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Following the travel guide metaphor, Teaching and Learning Primary English has been organised into three main sections, referred to as regions. Like broad regions on a map, the three regions are the main elements of English education explored in the book, namely: reading, writing, and children’s literature. Each region comprises multiple chapters, referred to as destinations. Like travel destinations, the destinations are critically important aspects of each region for teachers of English.

The destinations for each region are presented in Table 1.1.

Table 1.1 Regions and destinations in Teaching and Learning

7.

9.

If travel guides only listed names of regions and destinations, this information would not be specific enough to help travellers plan detailed visits and get to know places intimately. For this reason, each destination in this text explains several key aspects known as points of interest. Common points of interest in each destination include:

1 Definitions of key theoretical ideas and concepts

2 An outline of typical development or learning across the primary school years

3 Key teaching approaches in early, middle, and upper primary school

4 Key assessment approaches

5 Suggested children’s literature to support teaching and learning

6 Example lesson plan overviews. The text’s design, with regions, destinations, and points of interest, is depicted in Figure 1.4.

Regions (Sections)

• e.g., The teaching of reading

Destinations (Chapters)

• e.g., Comprehension

Points of interest (Aspects)

• e.g., What is comprehension, how does it develop, key teaching approaches, etc.

Each destination in the three regions is set apart by a single-page introduction summarising key theoretical and practical concepts and outlining the major points of interests with associated page numbers. These pages offer concise summaries of the most important information in the upcoming chapters, directing readers to subsequent pages where comprehensive information can be found. More detail about the content of each region and destination is offered in the reading, writing, and children’s literature overview chapters at the start of each region.

Mentor texts

A common element that ties together the many destinations of this book is the notion of mentor texts. Mentor texts, which can be picturebooks, nursery rhymes, song lyrics, comics, information reports, or any other high-quality text form, are crucial resources English teachers use to promote literate practices. This book uses the following definition of mentor texts offered by the National Writing Project (2013):