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Reading Lessons

The Books We Read at School, the Conversations They Spark and Why They Matter

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Reading Lessons

By: Carol Atherton
Narrated by: Emma Cunniffe
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

An English teacher's love letter to reading and the many ways literature can make us, and our lives, better.

How can a Victorian poem help teenagers understand YouTube misogyny? Can Jane Eyre encourage us to speak out? What can Lady Macbeth teach us about empathy? Should our expectations for our futures be any greater than Pip’s? And why is it so important to make space for these conversations in the first place?

Over her twenty-five-year career, English teacher Carol Atherton has taught generations of students texts that will be familiar to many of us from our own schooldays. But while the staples of exam syllabuses and reading lists remain largely unchanged, their significance – and their relevance - evolves with each class as they encounter them for the first time.

Each chapter of Reading Lessons invites us to take a fresh look at these novels, plays and poems, revealing how they have shaped our beliefs, our values, and how we interact as a society. As she recalls her own evolution as a teacher, Atherton emphasises the vital, undervalued role teachers play, illustrates how essential reading is for developing our empathy, and makes a passionate case for the enduring power of literature.

©2024 Carol Atherton (P)2024 Penguin Audio Education Educators Literary History & Criticism Professionals & Academics

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All stars
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As a teacher of English myself I especially loved the passion for reading, students and teaching.

Inspiration

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Brilliant insight into life as an English teacher. The accents were less convincing, but all praise to all other aspects!

A love letter to English teaching

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A book with a difference Fab insight into books I've read & books I haven't but now want to Thanks

Trading Lessons

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This is quite different to what I usually read/listen do and I found the exploration of different texts put next to the learning and social and emotional development of students wonderful, deeply insightful into human nature and really compassionate. I have never thought of the study of English like it is described in this book although I did study it for 2 years at uni - I don’t think we were taught in the way the author describes - I wish she had been my teacher! Her conclusions about the role of studying English and other arts subjects are a real challenge to the authorities to understand the role these play in education and life. Fantastic book - and I want to read all the books she refers to that I haven’t already read and reread the others!

Brilliant book!

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