Inspired by….A Podcast

The old adage that ‘a picture paints a thousand words’ is undoubtedly true. The subjectivity of an image sparks individual moments of wonder, interpretation and understanding. And yet, the opportunities and realms of understanding that are opened up as we delve into the meaning(s), stories and origins of a word can be equally as illuminating.

I am a self-confessed etymology geek; I love learning about the origins of words and this fascination has been exacerbated by the wonderful podcast, Something Rhymes With Purple’ hosted by the walking lexicon Susie Dent, of Countdown fame and the exuberant spinner of yarns, Gyles Brandreth. From eggcorns to scurryfungers (you’ll definitely know some), the episodes left me feeling more knowledgeable about the world around me and, vitally, feeling like I could understand and interpret it in different ways.

And yet, I don’t know if I’d truly taken this intrigue into the RE classroom in an overt manner (apart from one of those ‘word-a-day’ calendars a few years ago!). Yes, I had made the link between incarnation and reincarnation and where the word ‘Christian’ came from, but no more than the obvious. That was until I came across this podcast.

As I walked, ran or drove and listened to the weekly instalments, I found myself becoming drawn to looking at the origins of many of the plethora key terms that I would teach across a week, especially to my GCSE groups. Take the topic of Crime & Punishment and the three aims of punishment outlined in the AQA specification. As I have spoken through deterrence, reformation and retribution, I found myself dwelling on the words themselves for longer than I had before, yet the results have justified the outlay.

With retribution, I may have previously resorted to a simplified, banal explanation of ‘get your own back’. Yet by delving into its origins, seeing how it emanated from the concept of “that which is given in return for past good or evil”, my students have been able to make quicker connections to which forms of punishment might therefore be seen as retribution, rather than the usual correct, yet simplistic, connection to being physically harmed as a punishment.

The same has been true in Key Stage 3. With my new Year 7s, as I sought to establish their varying previous knowledge, the concepts of monotheism and polytheism arose. By choosing to spend longer on these terms than I would have done previously (and making the, hopefully , memorable link to Monopoly), I immediately saw some sparks of realisation as connections were made to polygons, monorails and even atheism, as they also grasped the true meaning of theism, which was originally meant to be explored in a future lesson.

I have also already had students remark on how their understanding of terminology studied in RE has aided their learning in other subjects, especially in English and History, where religious or spiritual motifs and references are commonplace. Long may it continue!

And so, the journey continues; as I plan, rework and adapt lessons, I aim to continually challenge myself to talk about the words more, to delve deeper into their meanings and origins and to see how this opens up our wonderful subject in a different way. If I also create some etymology fanatics – which, by the way, has stronger religious connotations than you might think – then great!