Blog
I’m in love with the monkey’s uncle: or the power of music and books to build emotional associations, (with help from The Beach Boys and The Fendertones!)
Date posted: Saturday 11th May 2013
‘I’m in love with the Monkey’s Uncle, and the Monkey’s Uncle’s ape for me. Yeah, yeah. yeah!’ Possibly the worst lyrics of all time? Maybe, but it’s by The Beach Boys and this song has very powerful associations for me. Let’s go back to 1966: The World Cup, the Beatles dominating the world, and me as a nine year-old. (more…)
Your label’s showing: or why we need to be accurate when describing children. (With some help from Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson)
Date posted: Saturday 20th April 2013
There’s a scene at the beginning of the Tracy Chevalier novel, Girl With a Pearl Earring, where the young girl Griet is visited in her home by the great painter Vermeer. (In the film of the same name Griet is played by Scarlett Johansson and Vermeer by Colin Firth. If you haven’t seen it, try imagining Scarlett looking very plain and Colin being very serious with a long flowing wig). Vermeer is looking for a maid, as his wife is expecting another baby. Griet has just been chopping vegetables ready for the soup. This is how Griet describes what Vermeer sees: (more…)
Register time: or the importance of developing children’s Standard English
Date posted: Saturday 30th March 2013
I’m at that awkward stage in a man’s life when he has to buy a new pair of trousers. I was in a well-known shop in Belfast, and was being encouraged by the assistant supervising the changing room to ‘experiment with trying a few different styles, as “many pairs of trousers have quite a bit of what we call ‘give’ ” (i.e. an elasticated waist.) I thought the assistant explained that very well, and though she had a Belfast accent, I understood everything she said. She was very pleasant and dealt with my dilemma very tactfully. I could see from her name tag that she was called Ann. (more…)
I’ve got that at home!! The power of sameness for very young children
Date posted: Saturday 23rd March 2013
I was an August-born boy. Research suggests that many children in England who are born at the end of summer are going to find school difficult, because they will have just turned four. It’s not clear about how starting school at four years of age affects girls, but I’d love to know. I seem to remember that all the children in my first class found school a very strange place, even though they were all older than me. What can be stranger than being told after lunch to sit at your desk, rest your head on your arms and go to sleep for half an hour? Maybe looking up, as I did one afternoon, to see my teacher snoring away along with us. Another afternoon I sneaked open an eyelid to witness her having a fag and blowing the smoke out of the classroom window.
(more…)
A flat white skinny latte and a double chocolate chip muffin: or how we learn vocabulary very quickly!
Date posted: Friday 8th March 2013
I have had quite a sheltered life. Last week I did something for the first time: I had a flat white skinny latte. You may be surprised at my lack of experience, but it takes me a while to pluck up the courage to try new things. Early in my coffee drinking days I used to go into the coffee shop and unintentionally annoy the young woman behind the counter. There would be a huge queue and when it was my turn the dialogue between myself and the Barrista (let’s call her Magda) would go like this:
(more…)
Cary Grant’s Secret or How to develop children’s vocabulary for free!
Date posted: Sunday 24th February 2013
My Granny once gave me three pieces of useful advice: always carry a handkerchief, wear clean pants every day in case you fall down in the street and end up in hospital, and never trust a man who changes his name. Granny was ‘Old School’, and this post is about two of those nuggets. (more…)
Lost in translation: or What helps children (and adults!) communicate in a new language?
Date posted: Saturday 9th February 2013
One of my favourite films is Lost In Translation, starring Bill Murray as a middle-aged actor in Tokyo, involved in making an advert for Japanese TV. Suffering from jet lag, boredom and culture shock, he befriends a very young Scarlett Johansson, playing a young American woman with time on her hands while her very inattentive photographer husband works away up country. (more…)
~@!!?**! Or how many times do you need to hear a word before you remember it?
Date posted: Wednesday 30th January 2013
When I was 13 I saw the film Charade, starring Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn.
I had never heard of Audrey Hepburn before, but her name (and face) stuck in my mind instantly and forever. When I was 21 I had the same experience with Nastassja Kinski. That was around the time I was studying to be a Speech and Language Therapist. One of our first lectures was led by Professor Soandso from Suchandsuch University. His opening line was “Of course you all realise that a child has to hear a word 500 times before he can start using it.” (more…)
‘Not the survival of the loudest: or how to have a conversation with four children at once’ A play for four children and one adult.
Date posted: Saturday 26th January 2013
The scene: The cloakroom in a Foundation Unit
Mr Jones (MJ) is in the cloakroom at 8.45am, helping children put their coats on their pegs and ‘meeting and greeting’ children and parents as they arrive. Enter Jessica (a quiet, shy child) and her dad. Dad’s in a bit of a rush. He kisses Jessica, and says ‘Mummy will collect you later.’ He looks at MJ and says, ‘Mr Jones will help you with your bag and coat.’ (Winks at Mr Jones). Exit Dad. (more…)
A whop bop-a-lu a whop bam boo!* Making no sense but still learning to talk!
Date posted: Monday 21st January 2013
I visited Spain a few years after Franco had died, when the country was still a fledgling democracy. It was 1980, and Barcelona had just discovered Flower Power. Six months later they discovered Punk, and after that they settled down to become the fashion and cultural leaders of Europe. (Amazingly, the country’s youth never really embraced the New Romantics or Rick Astley.) After years of being told to look inwards, young people were keen to embrace everything from outside of Spain, and especially music from Britain and the US. (more…)