Further to my previous post, I have found myself once more, in the learning zone.  Admittedly, not enamoured with ‘Things We Didn’t See Coming‘,  arriving at an interpretation upon which to base my comparative thinking has been a little bit of a struggle.  There goes my former boast about writing essays irrespective of the climatic […]

Read More Comparing Texts – Never Let Me Go and Things We Didn’t See Coming

Dear friends, I have been AWOL for awhile. Check out my latest burst of creativity for a bit of a laugh. It was almost worth catching the flu to harness a bit of inspiration. Thanks to Sylvia Plath for this one. Achoo Achoo Well flu I’ve a word or two For you and your Gobbledegoo […]

Read More The Flu

I’m listening to the Audible version of The Hate Race and the reference to a hotel called ‘Man Friday’ is some kind of warped introduction to Australia for ‘new’ Australians Bordeaux and Cleopatra Clarke, circa 1976. As Beneba Clarke documents her parents’ migration story, I imagine them, appalled at the idea of checking into a […]

Read More Us and Them….

The luxury of a football practice match and four hours in ED whilst my son had observations taken for a head injury, has afforded me the time to smash out two essays on ‘The Erratics’. Check out my first intro: Prompt: The Erratics reveals our propensity to construct stories about our lives. Discuss. Laveau-Harvie’s memoir […]

Read More The Erratics progress….

The ridiculousness of naming myself the English Genie, a form of reinvention or self-ridicule, is not lost on me. I am reminded of Piscine Molitor Patel of Life of Pi fame – the campaign against bullying on the front foot, introducing himself to his new classmates, not as Piscine, but writing confidently on the classroom […]

Read More A bit about the name..

I’m heading down the highway for parent-teacher interviews – a 50 minute trip along the Murray Valley Highway, and I’m tuning in to Chapter 18 of the Erratics again. Laveau-Harvie is speaking of locking up a crazy mother and the vindication of a mother who knew all along that her children hated her. The urgency […]

Read More The parent teacher highway – Chapter 18 of The Erratics again….

Teaching has been my bread and butter for the last twenty-five years. I love teaching, and I love trying to get the best out of my students. Most of my students (surprise surprise) don’t share my love of books. Motivating students to see the benefits of English and to appreciate how they can become critical […]

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