After reading Medwell Primary English Teaching and Practice, It has made me reflect on the key points raised in relation to my MA1 placement last year.

For example, I taught the class progressive lessons in literacy through the context of Harry Potter. I taught lessons on describing characters and got the pupils to really think deeper about each one in detail through gradually building up the skills step by step. A point came across in the book about drafting and redrafting. I used this approach as advised by my teacher through the pupils process in writing and it was very successful as it motivated the pupils to want to produce their best work. I got the pupils to create their own ending of the story to stimulate their imagination and as an extension write their own story from the beginning. The children really got into this and loved thinking up new unique ideas themselves.

In addition, the book mentions the ‘Story Circle’. In my class we participated in ‘Circle time’ activities which was very beneficial to the children as it got them practicing their listening and turn taking skills. This was a very good way to get the pupils practicing their talking and listening skills as it got them to take in their peer’s view points and made themselves feel listened to by the class as well. A ‘Kit bag’ was used with cards that had questions on them such as “what animal would describe me?” which got the pupils to think imaginatively and creatively.

Lastly, we read Harry Potter as a class novel which got the pupils to further develop their listening skills and skills for taking in information. The teacher made sure to ask plenty of open and closed questions to prompt discussion which was very effective for the children as it kept them engaged and focussed on the story.

Overall language was taught very well in my placement school and it was interesting to both observe and actively teach this.