PROFESSIONAL MATTERS

Schools of Thought appeared in the 'Australian' magazine on January 25, 2014, and tells the truth about public vs private education, for once. It is parents who most influence the outcome of education, with good solid support for their children and clear aspirations for the future. There is a systematic undermining of the public education system in Australia, because it is expensive. If it is privatised, the government supply money without responsibility. It sickens me to hear parents and the media talking about the cost of a "good" education when referring to private schools, as if it is not possible to have a "good" education at public high schools. Support the public system. Use any money you save, on travel, newspapers and books to widen the minds of your children.

Below are some letters from "The Australian" newspaper in August 2022, including one by me (very edited) speaking on education from the viewpoint of long term classroom secondary teachers. Bob Barden was a much admired colleague at Eyre High School in Whyalla, and caretaker of the family pianola while we were overseas.

SACE SA: courses and information; The Australian Curriculum
My School; Department for Education, South Australia

Australian Education Union and AEU SA Branch

GRAMMAR

Much grammar on the internet is being explained by teachers of English as a foreign language, and it can seem overly complicated. We do need to know enough to function well and understand what we are doing but getting bogged down in modalities, for example, is rather exhausting. In fact, I believe people who have never studied grammar are making up names for parts of grammar that already have a name.
Here are some straightforward links you may find useful: Verbs are easy enough to understand if you keep it simple. Pronouns by me, are very handy; Prepositions are great in explaining the position of things in relation to one another; Conjunctions are for making longer and more interesting sentences. Apostrophes are punctuation rather than grammar, but using them correctly requires an understanding of grammar, particularly that complex concept of singularity and plurality. Apostrophes by me. Apostrophe song on You Tube;

Photos: Larkspur in my garden; Salt Lake at Lochiel, SA

USEFUL TEACHING RESOURCES

ENGLISH TOPICS

BOOKS
Children's book council, with useful links; Children's literature website. Author interviews interviews with current authors
Script-O-Rama: scripts for TV shows, films.
Books: you can read on the WWW, from scientific reports and classics to popular fiction. Copy what you need for comprehension exercises and the like.
Audio books for free.

ADVERTISING
SA's Old Mate Ad Modern Ads; Inspiration Room; Duncan's TV Adverts; Lessons in advertising. Excellent material; Links to many American historical ad databases; Ad Access: a database of US and Canadian print ads from 1911 to 1955. Hidden persuaders blog; Power of advertising.

CREATIVE WRITING
Creative Writing Ideas-my own page developed over a number of years. The ideas seem worth preserving.
Comics page; Student writing; Xmas Recipes I just found (11/2022) from 1996 UHS students. Full of mistakes but wonderfully real.

SHAKESPEARE et AL

Shakespeare dictionary; Glossary; Cliff Notes; Super Summary Guides; Shakespeare on line; Absolute Shakespeare; Holloway images page; Shakespeare Web; Complete works; Timelines: life and works; Shakespeare's sonnets; Shakespeare upon Ipod; Shakespeare's Globe: a direct link to the Globe Theatre, a reconstruction of an Elizabethan theatre, very close to the original site of Shakespeare's Globe.

THE MERCHANT OF VENICE
The Merchant of Venice: Folger Shakespeare Library; Shakespeare's ships. The movie; Movie reviews of The Merchant of Venice; About The Merchant of Venice; What news on the Rialto? Worksheet on making a poster of the language of the play.

MACBETH
Spark Notes on Macbeth; Cliff Notes; Enjoying Macbeth; Macbeth: The Feature Film; A Macbeth project created by 2 schoolgirls; .