Making Language Visible

Becoming aware of the technicalities of our language and how it works in the PETAA Grammar and Teaching course with Jo Rossbridge has been an absolute eye opener for me. In all these years there is so much that I have just taken for granted about how our language hangs together. I haven’t analysed the patterns, the reasons, the language choices or the craft. Are you the same?

Today, I was teaching a Stage 1 class and we were writing about our findings from a series of S.T.E.A.M. lessons that we have been working on. Never before have I been so conscious and analytical of their choices of pronouns, conjunctions, connectives and the impact of these factors upon their writing. Being better informed helped me to conference intelligently with these students and to have constructive discussions about what was and was not working for their audience.

How much do you know about cohesion? Do…