The magical science of storytelling

- Storytelling and cultural traditions Storytelling exists in all cultures and is as ancient as humankind. Before there was writing, there was storytelling. It exists to this day to entertain, inform and pass down cultural traditions and values. Oral storytelling is telling a story through voice and gestures. The oral tradition can take many forms, like poems, chants, rhymes, songs, and more. It can include myths, legends, fables, religion, prayers, and instructions. Infographics index When learning something new, it is helpful to involve all the senses. However, vision trumps all. In other words, things which are visual are the most memorable. Infographics are used on EAPFoundation.com to summarise the information on individual pages and present it in a highly visual manner. Below are snapshots of infographics on the site. Click on one to view it in full.

Fundamentals for getting back on track. Earlier this week I posted this tweet: This was partly in response to hearing various proposals from official folk and the normal Big Voices suggesting schools extend their days and offer all kinds of extras. It was also a response to my sense that schools already have their plates full regrouping after the lockdowns and there’s plenty of scope for just focusing on delivering what they’re already doing, aiming for it to be the very highest quality they can manage. Beginner paragraphs Key words: paragraph, topic sentence, support sentence, concluding sentence In essays and short answer questions, information about a topic is written in paragraph form. While there can be variations in the form of a paragraph, its structure follows a particular pattern (recipe) that you can apply to your writing tasks. About the function of a paragraph

Why is improvement difficult in schools? Perhaps naively, I’ve always envied those who’ve worked in a brand new school. The idea of having a blank slate onto which you can write your curriculum or your feedback policy or whatever feels compellingly different. It’s different to that sense of ingrained habit or that brick wall of we’ve always done things this way. It’s also difficult to swim against what can feel like a particularly strong current of everyone is doing X. sans titre Across cultures, the self-making powers of storytelling are widely recognised. Steve Biko, the South African Black Consciousness thinker, once said that we need to speak from where we stand. Seeing the impact of our environment on our thinking about ourselves can change our thinking, he suggested. Telling our stories is an important way of doing so.

Using academic language The language used at university has various features which distinguish it from the language styles used in other contexts. Consider the language used in novels, conversation, newspapers or law courts. Each has its own style, with varying degrees of formality and objectivity. Academic language is: formalobjectiveimpersonal. The value of sharing bad practice – Dr Heery Several years ago, I was given the task supporting a school in an Interim Headship capacity that had recently been placed into Special Measures. The teachers were hardworking and keen to improve but the school was in a challenging context, and over time inconsistency in the quality of teaching had led to entrenched low outcomes. I came up with a plan – a colleague knew of a school a couple of miles down the road that had been consistently outstanding in Ofsted.