Teaching & Learning English
The Gator Guy 
Since three of my classes are studying poetry this unit, I supposed it would be prudent to set up a discussion page where students can share their analyses. First, here is a useful glossary of poetic devices that I put together: Poetic Devices Glossary Below is a list of the poems we are studying (I’ll … Read more
Introducing The Gator Guy, a green crocodile from the wetlands of Suzhou. He is very open-minded and mindful even though his brain weighs less than an Oreo cookie 😆 The images above are only psychological play to help the Green Gators beat our competitors. As mentioned at the start of this blog post, The Gator … Read more
Task: Share your personal answer to the question using the comments section below. The Question: Why might there be more than one ‘correct’ way to speak English? Note that the purpose of this exercise is for you to share your own opinion. Please try to refrain from asking AI what your opinion is; try to … Read more
Another cohort of my students are preparing to complete the Penny Dreadfuls historical fiction writing project (here are examples from last year’s project). The purpose of this page is to provide a space where students can share their developing characters via the comments section below…
After contributing to this project via Bilbo Baggins of the Shire’s research into the mythical founder of my hometown, King Bladud, I realised that the vicinity of my hometown is rich in myth and folklore so thought I’d share some of the stories here. I invite the Project Enchantia team to build on my work … Read more
Here’s a short animation showing the Wutong Zakameeniat character from Mushroom’s Aladin-Man books painting Mushroom on the wall:
My first ever middle school performance in appreciation of Shakespeare’s writing took place on the 28th March 2024 and was a great success. However, getting to the point where English Language & Literature (ELL) students across three grades were able to successfully coordinate and perform different Shakespearean pieces was quite a journey. In this article … Read more
My grade 6 students are writing a speech drawing on our analysis of some of Shakespeare’s famous speeches. Here is my example: Is Shakespeare relevant in the world today? I might just as well ask if you prick Shylock, doth he not bleed? Doth a bear not poop in the woods? In short, you do … Read more
Over the last couple of weeks, three of my classes at school have been very busy producing screenplays and stage directions for various performances of Shakespeare’s plays. This was a very significant piece of work with plenty of learning opportunities, for me as well as the students, so it is really important to reflect on … Read more
Welcome to another awesome Creative Writing Project on Mushroom. This article describes the process my grade 6 students used to create Enchantia: Legends & Tales of Good & Bad The aim of this project is to work as a group to produce a fantasy novel. This creative process works as follows: Each participant creates a … Read more
As many of my students know, I was, a long time ago, before I became a teacher, a professional artist. I am therefore going to be transparent about my own efforts at representing Shakespeare through visual art. I will update this post as I progress with my painting. The first step is to map out … Read more
The site is called MUSHROOM so let’s appreciate a random giant, blue mushroom I found in Hangzhou Park, Suzhou. It is a very cold day, but look at that beautiful blue sky! A quirky blue mushroom rises to meet the expansive blue sky 😀