This 130 page volume presents rhythm, harmony and melody as separate sets of activities which can be incorporated into lessons of any length. Each lesson plan sets out the purpose of that lesson, the materials needed, the method employed and the tasks to be done.

Activities are supported by specially composed short practice segments covering a range of styles, for example rock, reggae, jazz and funk.

Each activity and its accompanying music includes easier and more advanced elements for classes with a range of abilities.

The CD illustrates the text and provides accompanying music for student tasks with at least one CD track for each lesson. Students are guided through scores and lines of music, encouraged to get a feel for the flow of the piece and to sing or play at every opportunity.

An early example from the volume contains explanations and musical examples to show how the 8^th note of a major scale becomes the first note of the next octave. Examples are generated and then joined together as a song.

By the middle of the volume, in Lesson 27, students progress from block harmonies into the harmonies that can occur in a free flowing song – in this case a round. The CD contains a recording of the round, which consists of eight two bar segments, each of which can be introduced at two bar intervals.

You can see the presentation of this lesson by clicking here.

Towards the end students combine everything learned about rhythm, harmony and melody into a series of pieces for which the music is provided.

Details of how to order are given below. The format of the book is a Ringbinder plus CD. The price is £34.95 plus £3.95 delivery.

• Publisher’s catalogue number T1614emn
• ISBN: 978 1 86083 603 9

Methods of ordering – please quote catalogue number T1614emn

• By post to First and Best, Hamilton House Mailings plc, Earlstrees Ct., Earlstrees Rd., Corby, Northants NN17 4HH
• By fax on 01536 399 012
• By phone with a credit card or with an official school order number on 01536 399 011
• By email to sales@firstandbest.co.uk
• On line with a credit card at http://shop.firstandbest.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=36&products_id=448

What is the most effective way of ensuring that the students’ work rate and behaviour is maintained when a cover teacher steps in?

When a subject teacher is absent there can sometimes be some concern as to whether the established standards of the students’ work rate and behaviour will remain under the cover teacher’s supervision.

In a small number of cases, students’ behaviour and work rate may slip as they test the boundaries, but for most, their lesson performance is decreased due to the often disruptive change to their work and lesson structure and routine.

Absent Teacher has created a worksheets series that cover teachers can use to maintain lesson structure. Thus maintaining the students’ work rate and behaviour.

The Absent Teacher worksheets series includes subjects as PSHE, Science, Maths, English, Resistant Materials, RE, ICT, Food Technology, History, Geography, German, Spanish, and French.

Worksheet activities have close links to the National Curriculum, making it possible to identify the worksheets that relate to the topic area the students are currently studying- further limiting disruption to their learning.

The activities in the worksheets series range from reading comprehension questions and ‘fill in the gaps’, to word searches and poster design.

The worksheets in the Absent Teacher books series are photocopiable, making it quick and easy to organise work for the students, which is particularly important when the subject teacher is absent at short notice.

What’s more is the worksheet activities have been designed so that it is not necessary for the cover teacher to have any knowledge of the subject they are covering.

Sample pages are available on request by emailing jane@hamilton-house.com – just let her know which subject book you would like to see sample pages from.

The Absent Teacher Worksheets series are available from Hamilton House and are priced at £30 each plus £2.95 delivery.

You can order the Absent Teacher worksheets series by filling in the order form and sending it by fax, email, or post (see contact details below). Alternatively, if you have a school order number, you can order by phone.

First and Best in Education, Earlstrees Court, Earlstrees Road, Corby, Northants, NN17 4HH

Telephone: 01536 399 011 Fax: 01536 399 012 Email: sales@firstandbest.co.uk

From pronouns to syntactical parallelism: the complete grammar for AS Language and Literature students

From the student who enters year 12 with very little formal grammatical knowledge to the student at the end of AS or A2 in English Language or English Language and Literature who needs a top up, everyone has a need for support with grammar at one time or another.

Of course, there are many such volumes around – but the complex detailed tomes can be daunting and difficult for many students.

What they often need is a volume that covers the basics and is there so that they can look up (or be directed to) any specific point that is seen to be causing a problem.

And so this is what we have aimed to provide here.

When the issue of the “noun phrase” comes up, and the student needs to understand how they are different from nouns and what they look like, there’s a page answering that exact point.

The same goes for the apostrophe. There’s the possession apostrophe, not to be confused with the elliptical apostrophe and the inevitable question, “Where’s the apostrophe?”

Or to focus on another area we next have the issue of modal verbs.

But that is nothing compared with adverbs which can (fairly obviously) modify verbs. However they can also modify adjectives – which can seem slightly odd to some students who recognise that the adjective has been used to modify the noun in the first place.

In fact, when we come to think of adverbs, we can see what an extraordinarily complicated grammar we are talking about.

Which is why we’ve published this book to cover the fundamentals of grammar for AS students.

“An AS Language and Literature Grammar Booklet” is published as a photocopiable volume or on CD Rom, and individual sections can thus be readily copied and distributed to students as required. The copies can also be shared with colleagues or given to supply teachers, without any fear of the original book being misplaced.

You can see a full list of the topics and some sample pages at http://www.pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/english/T1831.pdf

Publisher’s reference: T1831EMN ISBN: 978 1 86083 896 5

Prices

• Photocopiable report in a ring binder, £24.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• CD with school-wide rights: £24.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• Both the Ring Binder and the CD £31.94 plus £3.95 delivery

Prices include VAT.

You can purchase the report… please quote the order ref: T1831EMN

• By post to First and Best, Hamilton House, Earlstrees Ct., Earlstrees Way, Corby, NN17 4HH
• By fax to 01536 399 012
• By phone with a credit card or school order number to 01536 399011
• By email to sales@firstandbest.co.uk
• On line with a credit card at http://shop.firstandbest.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=806

It is a fact that students who are interested in pursuing a career as a doctor, nurse, midwife or dentist need to ensure that they have something in their university application that makes them stand out from the rest.

Of course they can talk about their interest in medicine, their desire to help humanity, and the rest. But most applicants do this. There needs to be something more.

And the best “something more”, the ideal way to make an application stand out, is to include as much work experience as possible and to show a commitment to learning as much as possible about their desired future career as a doctor, nurse, midwife or dentist.

Furthermore, this then naturally generates extra talking points for the interview.

It is with this in mind that we have built our work experience placements for students aged between 16-25 and interested in a medical career. The destinations for the placements include Tanzania, Croatia, Poland and Thailand.

Students are assigned their own mentor and will attend three global health tutorials a week run by local doctors and healthcare professionals. These tutorials will help them to have a deeper understanding of healthcare, including socio-economic factors that affect treatment within the country.

If you have students this year who are interested in a career in medicine, please ask them to take a look at our website at www.gapmedics.com.

Alternatively they can call us on 0044 191 603 1111 or email us at info@gapmedics.com and we’ll send them a brochure in the post.

Regards

Mark Hinksman