ABSTRACT
I’ve made the point already that in my view developing an enthusiasm for language is your most important task. It is this that will inspire the children you teach. An important part of this is feeling excited about words – not afraid of them, not worried in case you spell them wrongly first time, but keen to explore their meanings, enjoy the sound and the shape of them and experiment with them in your own work. Some of you may have had this enthusiasm since you were children; some may feel that this is the hardest thing of all to achieve. It’s very important that you try. (1) Poetry is one of those types of text that many people love but others hate (or think they do). If you are one of the
latter, try just for a few minutes reading the following (very brief!) extract from The Frozen Man by Kit Wright, and do your best to find two points about the words he uses that lift the poem above the excitement level of a note to the milkman.
