Words Alive! was a DfES-funded project undertaken by The British Library Education Service in collaboration with Camden Local Education Authority and Torbay Local Education Authority to create a cross-curricular programme to support literacy work in schools.

Using the three exhibition galleries and the unique range of material at The British Library in central London, the project created a programme of workshops and learning resources in all media. It offered new ways of strengthening literacy work in all subjects.

The Words Alive! website continues to provide outreach support for schools.

The 13 schools who participated in the project had access to an area on the website for six months and piloted the activities. After this period the resources became available for anyone who had access to the World Wide Web. The first set of activities based on project one, 'Displaying the written word', was available in the autumn term of 2000. Now, schools can access activities for four other projects.

Brief Details of the Projects

Project One: Displaying the Written Word.

This project looks at a variety of books from the Library's collections. The resources and ideas can be used in the classroom with activities that involve some form of writing. The activities encourage children to publish their writing in any of the book-formats suggested and to display them in the classroom. The project is supported by photographs of a range of the Library's books such as scrolls, a Tudor horn book, a wax tablet, folding books, pop-up books and instructions on how to make them.

Project Two: Getting The Message Across

This project looks at how the written word is displayed in a variety of formats. It explores the implicit messages of certain literature such as advertisements, cartoons and stamps and gives pupils insight into how messages are conveyed.

Pupils are encouraged to investigate how captions, advertisements and printer's devices are generated and to discover the purpose behind conveying a message. This project encourages the exploration of a wide variety of images and teachers are provided with different texts and classroom activities that they can use in the classroom. Pupils have the opportunity to extend their literacy skills through instructions, printer's devices, advertisements, cartoons and propaganda through stamps.

Project Three: Victorian Britain

The British Library's collections provide a rich resource for the historical interpretation of Victorian Britain. The areas covered in this project are the Great Exhibition, aspects of social history and literature. There are online images of documents, advertisements, newspapers and other sources of evidence on the website. Among the range of classroom activities there is a video resource that will inspire drama and role-play.

Project Four: Special Books

The resources for this project are primarily sacred texts from the major world religions represented in Britain today. The project provides teachers with access to images of illuminated manuscripts, religious scripture, calligraphy and various creation stories. It encourages teachers and pupils to explore the similarities and differences between religions and cultures and to identify stories that appear in more than one culture.

Project Five: "In the News", looking at newspapers and printing

This project looks at significant events that have been reported in newspapers from a variety of eras. It explores through comparing writing styles how newspapers portray things differently and present information from differing viewpoints. Classroom activities pinpoint how styles of writing have developed and changed over time and compares newspapers from the different years. Cartoons and advertisements as well as news reports illustrate the topics.