Many schools use the AQA English Literature specification for GCSE, and will be used to teaching Tennyson’s ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ as part of the Conflict and Power cluster of poems. It seems to be one of the more popular poems, and this might relate to the poem’s memorable rhythm - this certainly seemed to be the case in a video I saw a few months ago of some school students vigorously reciting it in their playground in unison with their teacher. English teachers love complicated terminology, and like me, you have probably taught your students that the energetic rhythm is achieved through Tennyson’s use of dactylic dimeter ( BAH-ba-ba BAH-ba-ba ). When I first started teaching this poem, I would tell students that this was to evoke the sound of the Light Brigade galloping towards the enemy on horseback. This isn’t wrong, but I found that my students would tag this on to their answers - seemingly just so they could use the complicated terminology. Students were not linking
What is the best way to make it very likely that a child will become a teenager who is good at English? Encouraging a love of reading and good reading habits would be at the top of my list. Think about the students who excel at English in your class - it’s very probable that they have had positive experiences with reading from a very young age. These students are often very easy to teach. They can understand and use many words. They get that texts are deliberately constructed to create effects. They have more powerful knowledge and cultural capital than their peers. But let’s face it, this isn’t what most of your students are like. If your students are anything like mine (I currently work in a larger-than-average comprehensive secondary school in Derbyshire), most of them will not read anywhere near the amount that you would like them to. Let me be clear; this isn’t the fault of schools. Many schools - like mine - have an excellent library and library staff, and teachers who care passi