms.Part Ore 01 eaeh text bridgehead intothe Jiltimate.And, of course, the isdevoted insonic detailto 1 heSriter inflis book has no lack or challenging remarks.Indeed, I setting,comprising a wide range of influences.In found my ire rising at sonie of the comments made PartI iyo, "1 he Critical Survey'is very well suited paAmmt about other writersfor example, agairst to SiXth-y ear teaehlue inits attempts to tntroduce lopkins.- these young readers to the art ot criticism by, concen- How. then, to decide between the two offerings? trating on samples -of some of Me crucial texts.In In- my opinion,I.R. Gordons' Prefaceis more short, these Prefaces are veryhelpful ssorks. suitedto starting Sixth Year pupils on a study of 'Hie one 'respect in which my evaluation differs from Pope: Pat Rogers' lastoducaon to starting First Year John SlePartlin's is as a result of his oomments: L'tyi_vili:sitypupils on a similar study. However, Pat Rogers' book is certainly of interest to teachers who. Itis,hoysever. the nature of thtskind of back- dring the session, would like to catch the intoxication ground book which deserves serious questioning by of a gifted Professor makipg Pope conic alive in Me a teacher of Sixth Year Studies English who wishes confines of a short book, and thereby being recharged to stimulate students to a vaM1 connection with. or for that so-important dialbgue with the pupils. The even antipathy to, a syriter. They represent the best of these would, properly taught. benefit front unprosocative strain of not only literary eritim ism. Rogers: book at the end of their Sixth. but ffpich of education. which may not alloW our --So all three books have a part to play in Sixth pupils:the stance ot reaction. Year work -and, fundamentally. I repeat. because 'they ably open up to us teachers and to the-young. Such criticisfiL certainly as regaids A Prchue io challenging minds in OW care. writers'whoare "Life- north' and A Preface to Pape, attacks the authors for Seers," two men who were steeped in the arts and not doing what they deliberately set out to avOid: the who confronted their times against .brit-e-rdifficulties, books are intended only as clearinegrounds to make artictilating: theirpermanenttruths." Who are we easier that contact of teacher and pupil. Perhaps John missing today? NIcPartlin's cautionary note should- bedirectedto Pg7Ett R. GillsoN, teachers who, fail .to see .the books' intended limits, notallead .4c:dile/PO% and avoid becoming -provocative teachers who will help .6.-Ygreate such relationships."Ironicall y. in any case.suchisthe natureofthe two writers prefaced. Hardy and Pope._ thatinvoluntarily any bookaboutthemwould -arousereaction. And Serious Play MerrynWilliamselearlycannotcontainherself within the editorial format and manages to have Mc General Editor, Maurice Hussey. inhis Foreword Play write: Edited byJ.S Bruner. Jolly and this most readable, and unexpectedly positive study Penguin hooks. 1976. 716 pages, f2.75. SYlva' of Hardy's prose and verse.... Phis.isa portly but portable reader that moves Perhaps I am biased.I certainly take instant-likings dauntingly over huge fields.Ethology, ontogeny and iii criticas ho can as she- does. begin her books with phylogeny appear throughbriefburstsof mathe- the words quoted -from Thomas Hardy. writing about matical static. There is much on monkeys, and what. William Barnes: Darwin began ethology ha i. completed . and we gan now regard our animalnatureswithequanimity. But criticism is-so easy and art so hard; criticism Monkeys at play were told move with 'a particular so flimsy and the life seer's voice so lasting. kind of open-mouthed gesture, a'Slack but exaggerated gait.andamarked 'galumphing' -- -suggestiveof PatRogers'book, in/roam:atmtaPJpe, scenes at any party, enforcesa.directcomparisonwithGordon's A .1 The book dazzles with its Variety. Cock-fighting in Prdatto Pape, both being preparatory books, both Bali, the effects.'of protein deficiency, country games acknowledging an indebtednessto Maynard Muck. in the ISSOi. sit together happily as do Auden with -the greatest of hying Popians.