Learners in years 7 and 8 at Matthew Moss High School have already started working through Book 1 of Breakthrough to Learning. The research assistants appointed to monitor and administer the courses have broken into my computer programme and produced a vastly improved version. These are some of the ways in which theirs differs from the original:

(1) They have broken the large cumbersome books of the original into modules of seven chapters.

(2) The original books were designed to be re-used by successive groups of learners. At Matthew Moss the learners have their own copies of the modules, which they can retain as evidence of work completed.

(3) The answers to the writing questions had to be entered into a separate booklet. In the new version they are part of the text.

(4) The original is stodgy black and white with no pictures. The new one has lovely coloured icons and pictures.

(5) The teachers have added “fun facts” – all new to me!

For example:

The longest word in the English language is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanokoniosis, which is a reference to a lung disease caused by silica dust!

(In my day the longest word was “antidisestablishmentarianism”!)