Jenny Huggett Education

It's been an absolute pleasure running the last three Zoom sessions for you and your teens. I hope they have been useful! I'd love some feedback, either here in the comments or in a private dm, if you can spare the time.

⭐I am excited to announce that I will be starting up my GCSE clubs from next week, starting with Jenny's GCSE English Skills Club at 7pm on Thursday 2 Oct (same time every week).⭐

As you will see from the ad below, there are regular information evenings for parents included too. The first one will be an overview of the English Language GCSE, along with fun ways in which you might help your teen raise their game in English at home. If you sign up before next Thursday you will have access to that first talk too.

If you want your child to get cracking and start building good study habits for the year, this is a great way to start. They will be engaged, enthused and entertained and, since everything hinges on English, it's the perfect place to start!

Message me for sign-up details.

If you're wondering how you can support your teen through year 11, join me in a FREE online Zoom session for some ideas.

If you’re interested, let me know in the comments and I’ll ping you the zoom link.

⭐️Thursday at 7pm⭐️

English Language is a skills-based subject.

You can't revise for it in the way you can knowledge-based subjects like Geography, Science or History, which prioritise acquisition of factual information.

It is like art or music, where competence increases incrementally with regular exposure and practice.

It makes sense, therefore, to start well in advance of the GCSE exams to increase the amount of exposure and practice you get.

⭐️Sign your child up for a September start and make sure they are well and truly ready come exam time.⭐️

Feel free to WhatsApp me for more information.

Learning languages is never really seen as a priority in this country, which is a huge pity as there are so many benefits to learning a language.

As a language teacher, I spend my life trying to convince people of the benefits...but this time, I thought I'd ask you.

If you speak other languages, I'd love it if you could tell me what the benefits are or have been for you.

Similarly, if you don't but wish you did, I'd love to know why.

Do you have a teen in year 11 who is finding it hard to settle into revision? If you would like to be having a similar Whatsapp conversation, have a look at my revision workshops. It's not just the content that is invaluable, it's the guidance and accountability that comes with it. Call me for more information on 07981 232049

Sweden is giving educational technology the boot!

It’s about time we did something about this. In many lessons nowadays, children are looking at slides, often with the blinds down so they can see the board better. Then they go home and do homework set on screens. It really does need to change.

At least it is now being talked about.

A very bold step initiated by the Swedish Government. They have kicked out… | Vivek Nanda | 383 comments A very bold step initiated by the Swedish Government. They have kicked out the digital classroom and restored the book pencil and notebook in the teaching and learning program. | 383 comments on LinkedIn

If you're worried about the upcoming GCSEs but don't have the resources to fund extra tuition, here are a couple of ways you can help them with English for free.

1️⃣ Sign them up to Jenny's Poetry Club - it's free!
This will help them with both the poetry questions in the Literature paper and the language analysis aspect of the Language papers. It takes place once a week so if you sign them up today, they will have practice analysing 8 unseen poems before the exam.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1275797080513585/

2️⃣ Ask them questions about the texts they are studying. The questions below will get the conversation started. The more interested you are, the more engaged and motivated they will be. Talking to you about the texts will show them what they know and also reveal gaps they may need to go away and fill.
🟢What's the writer's message?
🟢How did they want the reader to feel?
🟢What did they want the writer to reflect on?
🟢What was going on in society at the time it was set / written?
🟢Who are the characters?
🟢Do any of the characters represent anything?
🟢What sort of words do each of the characters use?

If you are in a position to fund additional support, I am running some online revision workshops at £20 per session (discounts for block bookings). The next ones are English Language on Fri 14 March and Poetry Anthologies on Sun 16 March.

Please get in touch for more information or call me on 07981 232049

I've been flooding Facebook groups with details of all my GCSE Revision Workshops recently but wanted to take the time to talk about the impact of stress on both revision and exam performance.

As a teacher and a parent of four (mostly grown up) children, I know how much talk there is of the importance of getting good grades in year 11 and, for that matter, in year 10. The messaging can sometimes make the kids feel like it's the end of the world if they don't do well in their GCSEs.

But according to this article in the British Psychological Society, 'test anxiety makes it harder to absorb information while preparing for an exam'.

The study suggests that test anxiety doesn't just impair performance during an exam, but it makes it harder to acquire knowledge in the first place.

With this in mind, perhaps we need to start re-framing how we think about exam outcomes and what messages we pass on to our children.

Yes, it's important to try your best and to work hard (and smart). However, we need to remind them that exam results are only one part of the skills and qualities they will take into life with them. If we relieve the pressure just a little bit, perhaps the reduction in stress will actually have the desired effect of making them perform better anyway.

If you'd like a pdf with tips on how to support your child through years 10 and 11, do email me and and I'll send you something that you might find useful. I'm also planning to run a free online session with tips on how to support your child. Again, if you're interested in this, please email me.
[email protected]

I'd be really interested to hear your thoughts on all of this and I'm sure others would too, so please feel free to comment.

Test anxiety makes it harder to absorb information while preparing for an exam | BPS Study suggests that test anxiety doesn't simply impair performance during an exam, but rather makes it harder to acquire knowledge in the first place.