- and both aimed at Lorenz. Piaget with van Lawick-Goodall.' Nothing is Siyth Year pupils and First Year College Students. without some interest although some of the selections This demand for a comparison is, too, made by the are'peculiar:theJapanesestudiesof macaque readers of this magazine who wish for a reviewer's monkeys have produced a lot more interesting results opinion. than the rather dry sample provided herethe story Professor Rogers book is organised very differently. of how they learned to swim and began to colonise fromAssistantProfessor Gordon's thus producing other islands is a perfect illustration of the constructive differentrequirements of hisreaders.Apart from use of play, Chapters 1 and 2. fhe Writer and his Audience" and In folk wisdom, work and play, like death and In 'ThePoliticsofStyle::respectiVely:andfrom are usually divided against one anotherthe forrm r Chapters 9 and 10. "A Poet's Prose" (I. R. E. Gordon's inoral,brutish and protracted,the other. naughty. book_ doe.; not offer the concentrated detail on this joyous and short_ "Work consists of_whatever a body 67 is ubiiecd to do, and Playebrisli of whatever a Teaching (Longman, 1964), Professor Halliday %%as a body is ma obliged to do"- -or so Mark Twain felt. prime mover in drawing attention tothe Ole-of 'Fhis book makes oqe realisethattlie quotation's linguistics in education, a role to_which--Ifig project Work and Play hive to be transposed if sentiment is on Linguistics and the Teaching-Tif -English, supported to lit facts, and that we might be happier anthropoius in turn by the,Nuflield -Foundation and the' Schools' = it there were no divisions at att . Council, gaXrk some practical realisation through such APartlfrom encouraging cries Of -Viva Litwrencel- schemes as Language in Use and Breakthrough to and a rnore stoical attitude to unemployment, there Literacy. Dr flasan contributed a preliminary paper-- isn't much in the book that is of direct concern tq . on the mean's of conneefion through and between the English teacher, but to perceive ;its contents in utterances,christenedby SALT as-devicesof - terrns of any one disapline is to reStrictits effect. - cohesion.' - - Play abounds in thought-provokingmaterial for the We are nOw presented with a thorough accouat of teacher in general; Eric- Erikson's concluding chapter such devicesinEnglish, largely deriving from the on play and qctuality, with its vision Of war as ritual, work of thels'field/SchoolsCouncil Project.It g sugkests that Owen as much as l3rooke might haVe would be impractictble, as well as impertinent on my:3_ been guilty of exaggerated gesture and inapyropriate part-, to undertake in these pages a critical review of rhetoric, a view Mtn could db no end:of goodat the thk publication.I propose simply to characterise the - very least for S.C.E. markers.. / sort of information the book provides. For the teacher to harness the learning power of Clearly erhat gives a text coherence is the way a play is no easy task-)Play is not Om. The child's language allows for connection between sentences: actions are subordinated tiPa -meant g only, revealed aS the-authors remark, devices of cohesio# are essen- in the course of playing the processit learning being tially semantic in nature, though they may be realised -involuntary yet self-,directed, and th --study'and use in many cases in gramamtical as Well as lexical forms. of play is often a tensing out of slid paradoxes. The The first part of the book discusses.how to look at classroom. thoughit mimics the pr cess of playing . connections between sentences in text. fails to- use the play experience much beyond the In generalthe authors see five classes of cohesive middle primary school -and a detailed look at _this devices:those operating by identityof reference, limitation. . . might have-been rewardi g. those operating by substitution, those operating by The acquisition of games aith r Iles,Piaget says ellipsis(of items .presupposed) those operating by here, marks a compromise between self needs and, conjunction (including various types of logical rela- social demands, and itis in this aiea that the book tionship) and those depending on lexical relationship appears at its Weakest.Infailing Ito deal in detail including collocation. with the relationship between=childil and adult forms No one, least of all the authors, would suppose thai of play and, indeed, the social. political and ecglibmic this description could be regarded atthis stage as considerations with which we hedgd them about, -the definitive. Even as it standsthere are certain quali- book avoids an important commitment.Less stress fications td be borne in mind in applying it to tpts. on the behaVioural sciences and th7ir methodological This is the subject of the final pages of the book, purities and a more thorough-going iOurney afield-- . which first discusses the matter in fairly general terms to Kafka. Heller or Albee, for examplewould have and then offer some tentative demonstrations of the extended its range °most usefully. i Western contem- analysis of cohesion. porary spectator sportssuchas / non-nuclear war! All experience of the application of linguistics to football and pornography offer pleasures with_,con- English teaching has induced a somewhat pessimistic siderable profits, but if the real play takes place only view of its practical effects. Nevertheless its tendency in the stands what has.lhis done Ito Our heads?-If hal-undoubtedly been healthy on the whole,Perhaps child play forms..