Thread by @therealjohntan

Was chatting w my 9yo at dinner and realised the way she’s being taught English in school is exactly how I was taught 30 years ago.

English lessons as they are right now.

How they can be made more engaging and practical.

🪡

1/ Her teacher makes her write line after line to practice her handwriting if it’s not neat.

Who handwrites anything anymore?

2/ English lessons are a mix of multiple choice questions, cloze passage, comprehension and composition.

It’s the same thing year after year, from primary 1-6 (grades 1-6).

3/ There’s a book.

It’s some sort of fairy tale.

9yo says maybe her 5yo sister will like it.

4/ What if we used Harry Potter in the classroom to help kids learn words and grammar?

Why can’t learning new words and proper tenses be a byproduct of enjoying this fantasy world of wizardry and witchcraft?

5/ What if we asked 5th and 6th graders to rework the titles of their favourite YouTube videos?

What if we ask them to write a video script and pitch that to their favourite YouTube star?

6/ What if we asked them to google a topic like ‘vaccine truths and myths’, pick information sources they think are credible, and create a 60 second video to defend what they think is true?

7/ What if we got them to try pair writing? Find a partner, take turns to write one sentence each, come up with a compelling story?

There’s not a whole lot of room for even the best teachers to be creative because there are tests and exams they need to prepare students for.

Beyond the functional use of English, let’s help kids turn language skill into a super tool in their tool kit.

Writing great ad copy. Speeches. Essays. Video scripts.

Start them young.