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Meadowhead School

Meadowhead SchoolAcademy Trust

Literacy

Literacy enrichment activities

We put these together for our students to use during Lockdown and periods of Self-Isolation. However, they are valid at any time for students to enhance their literacy skills.

Listen to audio books for free from Audible:

https://stories.audible.com/start-listen

Access free e-books via the school’s website:

Go to Remote Learning and scroll down to the e-books sections for instructions and click on the link where you can download the app to read the books and start to search the library  (username and password is the same as your normal school login).

https://meadowhead.wheelers.co/

Read quality journalism

Our students can access The Week Junior online, published each Friday (go the the LRC pages of the Student Portal for the link)

Older students could aim to read one or two articles per day on free news platforms, The Guardian for example.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk

Read and keep a reading diary

If you have books at home you could make reading part of your daily routine and keep a reading journal of what you have read.  It could simply be the name of the book and pages read but you could also chart your responses and thoughts about book.

Keep a 2020 Coronavirus diary

This could be a good way to record this momentous period in your life as well as a way of acknowledging your feelings and celebrating the positives in this difficult time.

Each day you could log:

  • Developments in the news
  • Your feelings and thoughts about what is happening and what might happen
  • What you did today – this could include what you read and wrote
  • What you enjoyed most about the day

Have a go at different types of writing

You could:

  • Write a review of a Netflix film you have watched
  • Pick some flowers out of your garden and describe them in detail
  • Write a short story.  Look at this site for ideas.  https://thewritepractice.com/short-story-ideas/
  • Create a poem, a rap, a script for a play

Improve your vocabulary

Use the internet to find two new words each day and aim to use them in your conversations, texts and posts.

Play word games

  • Scrabble
  • Taboo
  • Words with Friends
  • Crosswords/word puzzles

 

These are our suggestions to Y13 Literature students:

1. Listen to a podcast or audio book

Audible have made a range of audiobooks available with no charge. Start exploring here.

We enjoy listening to podcasts about books such as and the literary progammes of In Our Time and words such as The Allusionist, Word of Mouthand Something Rhymes with Purple. But there are podcasts on almost every topic you can imagine. Take recommendations from your friends and family! We also like That Peter Crouch podcast, Tailenders, Getting Curious, Happy Place, How to Fail, and Newscast.

2. Watch a play online

Lots of theatres are streaming versions of their plays/musicals whilst the theatres are closed to the public. This website keeps track of what’s available.

For example, the National Theatre’s collection has been made free to teachers and students during the current crisis. For example, you can see Benedict Cumberbatch in the play Frankenstein.   The log on details are available from the English department.

The National Theatre are also streaming a play a week on their Youtube channel. The BBC are also going to show a number of Shakespeare adaptations.

3. Dive into the set texts and writers in even more depth

You could read the sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale – The Testaments - or what about continuing the adaptation that we began in lessons last week (available on Now TV and Sky).

This article on whether Shakespeare wrote King Lear in a plague quarantine is interesting and topical as is this one on Shakespeare’s daughter characters.  You could read more Fitzgerald or Carol Ann Duffy.

4. Get reading fiction

Try to use the lockdown as an opportunity to expand your horizons by reading a new story or by returning to old comforting books you enjoyed when you were younger. You can download texts onto your phone via the Kindle app (99p deal each day). Perhaps you could ask someone in your home to recommend a text that they really enjoyed.

We also have access to some e-books through the school library – we recommend The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstein, Life of Pi by Yann Martel and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.

To access these, go to Remote Learning and scroll down to the e-books sections and click on the link where you can download the app to read the books and start to search the library.

https://meadowhead.wheelers.co/

Project Gutenberg also has lots of older texts such as Arthur Conan Doyle-The Hound of the BaskervillesFinally here are some short stories you can access online.

5. Get writing

Use the time during lockdown to experiment with different styles:

  1. Write a review of a Netflix film you have watched
  2. Keep a diary about these momentous events- we are living through history!
  3. Pick some flowers out of your garden or take a picture of a scene from your daily walk/exercise – describe these in detail
  4. Write a short story.  Look at this site and this site for ideas. 
  5. Write a letter to friend- decorate it and pop it in the post during your daily exercise outing

6. Check out online courses (“MOOCs”) connected to your interests, future career or studies.

For example, Future Learn University of Sheffield have one on Country House literature, and the University of Warwick have this one on Shakespeare and his time. There will also be at least one good one connecting to your degree programme or career. Or perhaps you prefer one connected to your interests or hobbies – for example, this one on superheroes.

7. Watch a Ted Talk to get you thinking

Could you watch one of these at the same time as a friend and chat about it as you watch?

We recommend: Adichie – We should all be feminists, Russell – Looks Aren’t Everything, Duckworth – Grit, Svitak – What Adults Can Learn From Kids.

8. Play word games

Keep your brain busy playing word games like the ones available here.

You might have access to physical versions of word games such as Scrabble or Bananagrams. If not, most of these games have app versions you can download for a small charge.

9. Use your social media to share the positives

Could you set up a daily blog post on social platform (e.g. Instagram) with an observation

of something positive? Caption your image with your thoughts and feelings.

10. Learn a new and essential skill

Can you make a decent cup of tea/coffee?! Family members working from home will definitely appreciate you developing this skill!

If you have the ingredients – what about learning how to follow a recipe and get cooking or baking: Pizza sauce, Brownies, Pancakes.