So it's the final 5 months until the final ever exam based on Of Mice and Men takes place. I have two Learners currently studying the novel ready to resit their exams, so my students are cramming in as much revision and preparation as possible!

On Thursday, we were openly discussing the characters in OMAM and we were trying to place them in modern society today. While we were discussing this, one of my learners mentioned that Crooks wouldn't actually have a Facebook profile (this was part of a character building activity) and I encouraged the learner to start placing the characters in Britain today. What a great opportunity to naturally bring up the British Values criteria which Ofsted are so eager to see in all lessons!

This then sparked a great open discussion (which I believe is an important learning strategy that often gets dismissed) about opportunities, freedom of expression via social media, censorship, employment rights and equality and diversity. I tried to push my learners to think about how their lives may have been a lot different if this took place in Britain today.

This made me feel quite sad after the session ended; when will learners get to explore such an inspiring novel that has great significance to many ideas and themes today?!