Read on Twitter
Fronted adverbials, a thread. Firstly, a letter from @MichaelRosenYes pointing out the sheer arbitrariness of them being in the curriculum for primary children anyway: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/jan/23/dear-gavin-williamson-could-you-tell-parents-what-a-fronted-adverbial-is?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
PS. ‘Accountancy and Accountability’ could be an undiscovered Austen manuscript
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PS. ‘Accountancy and Accountability’ could be an undiscovered Austen manuscript
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2/ 6 Then some relevant podcasts on #frontedadverbials or why we make kids learn #grammar. What’s the point? Well, @davcr explained http://bit.ly/DavidCrystalLinguistics that naming the parts of a car doesn’t teach you to drive it, or set off to a destination. Writing is similar. Here’s why 
3/6 Then 2x podcasts with @MichaelRosenYes about the joy of language and writing, starting with http://bit.ly/MichaelRosen1 How can we expect kids to love language when their creativity is restricted in ‘writing by numbers’ exercises?
4/6 Writers don’t start off thinking “How many of X grammatical feature can I squeeze into this piece?” @MichaelRosenYes in part 2 http://bit.ly/MichaelRosen2 explains how Literacy has taken over from Literature in school, and why language is always ‘language in use’.
5/6 Then @KateClanchy1 explored how her incredible multilingual students’ poetry emerged from a combination of having something to express and the creative process. It’s a beautiful thing, with nary a fronted adverbial in sight at the start of the process: https://bit.ly/KateClanchy2
6/6 And to get an overview of WHY #frontedadverbials have sneaked up and stolen the homeschooling headlines, @ian_cushing discussed the history of the Literacy curriculum and how policies have been shaped: https://bit.ly/GrammarFriendOrFoe & https://bit.ly/SpeakStandardEnglish
