I must say I don't understand the idea that you shouldn't feed children a bit of Masefield et al. - and Clare et al, unquestionably. Heightened language and rhythm is what one's after, I'd suggest, and on the whole the place to go for heightened language in a context which is still basically comprehensible is metrical verse of the 19th and early 20th centuries... Okay, not necessarily the most dense and convoluted Browning, but there isn't a child in the world who won't respond to "Dirty British coaster with a salt-caked smoke-stack" or "He clasps the crag with crooked hands".

Emma

Exactly. Actually Browning is perfect for children. An extract from Pied Piper to show characterisation. Or Coleridge - The Ancient Mariner - they love the visual riches of the language. I was looking at Armitage's gawain but it was drier than I'd hoped. Going to look at the new Beowulf for next time.

Jane - I'm on placement with a school where they are underperforming in English. Some of the teachers are wonderful but yesterday's teacher - with the crucial role of preparing year 6 for moving onto secondary - was like the weightwatch tutor on Little Britain. She told off a boy with a horrendous family history after my workshop because she assumed he would have disrupted it. I intervened and said he'd not only behaved, he'd done some really interesting work. She seemed utterly peeved that I'd interrupted her rant.

One shy girl stood up and read a long poem that was simply outstanding in its breadth and language and ideas. She is without doubt a writer. The teacher said, 'Ooh Shobi, that went on a bit long, dinnit?'
I could have bitten her!

Good for you, Cherys. I'm glad someone is doing some great workshops for children.

Actually Browning is perfect for children.

Oh yes, pied piper or some such. Possibly not My Last Duchess. But then they do love a bit of grue...

Emma

Awful teacher, Cherys. I bet the Head loves her though because she does all her paperwork.

LOL Jem. I bet she does.

They do My Last Duchess at GCSE level, Emma, which is something.

I have an entire hive in my bonnet about kids misbehaving at school because they're not intellectually taxed. Give them ancient Greek, poetic scansion and authors from 100 and 200 years ago and they are on the edge of their seats with interest. Too often they're treated like they want to be stuffed full of contemporary mediocrity and they don't.

Completely!

Re. that horrid teacher - I've been quite surprised by the level of antagonism I've seen in primary schools in recent years (working as a pt classroom assistant when I was doing my Masters, visiting schools as a volunteer with my local women's centre, and most recently going to see a friend's son receiving an award). So many of the teachers appear to be a) overworked and harried, and inclined to expect the worst of their students, and b) not engaged to a very high level with any particular subject (cf. your point about 'that went on a bit long, dinnit?' - ye gods!). Obviously I'm in no position to judge, and I'm sure there are loads of amazing, inspirational, intelligent and lovely teachers out there...but it does seem a terrible waste to think that, for many kids, a visit from someone such as your, cherys, could be the first really eye-opening and empowering experience they'll have had in a classroom setting.

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such as you