All about English
BY SAM HART
May was a nail-biting month as teachers around the country
prepared students for the new GCSEs. One of the biggest
challenges in the switch from coursework to exam in
English Language is that students have to tackle several
unseen texts.
Challenging vocabulary can be one of the biggest
barriers and students can easily give up hope if they see
an unfamiliar word. Less confi dent students also have a
tendency to waste time looking up every single word
they don’t understand.
Encouraging them to ask themselves: “Is this word
essential to understand the text? Can I work out roughly
what it means?” will be helpful, as will exercises in which
they practise guessing the meaning of unfamiliar words
from context (think: erudite, missive, hirsute).
If they feel entirely overwhelmed, encourage them to
concentrate on what they do understand from a text, rather
than panicking about what they don’t.
Analysing a piece of reading from scratch is demanding
in this time frame (the marks work out at roughly one per
minute). But students had the added pressure of reading
one piece of non-fi ction from the 19th century.
Victorian writing is uncharted territory for many students
– several of my learners are quite convinced it constitutes
Old English.
Making inferences from the text is a key skill and
students will struggle to understand the cultural signifi cance
of bonnets, crinolines and stagecoaches without at least
a cursory knowledge of the era.
As an introduction, I have found ‘showing’ students
aspects of Victorian life to be eff ective. Victorian paintings
are rich with imagery and exploring them in class can
provide a useful window into the lives of our ancestors.
The era is also awash with drama that can be used to
hook in reluctant students. For example ‘The Great Stink’ of
1858, in which the river Thames was awash with sewage,
or the matchgirls’ strike of 1888, which saw hundreds of
women and teenage girls take to the streets to demand
safer working conditions.
RESOURCES FOR ENGINEERING TEACHERS AND TRAINERS
The Royal Academy of Engineering offers a range of
professional development opportunities for practitioners
available at goo.gl/DtExi1
STEM Learning offers a range of resources and courses,
including:
• a two-day course maximising learner progress in
post-16 engineering being run at the National STEM
Learning Centre, based at the University of York, on
4 and 5 July. Bursaries are available for this course.
• the STEM Insight programme offering practitioners
placements in industry or with universities.
• Science Learning Partnerships offering local expertise
in teaching and learning in STEM subjects.
For details of all the initiatives above and more, visit STEM
Learning at goo.gl/RIWVhi
The STEM Alliance programme, carried out by Semta and
launched in 2014, generated resources for practitioners
and these are available from the Education and Training
Foundation’s Excellence Gateway at goo.gl/Kt3xD0
The STEM Exchange is run by the engineering sector
skills body Semta with support by the Education and
Training Foundation. The exchange links teachers and
trainers with employers who offer a range of professional
development opportunities.
For information on the STEM Exchange visit goo.gl/yjJhN3
RESOURCES
• The Victorians – A Beginner’s Guide, by Dr David Gange,
gives a useful overview.
• The Victorians, by Jeremy Paxman, provides useful pointers
on how to understand the period through its art.
• Vile Vi ctorians (Horrible Histories), by Terry Deary, should
help you entice even the most unenthusiastic students by
investigating the era through violence, sewage and death.
• The Victorian Web is rich with scholarly resources which
can be adapted for lesson plans goo.gl/e5Vaqs
The Engineering Council provides links to several
professional engineering bodies, most of which offer
professional development and support for practitioners
in their specific areas. To view visit goo.gl/MmiHRd
The SET for Teaching Success programme, run by the
Education and Training Foundation, recruits, trains, mentors
and supports 50 new teachers in science, engineering and
technology (SET) every year.
Science, engineering and technology graduates, and
industry professionals with significant and relevant
experience, can apply. There may be scope to include
provider staff, such as assessors and technicians, wanting to
progress into teaching. For details visit goo.gl/UpdBG4
Sam Hart is a teacher educator and English lecturer at
Brighton Metropolitan College (MET). She is a Member
of SET.
Read the RAEng
report at
goo.gl/jZRCEx
INTUITION ISSUE 28 • SUMMER 2017 25