Our education system can fail to acknowledge or value true talent in our younger learners... Tom, early year 4, is struggling with primary literacy because his spelling is poor and his letters aren't joined. Or at least, that is how he is assessed in school.
But after working with us in a Thoughttree action writing session, his pen was flying across the paper! Tom wrote a whole page of an exciting chase scene in present tense, using short sentences. He instinctively used a light comic touch and patterning in his sentences. We say, Go Tom! Here's a snippet (spellings corrected by Ali, because frankly, we don't care much about that!)...
'Saturday morning. I am playing football in my street. Bob pushes me over. I run. He follows me. I run faster. I dash round a corner not knowing where to go next. I charge. I am surrounded by Bob's mates! 'Now what do I do?' I think...
...I run into my room. The window's open. Bob's seen me! I see a trampoline. I leap out of the window but Bob's after me. I land on the trampoline and Bob lands on me. I yell. Bob cups his hands over his ears. So I leg it!'
PS: Tom loved the idea of using 'leg it' as a synonym for 'run '!
