Literature of the Hart

A past Oxbridge question for Chemistry was "How many grains of sand are there in the world?" What a great question! It's another "wonder question" (see my previous post an another Oxbridge question here ). I love helping students prepare for Oxbridge and other university interviews because it gives me a chance to see bright young minds grappling with areas of life they've never thought about before. It's a chance for them to grow, and a chance for them to learn that it's OK to do what I call "intellectual talk" - talking about ideas seriously because ideas matter. My ' Nurture Your Uni Dream ' programme coaches students through choosing the right university course at the right universities, and if a student is in Year 10 or above it's quite appropriate to start thinking about this. Contact me to find out more here.

  This is a short poem I wrote a few years ago and I am sharing it as we move from the end of 2024 onward to the start of 2025. Hope at Year’s Ending A mistle thrush was singing As if all the world were ringing With the hopes of every soul The year was at its ending But the light was growing, mending Darkness which could never wrestle ultimate control.

Some students and their families will be thinking about their university dreams in 2025.  I offer an online programme suitable for students from Year 11 onwards called   Nurture Your Uni Drea m .  It uses techniques I learnt whilst leading a scholarship programme as Principal at a high performing UK 2-18 boarding school for both British and international students. Each student is part of a small community of high-performing young people, and there is a rota of presenting online to this community, being challenged by others' questions as well as inspired by their' presentations, receiving individualised mentoring directly from me including improving study skills, choice of course, wider reading, relevant work experience and interview coaching. Going to university was a dream for me – a motivating dream that inspired me to study, be intellectually curious and work hard when I was at school. My programme  Nurture Your Uni Drea m  supports students to explore t...

But I'm No Good At Creative Writing   is my latest ebook, now available as an ebook for those who do not have a Kindle,  priced at just £1.99 for a limited period . I have been using this material with students from Year 5 to GCSE in the last few months, and it has made such a difference to my tutees. If you scroll back through this blog you can read some of the creative writing that has been produced by students with a variety of starting points, varying from Year 5, to an EAL student, to a student in their first year of GCSE. In the ebook, I show students how to take narrative techniques used by the best writers in English literature, and adapt them into their own writing. Why not purchase your own copy of this ebook  via this link ? It is also available on Amazon both to read and to purchase, via this link .

I love to publish writing by students.  This is a piece of descriptive writing by Jayden, in which he uses the technique I teach of appealing to all five senses.  He's also included some of the new vocabulary he's been learning from the book we are reading together. Well done, Jayden! There was a cave near my house that I was eager to explore. As I walked towards the entrance, I felt wind whizzing from the cave coming towards my face. It was different from the wind I have felt before. The wind contained the smell of the drenched rocks. I tasted the wet rocks in the air, which was bitter.  It was getting darker as I went further afield along the path, which was naturally narrow. I had to switch my torch on and continue my journey. I could see the ancient granite rocks. I could touch the water dropping from the rocks on my head. The rocks felt cold when I touched them, it also gave me a coolness through my hand. I touched the rocks that were damp and slippery, I saw my wate...

  But I'm No Good At Creative Writing   is my latest ebook, available on Amazon,  priced at just £2.49. Many students lack confidence in creative writing, and it's a very important skill as it is tested in all GCSE English Language exams. This is a short and very accessible ebook using my tried-and-tested approaches which I have developed over 30 years of English teaching, and still use today in online tuition and educational consultancy. I show students how to take a technique used by all films and books, and adapt it into an easy-to-use structure, then build characterisation and description to add depth to narrative. You can purchase your own copy of this ebook  here . The Five Sentence Types Workbook   is also available on Amazon,  priced at just  £2.99. This step-by-step workbook takes you through five basic sentence types that underpin all writing.   Examples are taken from a story which your child is invited to add to and even adapt, as...

Many people haven't heard of it but its influence has been worldwide! It's the poem that made Santa's reindeer famous: 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. "...a miniature sleigh and eight tiny rein-deer, With a little old driver so lively and quick, I knew in a moment he must be St. Nick. More rapid than eagles his coursers they came, And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name: "Now,  Dasher ! now,  Dancer ! now  Prancer  and  Vixen ! On,  Comet ! on,  Cupid ! on,  Donder  and  Blitzen ! To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall! Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!" Students are always fascinated to learn about the origins of Christmas traditions, and this poem is fun to  read  (you can access the whole poem here ). Thank you for supporting this blog, which I launched in the summer of 2024. It has had nearly 4000  views since then and I hope it is helping students and families with their English studie...

Every good story needs a setting.  The setting is where events take place . Read this piece of description which comes near the opening of Great Expectations, the subject of my current series of posts: “Ours was the marsh country, down by the river, within, as the river wound, twenty miles of the sea. My first most vivid and broad impression of the identity of things seems to me to have been gained on a memorable raw afternoon towards evening. At such a time I found out for certain that this bleak place overgrown with nettles was the churchyard … and that the dark flat wilderness beyond the churchyard, intersected with dikes and mounds and gates, with scattered cattle feeding on it, was the marshes; and that the low leaden line beyond was the river; and that the distant savage lair from which the wind was rushing was the sea; and that the small bundle of shivers growing afraid of it all and beginning to cry, was Pip.” Can you work out how Dickens makes his description so effec...

