Never mind learning by doing, how about learning by dreaming? According to a study carried out at Harvard Medical School, dreaming is the brain's way of learning and making sense of the world.  People who nap and dream about a task they have just learned perform it better when they wake up than those who […]

Ma Xiuxian, aged 102, has become the world's oldest first-year pupil. She started work in a cotton mill at the age of 13 and never got the chance to go to school as a child.   This inspirational lady says taking her place at her desk in the Grade One class at Weshan Road Elementary School […]

Here's my rant of the day - They're at it again! CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) involves teaching a curricular subject through the medium of a language other than that normally used. What they're calling Plurilingual Education. For example, teaching a science lesson in German in a school in the UK. It looks as […]

A study by the University of the Arts, London, suggests that learning a musical instrument at primary school can boost a child's confidence and learning in other areas. It was said to improve motivation and behaviour, because it is a social activity that engages the child's emotions and self expression, and it can improve the […]

The UK government has said that GCSE language students are to face a number of assessments rather than a single "oral" examination at the end of the course. I am really glad to hear this, but only if it means that students will actually be encouraged to talk in class, instead of the current "open […]

A new GCSE in Chinese is to be available from September, following growing demand from schools and business. The Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (AQA) said the new course would give pupils the language skills that businesses will want in future.