What? Animated Poetry Workshops
When? 2019
Where? Secondary schools in Leeds and Bradford, West Yorkshire
Our Aims
Our aim was to use creative writing and animation to improve pupils’ confidence, particularly in speaking and writing in English, and to help them to feel more included in the school community.
The project was conceived after a successful one-off workshop with EAL (English as an additional language) pupils in 2016 and discussions with teachers at a Languages@Leeds EAL event at University of Leeds, and then developed in collaboration with our four partner schools. Aware of the pressures schools are facing, particularly in delivery of creative subjects, we worked in close collaboration with the partner schools to ensure our work met their needs.
The project targeted pupils with English as an additional language, particularly those new to English. In three of our four partner schools, all pupils involved in the project were new to English. One of our partner schools also included a wider cohort of pupils who teachers identified could benefit from the project, including those with lower levels of written English than their peers. Pupils who took part in the project were varied in age, proficiency with language, academic ability and cultural heritage.
What we did
In 2019, we delivered a series of Animated Poetry workshops to 54 pupils at four partner schools in Leeds and Bradford. Pupils were supported to write poetry, record readings and to create and record accompanying stop motion animations.
Through a series of eight sessions in our four partner schools (32 sessions in total), the project enabled pupils to explore a variety of different poetry activities, before choosing and developing one piece for their final project. Pupils then recorded voiceovers of their poems and created stop motion animations to accompany them. Each school hosted a showcase event, which parents were invited to attend. Three schools also held assemblies to share the work with the wider school and hosted a CPD (continuing professional development) session for staff to share the project and its techniques. The project concluded with a sharing event in central Bradford were the different schools viewed each other’s work.
Impact & feedback
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Enhanced young people’s confidence in the English language
“When I got there and did it, it came easier, so I got more excited to do it. I got confident.” – Student
“When I told my friends I did this project they said – ‘that’s why you’re so mouthy now!'” – Student
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Offered students the opportunity to engage in creative activities they might not otherwise be involved in
“Some older students have totally blossomed, and their English has come on 100%. Our creative writing group [has added] 3 new members [as a result of] this project) and yesterday they recorded their work on a CD that we’re going to send out to radio stations, poetry and prose. They will be published writers by the summer.” – Staff interviewee
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Assisted English learning through creativity and play
“We did a lot of games. They were about language. It made me still remember – what happened in the game, and then to write. Playing helps to remember.” – Student
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Accelerated learning amongst young people
“‘Y’ doesn’t write in any language at all, but her success was in confidence. She doesn’t have her foot in any language particularly. I think she wasn’t allowed to exercise her brain before, because I think she does have potential, but she shut down because she didn’t have that support to express herself. Now she can come and use the library, which she does quite frequently, but she wouldn’t have done before at all. She broke through that barrier.” – Staff interviewee
Supported by
The Paul Hamlyn Foundation