Year 9 pupils of Abbey Gate College celebrated National Storytelling Week by welcoming professional writer Dave Smith to the school.
Dave Smith has a long history of experience, starting his career as a stand-up comedian before writing columns for a range of popular newspapers and magazines including The Sunday Times , The Independent , Real Magazine and GQ . He has also featured on BBC Radio, as a guest and presenter, for many years, and has been on TV giving film reviews on ITV’s The Little Picture Show as well as presenting the BBC Three series (which he also wrote) EastEnders Revealed .
After spending the first lesson listening to Dave’s advice and guidance, pupils were split into smaller workshop groups to develop their own comedy script for a radio broadcast. Responses were based on the question ‘What is the best thing about your home life?’ Ideas included ‘lie-ins’, mum’s cooking and being able to burp out loud!
Pupils’ excellent pieces of work were shared during the final lesson before lunch.
They were able to see that being a writer was not just about writing stories or novels and that they could explore aspects of their own life in an original and humorous way.
Year 9 pupils and the English department would like to thank Dave Smith for spending the morning with them and inspiring young writers.
For more information on Dave and his work, visit www.wordsmith-features.com .
