Competence * Activities on each text, including imaginative approaches to reading, writing and speaking and listening. Creativity * Comparative tasks ranging across two or more texts to help students make connections. * Challenging activities demanding creative thinking skills and problem solving with opportunities for using the imagination in writing and speaking and listening activities. Cultural Understanding * Texts from and about different cultures with contextual background and activities to encourage pupils to explore the ways ideas, experiences and values are portrayed. Critical Understanding * Activities to engage students with the texts and thought-provoking ideas. Contents includes texts...: ...from different genres to engage boys (and girls) including Josh reflecting on his life choices in 'Just Like Your Father' by Jacqueline Wilson and Gary Rolfe telling his near-death experience in 'I Fell Through Arctic Ice'...to engage girls (and boys) such as the narrator of 'Note to Sixth Grade Self' battling the school bullies for the affections of Eric Cassio or National Curriculum recommended writer Nadine Gordimer telling the story of a refugee girl fleeing Mozambique in 'The Ultimate Safari'. ..to provoke interesting discussions, for example Xinran reflecting on inequalities in modern China in 'One Woman's Cup of Tea' and a soldier in Iraq, writing about a poignant personal experience in 'I Can't Forget the Girl in the Orange Dress'...for the full ability range from a Newsround story to one from the Daily Telegraph on the student-friendly issue of 'Playing Out', for example...from different genres such as a speech by Lord Coe, writer's tips for how to write a story, instructions from The Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook, or an extract from Bill Bryson's hilarious autobiography The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid.