Category Archives: Languages and Literacy

Festival of Dangerous Ideas

The Festival of Dangerous Ideas aims to re-establish the importance of dangerous ideas as agents of change in education – to shift the axis of what is possible! As Oscar Wilde once said: ‘An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all’.

Whether you want to contribute to one of our events, host an event of your own, provide a venue, sponsor a session, or even hold a dinner, exhibition or debate, we would love to hear from you.

During the week-long festival, in conjunction with Creative Scotland and partners, there will be a variety of activities happening around Scotland, including:

•My Dangerous Idea (opportunities for sharing ideas)
•Dangerous Words (what’s the future for books? is the kindle the beginning or the end?)
•Dangerous Wisdom (philosophy cafe – what is the purpose of education?)
•Dangerous Research (a platform for academic voices with FERRN)
•Dangerous Theatre (forum and invisible theatre with Visible Fictions)
•Dangerous Gardening (introduction to guerrilla gardening with an expert from New York)
•Emporium of Dangerous Ideas.
This opportunity is available in: All Scotland
For further information, please contact karen.lawson@scotcol.ac.uk (Karen Lawson), or call 07764 310 470, or visit http://www.scotlandscolleges.ac.uk.

Imagining Scotland in 2050 – creativity and science competition

The Scottish Qualifications Authority and Scottish Business in the Community’s inspirational new competition asks young people to develop a piece of creative work that clearly shows their vision of our future – Scotland 2050.



Ideas can be developed in four broad categories:

  • Education and Training
  • Leisure, Life and Style
  • Transport and Travel
  • Work and Careers.


All entrants have to do to enter is develop a scientific project or piece of creative work that shows their vision for Scotland 2050.



http://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/47271.html



Show Racism the Red Card – creative competition

The Scottish Qualifications Authority and the Scottish Football Association have joined forces once again to promote their annual anti-racism competition, Show Racism the Red Card. Pupils and students across Scotland are asked to produce a creative piece of work that promotes messages of anti-racism or anti-sectarianism. The concept is simple, come up with a piece of creative work that gets across loud and clear the message that racism and sectarianism are not welcome in Scotland.



The competition has been running since 2003 and thousands of pupils from all over Scotland have entered the competition. The competition culminates with a prize giving ceremony at Hampden Park with celebrities from the football world on hand to meet the winners.

http://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/36081.2320.html


Swallows & Amazons story competition

This Scottish Storytelling Centre competition is open from 9-13 January. Young people (aged 6-10 and 11-15) are invited to write a story about the biggest adventure they have ever had. The most action-packed and exciting story wins a Family Ticket to the Scottish Premiere of Swallows & Amazons at Festival Theatre Edinburgh on 31 January.



http://www.scottishstorytellingcentre.co.uk/get_involved/scottish_storytelling_news.asp

Swallows and Amazons Story Competition

We’re very excited about the Scottish premiere of the smash-hit stage adaptation of Swallows & Amazons – the classic tale of mysterious islands, dastardly pirates and young adventurers.

Help us celebrate by telling us about the biggest adventure you’ve ever had. Have you been camping in the wilds, sailed on the sea or slept under the stars? The most action-packed and exciting story wins a Family Ticket (2 adults and 2 children) to the Scottish Premiere at Festival Theatre Edinburgh on 31st January at 7pm.

The winning writer will also get the chance to tell their story live at the Scottish Storytelling Centre’s Telling Tales event on the 28th April. You will be treated to some coaching and tips on how to present your story to an audience with the help of event organiser and storyteller extraordinaire Tim Porteus.

Age Category?
There will be two lots of winners from two age groups:
Aged 6-10 and aged 11-15

Word Count?
400 words maximum

Who decides?
A team of judges from the Scottish Book Trust, the Scottish Storytelling Centre and the Festival Theatre

Where to submit?

Email: lindsay@scottishstorytellingcentre.com with “Swallows and Amazons Story Competition” as the subject matter

Post: Lindsay Corr, Scottish Storytelling Centre, 43-45 High Street, EH1 1SR
Please clearly state your age on entries and provide contact details.

The competition is open from Friday 9th December until Friday 13th January. The winner will be announced on Friday 20th January, in plenty of time for the performance!

Swallows & Amazons is a thrilling musical adventure guaranteed to charm the whole family. The story of an idyllic era, of endless summer evenings and the beauty of youthful imagination, this delightful production is directed by Tom Morris (War Horse) and features new songs by Neil Hannon from The Divine Comedy.

Only Scottish dates: Tue 31st January – Sat 4th February, Festival Theatre Edinburgh, 7pm (Wed & Sat matinees at 2pm).
£17 – £24. All children’s tickets half price!
0131 529 6000 www.festivaltheatre.org.uk (booking fees apply)

Please see the News Section of www.scottishstorytellingcentre.co.uk for full Terms and Conditions.
This opportunity is available in: All Scotland
For further information, please contact lindsay@scottishstorytellingcentre.com (Lindsay Corr), or call 0131 556 9579, or visit http://www.scottishstorytellingcentre.co.uk.

Shakespeare’s importance to Scotland

http://www.nls.uk/news/archive/2011/12/shakespeare-exhibition-opens


What does England’s bard mean to Scotland? That is the question explored in the National Library of Scotland’s new exhibition.

‘Beyond Macbeth <http://www.nls.uk/exhibitions/shakespeare> ‘ looks at Shakespeare’s reputation across four centuries through the eyes of key figures with Scottish connections

There is still time to enter the Glovember competition

Now that our amazing Glovember Author Events have finished, Education Scotland is giving you two more weeks to enter your stories, poems and illustrations for the Glovember competition.

All you have to do is go to the Glovember Glow Group within Glow, click on the competition page tab and upload your story, poem or illustration. Be sure to do this before the closing date of Friday 16 December.

Winners will be announced in January, after some of our authors have helped us with the judging. Winning entries will be published in our eBook and read by one of the Glovember Authors.

You will need a Glow log-in to access this competition.

https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/glowblogs/eslb/2011/12/06/there-is-still-time-to-enter-the-glovember-competition/

Screening Shorts now on Creativity Portal

There are now over a hundred creative articles, links and resources available through the Creativity Portal with nearly 40 learning and teaching tools amongst them.

Screening Shorts is one of the most recent additions and offers free downloadable films for pupils to explore – all integrated fully with Curriculum for Excellence and most subjects.

http://www.screeningshorts.org.uk/

Bards in the Bog is back

http://www.shetland.gov.uk/news-advice/PR-BardsintheBogisback.asp


Entries are already rolling in for the re-launch of Shetland Library’s popular scheme to put original poetry in public toilets: Bards in the Bog.



The original ‘Bards’ launched in 2009 and was part of the Poet Partner project, which teamed the Library with poet Jen Hadfield. The scheme attracted wide media attention and entries from all over the world. Deadline for submissions is the 21st December, and the new poems will appear in toilets from January.