The education secretary Michael Gove is set to
announce plans later this week to make the teaching of English more rigorous in
primary schools. While I have no problem with this in theory - we should indeed
evaluate the education system on a regular basis to ensure that our children
are getting the best possible education, I do have a problem with the idea that
we should "start" to teach poetry "as young as the age of
5". Well, I don't know about you, but I was teaching poetry to my children
before they could speak. And my parents did the same for me. As yours probably
did too. So this is nothing new Mr Gove.
"Twinkle, twinkle little star";
"Baa, baa black sheep"; "Incy, wincy spider"; "Pat a
cake, pat a cake" - are these not poems? My children could recite these
and many more by the age of 3. I share poetry books with them at home; both
traditional poems such as "The Owl and the Pussycat" by Edward Lear
and modern stories in rhyme like "The Gruffalo" by Julia Donaldson.
Young children are able to predict the rhyme at the end of a line. Read them
the words: "Poor Tyrannosaurus Drip tried hard to sing along, But the
others yelled, 'You silly drip, you've got the words all...'" and wait for
them to shout "Wrong!" (Julia Donaldson again, in "Tyrannosaurus
Drip")
When mine started nursery they enjoyed the
delights of Michael Rosen in fabulous books such as "Little Rabbit Foo
Foo" and "We're Going on a Bear Hunt". They were encouraged to
join in and came home quoting their favourite bits to me. At the age of three.
When Christmas time came and they were starring in their first nativity play,
they learned to sing the words of "Upsy Daisy Angel". Again they were
both 3 years old.
So what I want to know is whether Michael Gove
has spent any time with primary school age children recently, and actually
asked them about their favourite rhymes, stories and poems. He might be
surprised that parents and teachers are actually doing a pretty good job
already of teaching poetry to children aged 5. And much younger.
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