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 Pen 

Penelope Grace [Layton-Caisley] is a musician, performance poet, and independent scholar currently focused on some theories in the field of Applied Linguistics, particularly as they may provide a chance to address the poor level of literacy in the Australian community. 


Also, from these preoccupations has arisen the Language-Maker concepta novel way to characterise ourselves – which may open the way to us getting a little bit of respite from the divisiveness that bedevils every aspect of our 21st century lives.


Pen’s linguistics guru of choice is M.A.K. (Michael) Halliday (1925-2018) but even before she ‘met’ him, in the early 2010s, Pen was convinced of the importance of developing and maintaining – throughout life – a good flow of (spoken, coherent, in-context, capital ‘L’) Language

To Pen, a person’s very identity, their autonomy, and their life’s productivity may depend on this flow.


Furthermore, she hopes to show that the ability to produce these streams of progressively more sophisticated and well-crafted spoken Language is a practical base from which the sequence of skills in Writing and then Reading can ensue.


To this end, Pen has devised an array of educational/psychological wellness programs and routines over several decades:

 

  • Walking-Talking-English – from mid-1990s – for NESBs (people of non-English speaking background): The focus is on the development of spontaneous spoken Language skills. When circumstances allow, the sessions are conducted outdoors, with the topic being a feature of the local Nature environment.

 

  • Talking-Walking Avenue to Literacy – from mid 2010s – for primary school students falling behind their age group: The students’ main task is to create and deliver a short talk describing ‘Nature things’ observed during outdoor walks. Their next job is to write down the words, phrases and sentences used in their talk, then later, to read those passages back. 

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  • Nature Journal/Wonders of Nature in our own Neighbourhood– from mid 2010s to mid-2020s – mainly for older folk under threat of cognitive decline, but also to give guidance to those older folk wanting to encourage smarter literacy skills in youngsters under their care. A feature of these sessions is making a diagram of the day’s Nature topic, contributing to the compilation of a (basic level) scientific record of the local Nature environment, with the labelled diagram on one side of an opened-out botany book, and the written description on the other. Importantly, at each session, after the facts are noted, an opportunity is given to the participants to compose and deliver their personal response to the day’s subject. 

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  • TEND-our-PLANET campaign – from 2024 – intended to be a worldwide movement, mobilising people into living every part of their life according to what best enables the PLANET to flourish. 

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  • Language-Maker concept – from the early 2020s – This offers a novel way to characterise ourselves, that is, by declaring ourselves to be Language-Makers: first & foremost. Adopting this identity may relieve us of the burden of having to behave in a way other people decide we should, or according to some category of human beings which others have arbitrarily divided us into – even if this relief is only temporary. Of importance too is the characterising of others as Language-Makers: first & foremost, especially in tutor/learner situations – even for a short while – so all people involved can get on with the matter in hand without being crippled by unnecessary emphasis on status and competition.   

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•    Life hacks: 

  1. ‘Handie’ structure to help order our minds as we aim to “think straight, talk sense, nurture Nature and ourselves” during all our days; 

  2. ‘MagnaNimity Plea’ to help calm us in times of stress;

  3. ‘Sequences for Success’ – doing all things stage by stage.

 

Pen’s educational achievements can be summarized as follows:


a.    L.Mus.A (Licentiate, Australian Music Examinations Board); L.T.C.L. (Licentiate, Trinity College London) – Violin Performing and Teaching
b.    Diploma of Specialist Music Education; Teacher’s Certificate (NSW Dept of Education)
c.    BA (English, German); MA (Creative Writing)
d.    Master of Applied Linguistics; Postgraduate Certificate of Research Preparation (Human Sciences)

 

Pen has been based in Marrickville, New South Wales , Australia, since 2002.

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Acknowledgements and Big Thanks


Tech helpers and advisers
Sincere thanks to these kind and tech-savvy people (in alphabetical order):
Avril, Gabrielle, Geoff, Huw, Len, Pete, Rosalind, Stuart

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Musician colleagues 
To Jill and John – thanks for permission to use instrumental tracks from our Ceilidh Collective at Romner CD in the preparation of some material on this website.


Young participants in research studies – with the friendly cooperation of their families:
Heartfelt thanks to Niki, Leo, Tia, Mitchell, Oliver 

 

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