PASSION UP A PAW PAW TREE — A Swills & Swoon Romance — ‘Ring – ring’ Timothy’s phone rent the cool, morning, sub-tropical air with mechanical insistence “Hellooo.” A voice as smooth as serpentine caressed his ear. “Goldie here, remember? You quoted on my verandah renovations; the price is right, and you seem to have […]
BLOCK: ALL GRADES: Writing
The Australian Word: The Short Story
THE SHORT AND THE SMALL Some uncharitable observers state that the short story is an inferior form of literature – a ‘mall’ story in fact! – designed for those with the attention span of a sparrow. Not so; in its most sublime manifestation, the genre stands as high as any prose form. The life of […]
The Australian Word: Australian Poetry
SEVEN SPIRITS OF THE SOUTH – 19thCentury Australian Poetry His riding boots made heavy going across the sand, the death-white winter spume of the Southern Ocean, Rider of the White Whale, dashed its spite harmlessly at his feet like a leashed terrier. Death-white also was his face; despair veiled the wild Spirit in his eyes […]
The Australian Word: Poetry and History
A PAINTED SHIP James Cook: So what have you got down already? Samuel Taylor Coleridge: Not much really, Part 1 Begins with a kind of introduction that’s all. You told me the voyage was an initiation into the mysteries of the Southern Ether; so I have planned seven parts – seven is a pretty good […]
The Australian Word: Words & Poetry & Speech
KNOCKING DOWN WALLS ———— WITH WORDS———– The Archangel Michael stared resolutely ahead, his features set with divine commitment. He did not look at the dragon writhing under his foot – he did not acknowledge its power. The spear of ‘Mikhail’, in the beautiful Russian icon, impaled the adversary to the earth – or was […]
Word Circus: The Book Review
New Directions A salutary exercise for Class 7 students enjoying their The Book main lesson is for them to select a book, either fiction or non-fiction, to read and then write a review. The following is one of my own – albeit tongue-in-cheek – efforts; a street directory being an unlikely subject for review (but […]
Word Circus: Story Writing
Australian Story Writing 3-Week Main Lesson, Class 8 Lorien Novalis School, 1981 Susan Whitehead – Teacher Note: This can be adapted to any country you live in. 17 X 2 hrs. Creative Writing By Stephen Whitehead The Creative Word A Gift to Man. Through the ages here on Earth The Written word has had its […]
Word Circus: Story Writing
THE WHITE WARATAH Australian Story Writing – Class 8 – Main Lesson Note that the concepts in this lesson can be applied to any country you live in. The small audience of high school teachers were settling in nicely in the comfortable – smoke-free! – lounge-staffroom as the visiting speaker, after the usual formalities, began […]
Word Circus: Calligraphy
SIGNATURE OF SEVENTH CLASS Calligraphy – Class 7 – Main Lesson Class 7 is the final year of primary in many Steiner schools. This was not always so, in the “Mutter Schule’ in Stuttgart, the first Waldorf School, that created (at first almost exclusively) for the children of the factory workers in the Waldorf cigarette […]