English teacher (ELT, ESL, EFL) reading, learning, writing, and drinking tea
Joined June 2020
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Check out Journey of Learning where I blog about what I'm learning as a teacher.
journeyoflearningbyjentan.bl…
Jen Tan retweeted
‘We can never give up longing and wishing while we are thoroughly alive. There are certain things we feel to be beautiful and good, and we must hunger after them.’
George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss
Jen Tan retweeted
Stop worrying if anyone will ever love your story, and just write. Every story you love began as a terrible first draft
Want to read Adam Bede by George Eliot in 2024? I made a readalong on @thestorygraph
app.thestorygraph.com/readal…
I have read 60 of 60 books for the 2023 Reading Challenge! What should I read next? goodreads.com/user_challenge…
Jen Tan retweeted
At the end of school yesterday, the child who told me that she didn't like reading 'so there was no point even trying' decided to take home a second reading book 'just in case' she finished the first one. That'll do for me.
Jen Tan retweeted
I don’t write out of what I know; I write out of what I wonder. I think most artists create art in order to explore, not to give the answers. Poetry and art are not about answers to me; they are about questions.
- Lucille Clifton
Love this podcast! #booktwt
New Episode! "532 Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky"
"It is directly obvious," said Virginia Woolf after reading Crime and Punishment , "that [Dostoevsky] is the greatest writer ever born." …
Player links & show notes: historyofliterature.com/532-…
Interesting method. I've done this with my second language but not thought of it with English
One way to become a better writer:
Take your favorite author. Find their best work.
Copy it, word for word. Do it by hand.
It's called copywork.
This morning, I copied page 11 of George Saunders' A Swim in a Pond in the Rain.
But why go through the hand cramps? Why spend 20 min copying a single page?
Something funny happens:
Your brain starts to pattern match.
Oh, that’s how to write a great hook. There, they built tension. Ah, that’s an open loop.
Over time, you pick and chose bits of style from each writer to create your unique blend.
"Imitate, then innovate." - @david_perell
Your hand gets used to what great writing feels like.
You can do this for speeches, comedy, copywriting, business writing, etc. I focus on books.
It’s the single exercise that improved my writing the most.
Do your students get overly anxious about public speaking? I wrote this post about some strategies that have worked with my students.
Journey of learning: Reframing stage anxiety journeyoflearningbyjentan.bl…
#TeachingPublicSpeaking #Speech #PublicSpeaking
Jen Tan retweeted
I think for real writing to happen you simply need permission. Writers have always asked for permission to write— from other writers, readers, God, from institutions, from funding bodies, from themselves. I think once permission is granted whatever flows from it is real writing.
Are you joining in Jane Austen July?
My plan:
1. Mansfield Park
2. Jane Austen's letters
3. Jane Austen at Home by Lucy Worsley
#JaneAustenJuly
Jen Tan retweeted
It's like skateboarding. Kids get better at reading when they read lots of what brings them pleasure.
I made a reading challenge to help me read some more classics in 2023. Join in on @thestorygraph if you like -- just 6 prompts #BookTwitter app.thestorygraph.com/readin…
