Brown speaks out for English
Gordon Brown to spearhead trip to China and India by announcing radical plan to promote English language across the world
The art of writing an essay
Try to be original, except when it comes to spelling and grammar.
English for dummies
Aleksandra Lojek-Magdziarz: My expectations of the use of English by native speakers have been dashed: instead I find I have to dumb down my own language skills
Academic tug-of-love over De Beauvoir legacy
Feminist philosopher's sex life may overshadow centenary, fear experts
Lack of English skills puts pressure on schools
Children with English as their first language are in the minority in more than 1,300 schools, according to official figures
Subversive rhymes are child’s play
Lottery funds will be used to research changes in playground songs and how they break taboos
Migrants offered portal to language
With arrivals to the US struggling to find places in oversubscribed English language courses, the federal government is hoping that an online learning programme will bridge the gap, says Marjorie Vai
School poetry teaching too limited, Ofsted says
· Primaries choosing too many lightweight poems
· GCSE pupils put off by dull, technical approach
Well versed
Poetry is not about right and wrong answers and does not have testable outcomes, but Ofsted's call for more variety in teaching it is welcome
England plunges in rankings for reading
· Pupils shun stories at home for computer games
· Ministers to spend £5m on more books for nurseries
Created on a canvas of needless pain: a poet who inspired the underbelly
Simon Jenkins: It was through the late Vernon Scannell - boxer, army deserter and largely unrecognised poet - that I learned to love verse
Found in translation
Brian Whitaker: A new initiative to translate important books into Arabic has announced the first 100 titles - and its a pretty good start
Leading in reading
Andrew Adonis: Literacy really is improving in our schools, but testing is essential if we are to keep driving up standards.
Foul deviations
Dave Hill: The closer I get to my dotage the more irked I become by offences against the English language. It would help to learn that I am not alone.