I'm Busy Reading....

[LAT]

Getting ready for a visit are you Wulfruna?

I am now reading Kate Atkinson's 'Behind the Scenes at the Museum' I haven't got very far yet but the beginning is intriguing as it is narrated by a girl from the moment of her conception, ie from inside the womb.

[Wulfruna]

...,... well, I do have a little hand-knitted baby set waiting to be delivered at the same time as the book

[LAT]

Thought you might! Does Eirian seriously expect to have lots of time to read?

Don't forget to let us know the news when your grandchild arrives.

[Bunnylump]

If Eirian is anything like I was, she won't be able to concentrate on reading for at least a year after giving birth!! I also suddenly lost the ability to do Telegraph cryptic crosswords the week after I had my first child!!!

[Biscuit]

currently I am reading

The marriage bureau for rich people ( A Richard a Judy) - my daughter gave it to me as she is an avid reader.

Emma by Jane Eyre (I have the Ds 100 classics which I find useful because I can carry 100 classics around in my bag) - I have always wanted to improve my reading as we didn't really do reading at my comprehensive school (didn't even do shakespeare)

Also reading Marketing essentials (part of my OU course) and not particularly riverting but hell of a big book.

Regards

Paula

[MBH]

we didn't really do reading at my comprehensive school (didn't even do shakespeare)

Lucky YOU!!! (Yessss - this IS just a persoanl observation)

[clvrlad]

oh i dont know

mind one of my English teachers was also the drama teacher so we got to do a little acting and IMHO Shakespeare is better performed than read

it helps put things into context

mind i spell like shakespear

[Bunnylump]

Shakespeare never wrote his plays to be read. They are meant to be seen. This is what brings them to life. One of our brilliant English teachers has realised this, and so to get the kids hooked she starts off by reading a scene from A Midsummer Night's Dream and then getting the kids to design their perfect set using a box, glitter, coloured paper etc. They have to justify every bit they use. You'd be surprised, even those kids who would normally have said they hated Shakespeare got really into it all. They were coming up with things like "There would have to be this mound so that he could see who was behind her, otherwise he wouldn't have said that" or "I've used these stars and this glitter to give the feeling of magic and wonder". Once they have done this she gets them to act bits out, making the others in the class direct the action. Almost without exception, by the time they came to read the passage themselves, they knew and understood quotes, and were using real feeling in their voices.

Now that's what I call teaching.

[MBH]

Once they have done this she gets them to act bits out, making the others in the class direct the action....... and were using real feeling in their voices.

That just gave me a HORRIBLE flash-back moment - supposedly being the King at the Trojian war and watching as the city fell. Some stupid 'teacher' telling me to show how sad and distressed I was, etc. TOTALLY ignoring the facts that:

1) I was painfully shy, and hated to be stood up and looked at let alone speaking, and

2) As far as keeping emotions in check, I could give a Vulcan a run for his money.

One of the most painful afternoons of my childhood


(I'm getting better - at the talking bit at least)

[clvrlad]

allways said my school was a good un

strangely the other students ive talked to since didnt think it was...

untill i started pointing things out like

the new computer room (expanded from 30 bbc's to 30 bbc's + acorns and pc's in a much bigger room) the newly refurbished performing arts area the newly refurbished CDT area etc....
we even went on trips every other week......go carting etc...

i remember being borrowed a laptop typewriter to help me do my homework....they had 6 i think....
yes my spelling/writing was(is) that bad but no learning dificulties had been identified....as of yet
im dyslexic btw
admittedly my form tutor was the special need teacher too....


and i can sympathise totally MBH mind im quiet happy to play the fool.... on stage or off.... im sure theres some pictures of me on the internet somewhere, with me on stage in make up...

[Bunnylump]

Oh I know what you mean, MBH. But this teacher only asked for volunteers to act, there was no compulsion about it. She did make a point of going round the whole class when they were working and asking each one what they thought and how they would have made it better etc. So all the shy kids had a chance too. I used to be like that too. Now I can stand in front of a class and sing ABCDEFJ (French stylee) whilst marching infantry style. They all think I'm mad but they remember the alphabet.

[clvrlad]

They all think I'm mad

must resist......................

[Bunnylump]

Yes. You must. Or I'll set Looby on your dongle with her axe.

[Looby]

Stop making me out to be a vicious mad axe-doll!!!

[Bunnylump]

You might sit there looking all pink and bunches and butter wouldn't melt NOW. But I have seen photographic evidence of you with an axe, and I have heard witness testimonies to the rope. I think you are secretly Psycho Dolly.

[Looby]

No, no, no... must be some other ragdoll you've seen around.
I'm a good girl I am

[Bunnylump]

Yeah, I found your advert on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMZvqgxK3S8&feature=fvst

[Looby]

[Wulfruna]

......starts off by reading a scene from A Midsummer Night's Dream and then getting the kids to design their perfect set......

Our brilliant teacher also used Midsummer Night's Dream and got us producing and acting the "play within a play" - Pyramus and Thisbe. We took on the roles of the people doing it (Bottom, Quince, Flute etc) and followed through all their preparations and then made all the props and costumes, learnt our lines (including the wrong ones!) and then performed it - a perfect case of amateur dramatics come true! It made reading the rest of the main play much less of a chore and helped us to see that Shakespeare is indeed meant to be performed.

[MBH]

Moving on from a child detective in Half Moon Investigations (which built to quite a good climax) to the much more adult version. Just started the next Tom Thorne investigation in Lifeless by Mark Billingham.

The scenes are different, but the 'skills' are the same




EDIT:

Now the 'in the car' book is finished and I'm reading Stainless Steel Visions by Harry Harrison. A collection of 14 short stories (including a Stainles Steel Rat story) which are reminding me just how powerful a form of writing this is. Only a dozen pages in some stories but they make you think so much.

Not bad for 20p in the library book sale