The NQTeachers Survival Guide is a step-by-step manual on how to face the induction year which, for many primary and secondary teachers can be the most challenging of their career. It aims to smooth the teachers paths through a daunting list of tasks so that they persevere until the end of the year, pass with flying colours and confidently go on to enjoy satisfying and successful careers. It is written in a jargon-free language and packed with practical tips on how to cope with every issue from starting off on the right foot to establishing constructive relationships with pupils, colleagues, non-teaching staff, the head and parents, right through each step to the end of the year. There a list of positive, practical strategies for coping with behaviour management of even the least enthusiastic classes of pupils. It gives tips on lesson planning and how to cope the paper mountain, which teachers say increases every year. Even experienced teachers say that they are nervous taking assembly. There is a list of topics to make assemblies interesting for the pupils listening and the pupils performing, and tips on how to make each one run smoothly. Where do you start planning a school trip? Its all there - what to look for on your planning visit, the paperwork, tips on organization and great ideas on how to follow it up to enthuse the children and get maximum value from it. Report writing can be tedious. How do you write the truth without causing offence? There are suggestions for every issue to save the teacher thinking time. Teaching is an absorbing occupation. The NQTeachers Survival Guide reminds teachers to keep their eyes on the big picture so that they stay fresh and able to approach their work enthusiastically and go on to be confident teachers and an asset to their profession.

Every child should be able to enjoy the fun of reading and writing poetry. This inspirational book gets them going. Teaching children to write great poetry is a gift of a book - written by a teacher, with many successful years of teaching children to enjoy writing poetry, for teachers. It's packed with great ideas to get creative juices flowing. Metaphors, similes, alliteration, rhymes and onomatopoeia - they're all there - proving there's nothing like poetry for inspiring a love of literacy. The children learn to express their feelings towards the world around them. From the joyful daftness of nonsense poems and nursery rhymes to the challenge of narrative poems and cautionary tales, it smoothes the way, with lesson plans, support sheets and starbursts of creative ideas. Just watch their enthusiastic response to its well-structured fun. Acrostics, list poems, kennings, enjambment and shape poems are all included with suggestions of topics which start with the interest of the child. The children's confidence will grow with their success, along with your own teaching skills, as they respond enthusiastically to the hilarity of limericks and clerihews, and grasp the skill of writing succinctly to create haikus and cinquains. Each chapter gives examples of the type of poem and a plan to guide pupils to recognize its characteristics and brainstorm ideas to create a class poem. This practice gives children the confidence to plan and create their own poetry. To empower your less able poets, there are carefully planned writing frames to encourage them to succeed. Poetry writing also brings about improvement in creative writing. The skills of choosing interesting vocabulary, creating their own similes and metaphors will spill over into their story writing. Children will learn to use their senses to enhance their descriptions and creating vivid pictures in the readers minds. As schools are returning to the cross-curricular approach to learning, there is scope to link up with others subjects. Watch the childrens enthusiasm for surfing the net to find the origins of nursery rhymes, creating imaginative haikus and cinquains for their own Christmas cards and miming the actions of their cautionary tales for their class assembly.

Suitable for children aged 3 to 7, 'Henry the Explorer' is an exciting fantasy tale about a little boy who builds his own helicopter and flies off on an adventure with surprising results. It is beautifully illustrated with detailed, colourful pictures to thrill and excite children. The pictures provide wonderful conversation pieces to extend children's vocabulary and stimulate their imagination and curiosity about the world of animals, birds and plants. The story is ideal both for parents to read to children, and for beginning readers to practice. There is repetition to reinforce new sight vocabulary, building up the child's confidence. 'Henry the Explorer' is designed to add enjoyment to children's reading development and teach them to love books.

The late Wycliffe Bennett (1922-2009), widely regarded as the godfather of the Jamaican theatre in the second half of the twentieth century, brings all his experience and insight to this last, formidable production. Wycliffe Bennett saw almost every theatrical production of note in this period, directed some productions himself, and, in addition, worked as a manager and trainer in speech, radio and television. His wife, Hazel, co-author of this liberally illustrated work, adds her skills as documentalist and witness. Together, the Bennetts have produced the first book of its kind, a panorama of performance, from the imported touring companies and fledgling local elitist groups of the 1920s and 1930s, to the birth of the Little Theatre Movement during the war years; from the small, ambitious groups of the 1950s and 1960s to the thriving commercial "roots theatre" of the new century. The book also chronicles the development of drama on radio and television, and Jamaica's small but important film industry. In extensively documenting and analysing dance, it considers modern foundation groups like Ivy Baxter and the National Dance Theatre Company, as well as their precursors and myriad offspring. A pioneer of the Jamaica Festival movement, Wycliffe Bennett describes it from the inside, culminating with eyewitness accounts of the spectacular Caribbean Festival of the Arts, Carifesta '76, over which he presided. As well, the authors treat music in all its variety, from classical through the Frats Quintet to reggae. There are also sections by experts in their fields: Yvonne Jones Brewster writes on Theatre 77 and Barn Theatre; Dr Maria Smith examines Revival; Barbara Requa discusses dance techniques; and Mary Brathwaite Morgan considers the golden age of drama at the University of the West Indies. To complete this panoptic view of the performing arts, there is an A to Z of the scores of outstanding personages in the different fields.

Written for a multi-faith society, this book includes scripts for Buddhist, Chinese, Christian, Hindu, Islamic, Jewish and Sikh religions. The scripts are child friendly, written with humour which the children will enjoy.

The Story of the Jamaican People is the first general history of Jamaica to be written in almost 40 years. It differs significantly from earlier "imperial" histories which have been written from the perspective of the coloniser and which have relegated Jamaicans to an inferior and passive role. In this book, the authors offer a new interpretation of Jamaica's history. The central theme is the long struggle of the African-Jamaican against subjugation, injustice, economic deprivation and the fight for full freedom. Sherlock and Bennett recount the epic resistance to slavery; from the acts of sabotage on the estates, the legendary exploits of Maroon heroes Cudjoe, Nanny and Tacky, to the final blow delivered by Sam Sharpe which ended slavery in Jamaica. An underlying theme throughout the book is the centrality of Africa, the original homeland of the African-Jamaican. The memory of Africa's ancient civilisations, its diverse tribes, languages, cultures and religions, sustained the African-Jamaican throughout slavery and remains a positive influence on modern-day Jamaican culture. Although the focus of the story is on African-Jamaican, the authors recognise the significant role played by other ethnic groups - East Indians, Chinese, Lebanese, Syrians and Jews - in the development of modern Jamaica. The Story of the Jamaican People is told in a powerfully evocative and poetic style in which the images of creative writers and artists are blended with extensive quotations from anthropological, sociological and historical sources. The book is copiously illustrated and has an extensive bibliographical and reference section as well as a useful index.

This book is a direct, useful and practical guide with advice about everything from parent interviews, seeking promotion, to taking assembly and surviving Ofsted. Hazel Bennett writes engagingly and informatively about the things that really matter when you're training to be a teacher. Covering all the practicalities - from choosing the right course and getting into your first-choice college, through to finding the right teaching post for you and juggling a life with your new career - her advice is realistic and down-to-earth. Creative suggestions for planning mock lessons at college and strategies for surviving the dreaded teaching practice are included, as are tips for passing the literacy, numeracy and ICT tests. Quite simply the ultimate survival manual for trainees everywhere! This new edition is more accessible than ever and contains the latest professional standards.