Literature

English

Primary

Michael Rosen talks to Alexander McCall Smith

In this programme Michael Rosen talks to the author of the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency books, Alexander McCall Smith. He finds out that long before these novels for adults became bestsellers, McCall Smith wrote a collection of children's stories. We also find out how Quentin Blake's picture book, Green Ship, is inspiring a vast range of work and activities at a primary school in Tamworth, including a "senses" exploration of the school garden. Finally, we hear from our experts about Andrea Levy's Small Island, a story of raw racism in post-war Britain. The panel includes: Winsome Thomas, an education adviser to Birmingham LEA Victoria Shaw, a primary teacher Grant Bage of NESTA Please note that this programme is not available for download due to rights issue

Alexander McCall Smith

The panel discuss Millions, CS Lewis and Hans Christian Anderson

Reading Aloud is presented by author, poet and broadcaster Michael Rosen. It features interviews and tips from teachers on how to use books in the classroom, as well as books that have a profound influence on them. This programme includes: A look at the movie Millions: how a family film became a bestselling book and then inspired some magical work in the classroom Broadcaster and journalist Anne Diamond, who recalls how a very special teacher imparted a life-long love of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe The secret life of Hans Christian Anderson: our panel discuss a revealing new biography See the resources and support materials page for links, a list of all the books covered in this series and information about the English 21 QCA initiative.

Anne Diamond

Children's Laureate, Anthony Browne talks to KS2 pupils

Children's Laureate, Anthony Browne, visits a Year 5 class to talk about his writing and illustrating. Suitable for KS2 English students. Anthony Browne answers questions from the pupils at Kentish Town C of E Primary School about where his story ideas come from, how long it takes him to draw a picture and where he does his writing/illustrating. A trip to Browne's studio reveals his working methods and inspiration, from the initial dummy and drawings to final illustrations combined with text. He also explains how finding his father's old dressing gown sparked memories and gave him the idea behind the book My Dad. He reads out loud extracts from Gorilla, Voices in the Park, The Tunnel, Changes and Willy the Wimp. This film allows teachers and pupils to explore the writer's world and encourages literacy. A list of Anthony Browne's publications and a letter to his fans, accompanies this video in the resources area.

Anthony Browne

Pupils who find reading difficult learn at a football ground

In this programme, serious Arsenal fan Michael Rosen visits the home of West Bromwich Albion to report on a new scheme called Reading the Game. It's a nationwide initiative to encourage reading sponsored by the National Literary Trust and The Premier League. At the West Bromwich ground, pupils who find reading difficult take part in a literacy trail, which involves a tour around the ground and a question and answer session with one of the first-team players. Also in this programme: An interview with prolific children's writer Anthony Horowitz - the creator of the Alex Rider spy novels How Stormbreaker - the first Alex Rider story - is being used in one Birmingham secondary school Grant Bage of NESTA, Winsome Thomas, education adviser to Birmingham LEA, and primary teacher Victoria Shaw, discuss Michael Frayn's book Spies

Anthony Horowitz

A look at the work of Babette Cole and Benjamin Zephaniah

Reading Aloud features books that inspire teachers and their pupils, presented by author, poet and broadcaster Michael Rosen. This programme looks at books to stimulate both teachers and pupils and features: An exploration of intelligence theory A discussion by the Reading Aloud panel about the educational impact of Howard Gardner's seminal book Multiple Intelligences Author and illustrator Babette Cole, creator of works like The Smelly Book and The Trouble With Mum, discussing her work A tense class vote on asylum seekers sparked by Benjamin Zephaniah's book Refugee Boy

Babette Cole

A look at literacy and characterisation for KS2 pupils

A teacher demonstrates how to teach Key Stage 2 pupils about literacy and characterisation. At Stratton Primary school, deputy head teacher Sammy Saville teachers her Year 4 class about characterisation, by getting them to become character detectives. Sammy creates character cases for each table, which contain a series of clues about a character. The clues maybe anything from pictures, words, and symbols to silhouettes. They are used to encourage pupils to use their imaginations and decide who is in their box. In this lesson. After the pupils learn how to work with the clues, they dress up as detectives, and explore their cases, and write their ideas on a worksheet. The characters they create will then be incorporated into stories. At the end of the lesson, Sammy gets the groups to feedback their ideas to the whole class.

Character Detectives

A KS2 lesson starter on characterisation in literacy

A primary lesson starter designed as a creative stimulus for developing characterisation in KS2 lessons. Six characters are presented in pairs, which are loosely associated with story types such as fairytales (a fairy and a country boy), adventure stories (a pirate and a fortune teller), and contemporary stories (a young boy and an amateur detective). There is enough ambiguity in the presentation of the characters to encourage children's imaginations to flow freely. The lesson starter provides audio and visual clues for the different characters, and music is played to suggest changes in mood and atmosphere.The visual and audio clues can be used to encourage pupils to develop their ideas about who they think the characters are, what they are like, and the kinds of stories they might feature in.

Character Glimpses

A KS2 lesson starter looking at characterisation using cinderella

A Key Stage 2 lesson starter on literacy and characterisation, looking at the fairytale of Cinderella. The lesson starter explores how characters change during a story, and how they can have very different perspectives on the same event. It focuses on the ball scene in Cinderella, and features the prince and one of the ugly sisters. It's the evening of the ball in the Cinderella Fairytale, and the prince is nervous. He uses the royal video diary room to share his thoughts and feelings about the evening, and as the night unfolds, he returns to the diary room to talk about what is happening on the dance floor. The ball seems to be going as badly as he feared - until a mysterious stranger appears. His diary entries are juxtaposed with those of one of the ugly sisters, who begins the evening very excited and hopeful, but whose night is destroyed when a girl in glass slippers gatecrashes the event. Using a familiar setting, the lesson starter is designed to support the teaching of characterisation at KS2, linking with the schemes of work for Years 4 and 5. It can be used as a stimulus to explore the differences between characters; what you can tell about them from their clothing and behaviour; what they think and feel; and how and why characters change during a story.

Character Viewpoints

Looking at how graphic novels and cartoons encourage reading

Jon Scieszka, the best selling American children's writer and US ambassador for children's literature, talks with experts about the importance of comics and graphic novels for primary English pupils. Jon talks about the need to get boys in particular, excited about reading and says that one way to encourage this is through cartoons and comic books. Art director of the New Yorker Magazine, Francoise Mouly, explains the importance of cartoons and how they offer a less intimidating approach to beginner readers. Graphic novelist, Dan Goldman, explains why he considers cartoons to be an important part of reading.

Comics are Good

Role-playing enables students to uncover black history

KS3 students role-play characters from Mildren D Taylor's book Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry, merging black history with English. Segregation is examined in 1930s America by role-playing characters from Mildred D Taylor's Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry, charting the life of a young girl, Cassie, growing up in Mississippi. Examining the language and social context of the book, students pick a character and track them through the story, gathering evidence about them for their behaviour. By role-playing, they invent scenarios for their characters and imagine how they would resolve the conflicts and moral dilemmas facing black and white characters living through segregation. The lesson is designed for Key Stage 3 classes, but can also be used with Key Stage 2 pupils.

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