Your child’s school is a member of WordsPlease giving access for your child to this educational website.  Access for individual pupils is controlled by the school.

Much of the material and many of the activities on WordsPlease are designed to be challenging for talented children - those that are self-motivated and ready to take on new and sometimes difficult tasks. 

WordsPlease provides material that schools can use to stretch gifted 10-14 year-olds beyond the standard syllabus and focuses on one major area – helping them to achieving their potential in English language and communication.

What does WordsPlease contain ?

WordsPlease has six modules, each with lessons and activities covering a wide range of topics including advanced writing, history of spelling, word games, poetry, drama, introduction to Shakespeare and Chaucer, codes and ciphers, cryptic clues and much more.

The teacher may choose to select WordsPlease activities for your child and allow him or her to carry out research using the website and other resources such as libraries, County Record Offices and suggested reference books.  The teacher may also encourage your child to choose other activities.

While the computer is used to teach and present ideas, most WordsPlease activities are paper-based and designed to be completed away from the computer.

The activities build on each other through the modules in a structured way.
They are designed to develop in children a greater interest in writing, reading
and verbal communication as well as to significantly improve vocabulary and grammar.
 
WordsPlease encourages independent learning and creativity. It develops children’s ability to think clearly and to make reasoned arguments.  It also builds the confidence needed to tackle challenging tasks.

The WordsPlease website has two main parts.

The first part contains six modules, each with more than twenty activities which are described either on the website or in the magazines that accompany each module. 

The website provides help and explanations for the more challenging activities,
including those contained in the magazines.

Teachers control progression through the modules via the distribution of the magazines.

The second part consists of a library of resources called ‘The Common Area’ which contains additional material that children can explore.  It both directly supports the activities by providing sources of information and also encourages children to deepen their interest in literature and drama.

		A ‘Now Read-On’ section in which the first part of some modern popular books and the whole of several classic fiction novels are presented as audio recordings, encouraging youngsters to read these books.
		An ‘Interviews’ section, again in audio format, currently with two folders :
			‘Interviews with Authors’ in which authors discuss how they develop their plots and scripts.
			‘Interviews with Specialists’ discussing technical aspects of their specialities, encouraging young writers to include and be accurate with details.
		An ‘Ideas for Writing’ section with interesting photographs and Flash movies

In addition to these two main parts, the website also has a ‘Forum for Youngsters’ enabling them to exchange ideas.  It provides the facility to upload examples of their work and to comment positively on the work of others.

This forum is moderated by the WordsPlease team. For the safety of all children, contributions are made using a Forum User Name which your child’s teacher will have organised.

Hints for using WordsPlease:

Follow the instructions and guidance given to your child by the teacher and use the parts of the website the teacher has specified.

After listening to audio passages of classic literature and modern novels encourage your child to borrow books they most enjoy from your local library.

Use  a dictionary together to look up new words.  Ask them to summarise the story of the novel in their own words and then encourage them to write it down.

The site makes a number of suggestions for group activities that can be done with family and with friends.

These are all learning opportunities.  Be enthusiastic and encouraging,  but also be tolerant when your child prefers to do other things - remember that this is a resource that is in addition to the normal school curriculum.  There are no rules on how to use WordsPlease. Take an interest in the material and help your child to understand when they find something is difficult.  Keep it light and keep it fun !

If you have problems using WordsPlease:

If you experience problems with the way the website performs, such as screens not working,  then please contact the WordsPlease Team – see ‘Contact Us’ on the Home Page.  You can also use this to make suggestions for new material.

If your child is having difficulty with a particular activity set by the teacher then please refer these queries to the teacher.

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