-adult pjay reajisesand a study the dramatic advancesingrammaticaldescription of both might well give some sort ;or answer to a few typical of the late fifties and the sixties have been in of our more pressing social dileminas_ an area of limited interest especially to the mother- Really importan6books bring cdpeerns that were on tongue teacherthoughthisishardly. so -true of the edge of things into positions olleentral significance_ "case grammar" or Halliday's own studies 'intransi- This book important though itii, does not manage tivity and theme. The area uf linguistic description that because play has always been thought of as with which this book deals ishowever, of obvious importance to the teacher of compositiOn or of close : Crucial. What itdid achieve forl the present .writer was a realisation that a large nufmber of books on literary study.As usual, the linguist'seeks to give educational matters generally had si.iddenly develoPed precisedefinitionsof whattheuser -ofEnglish natv big holesI-Ind that can be no bad thing. instinctively-knows. What is said id this book- will be .- difficult to assimilate, but I ha've flo dohbt that we . , RoiminRtinerasoN. have' here a seminaltextfor te=bers of Englisb'-_ Woray House Colli-ge of Education. language. T. M. BruytyN. Mora) use College of Education The Space., Between Wordst *- Advanced Conversational English Cohesion in English - David Crystal and Derek Davy, Longman, D2 pages. Halliday and Has:tn. .Longman.,:lril Pages. 15-00. 1225.. A The names of the- authors ofhis work rdust be When a learner. s masterEd the structuraLpatterns _familiar to many . teachers of .English:asajoint or English and aprently has a good command of author of _Thetinintistic Scion-es and Language the language how that he can still be so ill at 68 In a -normal conversational situation?II may . veil be. as the authors of this handbook suggest, that he has no- appreciated 7 thatfluent speechisnot necessarily the, consequence of increasing the quantity -and speed of production of structures already learned: knowing what can be left out of a sentence or taken _Itir-wanted in a dialogue is often of as great import- ance. Having learned 'of the existence of the major 1 lyPes of tone-unit in English, the student must noW understand how to puOthem together into acceptable acoi sequences in orderto convey therightdegree. of rapport in a relaxed and friendly conversation. "-introductory courses do not teach a student that Young Set participationinaconversation demands continual alertness. One cannot passively listen as normal con- versation- requires tug person who is not doing the Malone" talking. .to .keep up a flow of encouraging soundsbut nbt too many--in order to convey attention and under- standing_ A great deal more than intuition is required s one must recognise by a change in tone or a silence where offence has been given know when to laugh and when not to laugh.Being in conversational tune is a tricky business. The authors present the advanced .learner with a series of fifteen extracts in Which there is interplay of' speakers who are characterisedbytheirage. . provenance occupation and interests in an introduc- tory nov,. The Studentisgiven some indication of the tenslorTh Or attitudes which are likely to emerge. The text of each extractis marked with the main nrosodic feittnres used by tbe speakers and-followed by a commentary which deals with points of pro- nunciation. syntax,textsandti-zage. Thereisan, accompanying tape which plays a vital part in the study of each pieee. The subject matter ofthe extracts ranges from foxftball to holidays and children, Most of the con- versations are relaxed..after-dinner talk, and seVeral of the speakers appear in more than one extract. The main drawback is that they are all educated middle-. class peoplc .despite a-variety of accent, and for this reasonthelearnerisc-tivesdropning- on ,.. , 4 rather restricted audienceOne would have eleomed a wider sample of die population if the learner is-to he introduced adequately to the shifts and variations in English conyersatian. But thisisa minor cavil: tb is -hook- hr zalcs -ri ew---groitnir Ind isa---s-teTrillic attempt to ..n,,lyse what many people would maintain tiefiedadequatedescription. Itwillsurprise and A NEW SERIES' interest many native speakers and conversers, Thematic anthologies for children from 11 14. .. A selection of imaginative texts and illustrations PAULINE BaowN. Howe ColfeRe 'of Ethicatiom c'arefully chosen to provide a basis from which one can develop individual and group work, comment and discuSsion. Pupils Anthologies 96 pages, LimpEl 00 The Sea Men and , --Teachers Book 48 pages, LimpEl ,2 Further'details and inspection copies from

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