A is for...

With the introduction of the new government marking system, it's become clear that many of our year 9 students are writing at a level close to or below year 7. In fact, many of them seem to have coasted through primary school without encountering so much as a comma. To remedy this, I've been focussing a lot on grammar and punctuation with my classes, attempting to batter them closer to literacy. Most of the kids have been alright with this and I've had the unusual sensation (for an English teacher) of helping them learn something concrete and useful.

Some, however, remain resistant. On Monday I gave them 15 words to learn for the coming Friday. This week it was c-words, although most of the class are quite au fait with at least one of those.

J, a short, brattish kid with a talent for distraction, was the first to complain.
'We shouldn't have to do spelling, we know spelling, we learned spelling in primary school.'
'What do you mean, you learned spelling?'
'We learned it. You know, like the alphabet.'
'You learned spelling like the alphabet?'
'Yeah, you know, like A is for Elephant...'
I took the cap off my whiteboard marker.
'Okay, I've changed my mind. Learn these 16 words for Friday.'