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Curriculum and Assessment Developments at Key Stages 3 and 4
Appendix 1
DIAMOND ACTIVITY - The Point of English
| Learning the basics of reading and writing is essential for future education and employment prospects |
English is a force for democracy; becoming powerful readers, writers and talkers enables student teachers to take an active part in society |
English should be a creative art – reading and writing allow for self-expression and creativity to be at the heart of the school experience |
| English is an essential part of a school curriculum that is, across the vast majority of subjects, dominated by literacy |
English educates for tolerance; studying the language and literature of different cultures, classes and ethnicities inevitably encourages acceptance and respect of these cultures and classes |
English teaching should be about the growth of the individual; in telling and writing our own stories, and reading those of others, we are in the process of forging our own characters |
| English opens up the cultural heritage of England – exposing children to the history of achievement in our language should be a key part of any education system |
The history of the world conflict is a history of the literate oppressing the illiterate, of the word being used as a weapon. Teaching English empowers potential victims |
We think with language, and our language defines how we think – English is about expanding language capabilities, and so developing one's capacity for thought |
Instructions:
- Cut up the above statements and place in an envelope
- Give each group of 4 student teachers an envelope
- As a group they read and discuss the importance of each statement in relation to the question of the importance of English
- Coming to agreement, student teachers have to arrange the 9 statements in a diamond shape, with what they view as the most important reason at the top of the diamond, with the least important at the bottom:
Most important
Least important
- Student teachers can move around the room to look at the decisions of other groups and use this to frame questions and comments in a discussion about different 'philosophies' of English teaching (can be linked to Cox's models).
 
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