Bookchat!

           What’s new in books?

Some new books have arrived recently, a couple purchased after requests from students or staff. We will always consider any requests, so if there is something you are interested in, let us know!

For anyone who has read Unpolished Gem, Alice Pung’s new book, Growing up Asian in Australia has arrived. (Have you read The Boat, by Nam Le, another emerging and very impressive Asian/Australian author?)

Also two new biographies, John, by Cynthia Lennon, a review of which is here  (Did you know Paul McCartney wrote Hey Jude for Julian Lennon after his parent’s divorce? I didn’t!) and No turning back, Joanne Lees story about her journey into the outback with Peter Falconio and its aftermath.

E news

Something for English teachers, specifically teachers of Shakespeare,  is the UK ‘s Department for Children, Schools and Families  National Strategies website. They have curriculum documents for  Enjoying Shakespeare units of study, with Powerpoints and Smartboard files as well as units of drama linked to a study of the Globe Theatre.

I also came across the following items in an educational site from Britain called Inspired,  this one highlighting the possibilities of Second Life for educational purposes.

“There is a zone called Scilands where a variety of institutions including NASA have created virtual experiments and scientific experiences. Member organisations share borders of their individual regions in the hope of forging links between disciplines. One of the most compelling of the Scilands is that which enables the visitor to fly through a hurricane.”

 And some scary figures!-  “Gadget-rich childhood

Channel 4 have recently commissioned research into young people’s use and attitudes to technology. Among the eye-watering figures is the likelihood that your average 12-24 year-old will personally own eight devices including an MP3 player, PC, TV, DVD player, mobile phone, stereo, games console, and digital camera. And something to terrify TV executives is the finding that when watching the box the typical teenager will be doing at least five other things at the same time. “

I wonder how this applies to their reading and studying!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 29th, 2009 at 1:20 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.