St Mary’s Hosts Hounslow Language Service Summer Conference

The School of Education at St Mary’s University College, Twickenham recently held a conference in conjunction with the Hounslow Language Service (HLS). Entitled ‘Empowering Pupils to be Effective and Critical Readers across the Curriculum,’ the event aimed to help teachers of pupils with English as a second language. Teachers from schools across the UK as well as some St Mary’s PGCE students attended the conference and were welcomed by St Mary’s Academic Director for Partnerships Ruth Wright. The day focused on a number of areas including raising the level of students’ reading beyond simple comprehension, strategies that will enable pupils to be selective in their response to questions, thinking skills and cognitive language as well as developing analytical, evaluative and critical writing. Keynote speaker Steve Cooke, Education Consultant for Nottingham City Council, gave a thought provoking talk on Critical Literacy during the conference. For more information on Hounslow Language Service visit the website