  But I'm No Good At Creative Writing   is my latest ebook, available on Amazon,  priced at just £2.49. Many students lack confidence in creative writing, and it's a very important skill as it is tested in all GCSE English Language exams. This is a short and very accessible ebook using my tried-and-tested approaches which I have developed over 30 years of English teaching, and still use today in online tuition and educational consultancy. I show students how to take a technique used by all films and books, and adapt it into an easy-to-use structure, then build characterisation and description to add depth to narrative. You can purchase your own copy of this ebook  here . The Five Sentence Types Workbook   is also available on Amazon,  priced at just  £2.99. This step-by-step workbook takes you through five basic sentence types that underpin all writing.   Examples are taken from a story which your child is invited to add to and even adapt, as...

Imagine a character in a frightening situation. How are they feeling? What might they see and think? What about their other senses? What might happen next? Any piece of narrative writing needs a character.  Just like real people, characters are interesting once we start to get to know a bit about them. This is how Charles Dickens begins his novel Great Expectations.  You can read my first post in this series on Great Expectations here . “My father’s family name being Pirrip, and my Christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip.  So, I called myself Pip, and came to be called Pip.” My ebook  But I'm No Good At Creative Writing   helps students improve their narrative writing, an essential skill for doing well at GCSE English Language.  It's available on Amazon  here , and you can find out more about the Hartland English Guides, my other ebooks,  here .

  But I'm No Good At Creative Writing   is my latest ebook, available on Amazon,  priced at just £2.49 . Many students lack confidence in creative writing, and it's a very important skill as it is tested in all GCSE English Language exams. This is a short and very accessible ebook using my tried-and-tested approaches which I have developed over 30 years of English teaching. I use material from this book today in my online tuition and educational consultancy. I show students how to take narrative techniques used by the best writers in English literature, and adapt them into their own writing. Why not purchase your own copy of this ebook  here ?

One of the reasons students find themselves lacking inspiration when it comes to writing, is that reading quality literature is not so popular today.  But I find in my tuition that children really enjoy the classics when they are introduced in the right way. Great Expectations  is a book I use with many of my tutees because it has such a dramatic beginning.  Here is the situation: A little boy is in a dark churchyard, thinking about his family, most of whom are dead, when suddenly a man appears from nowhere and demands that the boy must bring him food. Children love to borrow the plots of good stories, and sometimes my students will even use this as a basis for their own story. A good example is Sara's story (she is in Year 5), which I published recently, and which you can read here . My ebook But I'm No Good At Creative Writing helps students improve their narrative writing, an essential skill for doing well at GCSE English Language.  It's available on Amazon here ...

  This is another piece of narrative written by one of my students, Violet.  She uses "the black hole" technique that I teach, and includes characterisation very effectively to make a gripping read! My fear of turbulence started from a very young age. Now, getting ready to board the plane, the trembling of my hands was starting to get to me, I could feel the nerves creeping in faster and faster. The plane took off and I could hear my heart, thumping in the back of my mind. I felt like throwing up.  After a while, my anxiety had lowered and so I held a cup of steaming tea and ravenously ate cheese and ham toastie. It definitely was not the best food I had ever eaten, however when I am nervous, my stomach grumbles until it seems I haven't eaten for days.  Despite my fear, I was extremely excited to go to America to see my family; my mother had already travelled over, so I was alone on the flight. Flight agencies nowadays are less lenient than they were about children...

Many students feel they are "no good" at creative writing, which can be a problem for them when it is examined at GCSE. But in my experience, this is more down to a lack of confidence, and furthermore, this is easily corrected. Students usually just need some clear guidance about a simple structure to follow.  Then the ideas will flow naturally. What I call " The Black Hole Technique " is used by films and books to create suspense, and when it is deepened by characterisation, description and dialogue, then you have the ingredients of a great piece of narrative writing. My latest ebook - ' But I'm No Good at Creative Writing ' - is short, accessible and clear to follow.  I guide students through these steps with some easy-to-follow, short exercises.  The ebook is designed to unblock students' natural creativity and help them become better creative writers. You can purchase ' But I'm No Good at Creative Writing ' on Amazon via this link .

  This is another story written by one of my students recently.  It was inspired by the dramatic opening chapter of 'Great Expectations' by Charles Dickens. The harsh winter breeze spun round the town. I thought maybe my father and mother would be begging for happiness and warmth but in the heavens they were just laughing at me. I scraped my hands on the smooth stone of my sister ‘s grave, Dorine. My nana tells me that she wants me to call them Mr and Mrs Shearling but my aunt says mama and papa are better. I wish that I  could have seen them .All of them. But they hated me just as much as nana does and so when I was born they killed themselves, just to get away from me. Miss Marling, my neighbour, told me to visit their graves so I did. Mum's grave was the biggest and cleanest. It was made of pure solid pearls and iron. It had pure gold writing. There was also a small one far in the meadow on its own. So I went to it and on it said :      Charlie Mongento ...

  But I'm No Good At Creative Writing   is my latest ebook, available on Amazon,  priced at just £2.49 . Many students lack confidence in creative writing, and it's a very important skill as it is tested in all GCSE English Language exams. This is a short and very accessible ebook using my tried-and-tested approaches which I have developed over 30 years of English teaching, and still use today in online tuition and educational consultancy. I show students how to take a technique used by all films and books, and adapt it into an easy-to-use structure, then build characterisation and description to add depth to narrative. You can purchase your own copy of this ebook  here .