A literate generation? Reviews

I’ve always lived with books and I can’t imagine life without them. I read everything and all the time, when queuing in the supermarket it’s the list of ingredients on food containers, in the post-office the text on other people’s postcards. I can read from all possible angles, so beware when you’re ...

In a court of law, the simple story might look a shiftless and ineffectual specimen. At first glance, it serves no other function than to entertain, fulfilling the role of distraction, or fabricated fool. Its purpose is near indefinable. It is, by definition, a lie. Yet humanity has always treasured its stories. A fable is a lesson in life and its ...

I was browsing in the local library amongst the homeless amd aged when I unfortunately stumbled upon a one Jane McDonalds autobiography. Alarmed that someone so insignifiancnt has her memoirs out I investigated more to see how many people have booked it out. Im telling you now it was non stop stamps from Jun 2000.Now with all the great writers ...

I've never been able to understand people that say they don't enjoy reading. What's not to like? The only possible explanation I can see is that psychologically it reminds them of when they had to read textbooks at school. Reading because someone is telling you to and you're going to get an exam on it is rarely fun, you just ...

I cannot imagine my life without words and the ability to read and write well. I often read a novel a day and keep a journal when I have the time. Being able to do these things gives me power-to express myself, to put feelings to paper and to understand how others think. I remember very vividly being read to from an early age and ...

Until I embarked on a university project a couple of years ago, I had never really realised how common it is for people to be unable to read. As part of my project I visited a centre that ran literacy classes for adults and I was shocked by what I encountered. The centre was full of adults who had never learned to read and write. many had ...

It is certainly a dispiriting sign when we have to question whether we are members of a literate generation and, as a consequence, whether literature and reading still have a prominent and valued place in our society. From a personal perspective I was lucky to be brought up in a household where there was a great deal of emphasis and tradition ...

Oh dear, I seem to have put my entire opinion into my title.... There's a common belief that books are the source of all knowledge, a necessity to our education and a great way to spend your spare time. Its not surprising therefore that we find anything that competes for that precious reading time is villified by all around. In fact ...

For those of my circle of friends and others who have been reading my reviews, you may have been surprised at my last effort, which was a review of a childrens’ book ideally suited for teenage girls. Before you contact the internet police and have me investigated, let me explain. I have a son at university, whose ...

It's not all that long since I was at school but literacy standards are definitely waning. At primary school we had a spelling test EVERY Friday with 15 words to learn a week. Any that you got wrong had to be written out correctly 5 times. On top of this, we had 2 lessons a week on grammar. Although it seemed horrid at the time, I ...

I agree teachers must allow children to express themselves freely and I am very keen that local accents and dialects should be preserved. Children should NOT have their spoken language corrected to the "Queen's English" BUT, there is big distinction between accent and grammatically incorrect lazy speech. Dropping the ...

I don’t believe that any amount of parental encouragement will make a child who simply doesn’t like reading any more likely to develop an interest in it. You either love reading or you don’t – it’s as simple as that. I also don’t believe that a lack of interest in reading as a child necessarily affects ...

I write this opinion from both the point of view of a parent and a teacher. I studied English at degree level and now co-ordinate the subject within a school, my specialism is in the primary age range. The National Literacy Strategy and the introduction of the Literacy Hour have gone a long way to improve literacy standards in primary school ...

A few months ago I had my first glimpse of what it must be like to be unable to read when I was travelling around Eastern Europe alone. It was fun but at times it began to bug me that I couldn’t understand even the simplest signs, and that I had no one to be worried with. Not only were they in Slovakian or Hungarian or whatever, but they ...

The Family Literacy Course is run in lower schools, and although it is not run nationwide yet, it soon will be as it has proved so popular with the schools that have already taken part. Most of you won`t have heard of this, so I`ll attempt to give as much information as I`m able. Firstly, if this course has been offered to a ...

I may become the subject of derision for some for what I am about to say, but I feel passionately about child literacy. I also feel that, as I am about to become a father, I should document my feelings about the issue now and work out how I will teach my child to learn pro-actively, rather than as a reactive measure after it is born. So ...

Mykreeve comes along and refers to something as being "facetious". Now I don't know "facetious", so I trot to my trusted PED (read on...) and flick it, to find on page 495 (with running head: facecloth | factor): "facetious /fe'seeshes/adj 1 inappropriately lacking seriousness in manner; flippant. 2 ...

I read a very worring article about a 15 year old boy who spends 70 hours a week on the internet(see last nights op) In the age of the internet i would hate to think that children ditched books and writing. Computers are great learning aids but i do not believe that it should ever replace the basic skills of reading and writing. ...

I know something which will stimulate everyones imagination,can bring dead people to life and make animals talk,something which everyone can enjoy and has no age limit. That thing is a book!Books are far better than computer games,television or any other kind of modern convinience created to occupy and silence children. Reading is a skill ...

When you compare modern children's fiction with the classics of the past, it seems clear that we are not as literate as we used to be. Charels Dickens, Lewis Carrol and Daniel Defoe were once though presentable to the young - now we don't even attempt them until A levels or degree. Instead, children are offered abriged versions that take ...