The vocabulary gap has widened for many pupils as a result of the pandemic, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds: join us on Wednesday 8th February 2023 at the HFL Education National Primary English Conference to explore this vital aspect of children’s development.
Primary English subject leaders, teachers and leaders are invited to refresh their thinking around children’s language development with internationally renowned primary English education experts. The conference will explore and celebrate written and spoken language in the primary classroom.
Acclaimed writers, linguists and educators will ensure that delegates leave with an understanding of how they can work to increase children’s vocabulary in practical, effective and sustainable ways and create a progressive and systematic whole-school approach to language learning.
Expert speakers
The conference will feature two keynote speakers:
- Joseph Coelho, Children’s Laureate: ‘Bringing poetry to life in the classroom’
- David Crystal OBE, FBA, FLSW, FCIL the eminent British linguist, academic, author and presenter: ‘Climbing the vocabulary mountain’.
There will also be many other guest speakers sharing their expertise:
- Kelly Ashley, author of Word Power: ‘How to build Word Power’
- Nizrana Farook, children’s author and author of The Girl who Stole an Elephant: ‘Bringing an unfamiliar setting to the page’.
- Rebecca Cosgrave, literacy consultant with Devon Education Services and primary teacher: ‘We did vocabulary last year: building a sustainable, whole school approach to vocabulary development’.
- Jon Biddle, English Lead and Reading for Pleasure advocate: ‘Reading for pleasure and its role in developing language’.
- Polly Ho-Yen, author of The Boy in the Tower and other children’s books: ‘Bluchers and monoctohogs: embracing creativity and accessibility in the language of science fiction’.
- Theresa Clements, HFL Education primary teaching and learning English adviser: ‘Language and inclusivity’.
- Practising teachers from Broom Barns School, Stevenage.
“The event will be especially useful for primary English subject leaders, teachers, TAs, headteachers and governors.”
Exploring connections between talk, reading, spelling and composition, the conference will have no tokenistic gimmicks or ‘pick and mix’ approaches to increasing children’s vocabulary.
Instead, contributors will discuss what deep-rooted language acquisition looks like. Authors will delve into the craft of language and how the right choice of words in literature can engage readers and ignite their understanding.
This event is open to all but will be especially useful for primary English subject leaders, teachers, TAs, headteachers and governors.
- Date: Wednesday 8 February 2023
- Time: 9:00am – 4:00pm
- Cost: £99 (excl. VAT) per delegate
Word-Utopia will take place online, with access to recordings provided for a further 28 days after its conclusion.
We are holding this event online to enable you and your staff to attend this high quality CPD without the need to travel. This also enables us to give you unlimited access to the recordings of all the sessions for a further 28 days after the live event on demand, when you book for the live event.
Who are HFL Education?
HFL Education is an award-winning facilitator of improvement within schools, settings and trusts for over 3,100 establishments and 300,000 personnel.
Operating with a not-for-profit ethos, we offer a broad range of products, services and resources including Advisory Services, an MIS Supplier Framework, Reading Fluency Programmes and National Conferences to help those we work with deliver a great education.
Our purpose is for every young person, through access to a great education, to be able to realise their potential, regardless of where they live or their circumstances. Learn more about us at hfleducation.org
