Classical Tales in the English Curriculum

"The art of storytelling is something that connects us in a profound way with our earliest ancestors. It's one of the most important, humane, most liberating and most democratic things that human beings can do, and it should have a central place in every classroom. This particular story [i.e. the Trojan War] is the best in the world - no question. I have told it myself dozens of times; I've listened to it, read it, been thrilled and uplifted and terrified and moved and inspired by it for most of my lifetime."

Philip Pullman in a letter to the Cambridge School Classics Project

Introduction

The Cambridge School Classics Project (CSCP) wholeheartedly shares Philip Pullman’s views on storytelling in the classroom (and on the story of Troy). For this reason we are working with storytellers and teachers to have pupils listen to rather than read stories and respond through talk rather than writing.

Aim

The aim of the Classical Tales in the English Curriculum (CTEC) project is to create three modules on classical epic for the KS3 English curriculum:

Modules and Resources for the English Curriculum

The modules will be designed to promote pupils’ speaking and listening skills and for each module there will be an audio retelling of the story (or, in the case of Ovid, collection of stories), a scheme of work and related visual resources.

Website support

In addition to creating the teaching modules and resources, we are creating a web site devoted to Classical Tales in the English Curriculum. The web site will offer free downloads of the newly-created schemes of work, together with a range of additional teaching resources, and act as a first port of call for all teachers interested in using or already teaching the CEC units.

For further information please contact: Will Griffiths and Bob Lister rll20@educ.cam.ac.uk