BOOK LAUNCH

BREIS will be having a book launch for his inspirational book of rhymes on Wed September 7 2001 at The Ritzy Cafe, Brixton, SW9, London. Doors open at 7:30, ends at 11pm. Entry is free and there will be music, performances, cake and book signings. Check out our fresh website http://www.studentoflife.co.uk thanks!

NEW WEBSITE

We will soon have a brand new website up and running in a few weeks. It's gonna be funky and fresh, hope you like it. It's almost like moving to a new house. It's going to be awesome - there's more space, more rooms and a car park (a shop to buy Student of Life products). We're going on a journey and we're happy to have you on board with us. Speak soon

New Rap Book

Here at Student of Life, we are proud to announce the birth of our first publication, the exciting new hip hop book written by rap artist BREIS (breeze) called Brilliant Rappers Educate Intelligent Students. What makes this book unique and sets it apart from other poetry books is not only does it feature wonderful witty rap lyrics (for young people aged ten and upwards)but it also has the inspiration behind the lyrics, the writer's favourite lines and little interactive challenges to further engage the reader. It's a cross between JayZ's Decoded and Benjamin Zephaniah's Funky Chickens. It's full of verses that cover a wide range of topics like being human, bus rides, Nigerian culture, relationships, Pirates, riddles, fears and dreams and so much more.

The aim of BREIS' work is to make learning fun, to inspire young minds to think big and get boys reading more. This is why Brilliant Rappers Educate Intelligent Students was written. It will be available to purchase online from June 30. However feel free to send us an email if you wish to pre-order your copy today.

I'M GONNA MAKE IT

KARL NOVA in a school in Colchester

I wish I could put into words the feeling I get when I see the creative energy that comes from the young people in our workshops. I sincerely believe creative education is a necessity. The amazing creativity I have seen come forth from young people is inspiring, even THEY are amazed at discovering what they are able to do. I use rap and performance poetry in the sessions I do. My aim is show that it is an art form that has value and also that they can participate in it’s creation and performance. I always seek to engage, educate and inspire. I want them to believe in themselves and develop confidence. For them to know that they have a voice. I have a passion for rap/poetry and I want to pass it on to them because that passion has changed my life for the better.

I know rap music is stereotypically seen in a negative light but there is a flipside to it, at the bottom of it all it's about creativity and telling a story. Through my rap and poetry I try to bring that positive part of the narrative to the young through the workshops. Some of them have never heard rap this positive and exciting and with the way urban music is dominant today, I believe our workshops help bring a balance and put things in context for the young people.

The song below is a song I wrote with the workshops in mind. It was originally called “Letter to a younger me” but when I do it in the workshops (normally without music so that the words can be clearly heard) I introduce the song as “I’m gonna make it”

Letter to a younger me (I'm gonna make it) by NovaLeaks

INSET Day

"Today is the first day of the rest of my life", that was the brilliant opening line from one of the teachers in Bushmead Primary School, Luton. Under the instructions of BREIS, they were given the task of creating a collective rap verse about New Year resolutions. The most popular one being laying off the biscuits and chocolates. They then went on to express their thoughts on the gloomy Government cut backs.

Plenty of fun was had by all, the session had games, performances, ice breakers, writing exercises and tips. On this day the teachers became students and got a taste of being a child again and having fun whilst learning. Teachers have the hard task of getting through the curriculum whilst making it interesting and engaging. Fun and learning can't always go together but it's beautiful when you can have a sprinkling of fun time during a long day in school. We'd love to have a Student of Life practitioner deliver something fun,creative and enlightening in every school nationwide with teachers and also with students.

Chalkhill Primary School

The headteacher of Chalkhill Primary school speaks on how important it is for learning to be fun. Student of Life delivered some rap workshops and a rap performance that left the students inspired and ready to be creative with language.

Berkhamsted School

Rachael Guy is the Head of the Learning Resources in Berkhamsted School. This is what she had to say about our visit

St Marys in Luton

SOR Studio session #1

Student of Life is presently in the studio recording verses for 'The Science of rap' project. It's all about bringing the world of Hip Hop and Science together. Our aim is to make science more interesting, fun and memorable for children. Check out rap artist BREIS and producer, James Yarde in one of the studio sessions. BREIS was able to get his lines out with assistance from Supermalt and madeira finger cakes!

THE IMPORTANCE OF CREATIVITY

A very interesting and amusing talk from Ken Robinson about creativity in schools. Enjoy

BOYS AND READING

How do you encourage reading, especially in young boys? This is one of the questions posed to Student of Life recently and a question the nation has been asking itself for years now. According to research boys lose interest in reading around the age of 7 and the lack of interest slowly or sometimes rapidly continues from then on. In a climate where a lot of young people in the UK (some as young as 7) have a TV, DVD player, anywhere upto 4 game consoles in their room, a mobile phone and a portable game console a la PSP, Nintendo DS etc, is it any wonder? Maybe I'm just having a go because when I was young it was just about lego and some Fisher Price toys.



Reading for me, was a way of keeping my troubled teenage mind sane. A place of solace, release and nurturing of my imagination. I went from Roald Dahl's The magic finger to The Chronicles of Narnia, Dr Who, Redwall, Back to the future, The famished road and many more. The books became my friend, I was so into them. Reading or wanting to read stems from a desire to learn something or acquire something. A desire to suspend reality, to exercise the imagination, to become that which we can't or experience the impossible. Where has that desire gone and can it be found again? The fast life we live in says, why wait when everything is at your fingertips. Why read when you can watch the movie, TV programme or watch it on youtube? We're becoming a more visual society and science has proved that you retain less by reading. Maybe books will evolve to become more visual. But for now, the question remains how do we get young boys to read more? Is it about the parents, about the schools, or the authors. We're really interested in hearing from you. Thanks

2010 BEGINS

The end of 2009 saw SOL practitioner Michael Adewale being nominated for a Spirit of London Award for his contribution in Education. Not only was he nominated, but he was also invited to #10Downing Street to see the Prime Minister!
His book, Class Dismissed is growing in popularity day by day and is impacting every person that reads it. The award ceremony took place at the Alexandra Palace where the likes of Boris Johnson, Alexandra Burke, JLS, Lemar, Diversity, Natasha Danvers, Michael Caine and many more were all in attendance. It was an amazing night where positive stories, positive people and their contributions were being celebrated and rightly so. The night was put on in conjunction with The Damilola Taylor Trust and the wonderful Richard Taylor was present and was extremely charming.
Michael and a member of JLS
Michael and Mr Richard Taylor

Michael is presently delivering talks and his workshops in schools across the country. Make sure you get a copy of Class Dismissed.


Student of Life would like to wish Michael continuous success and the best of the best in his future endeavours.
Watch out for future updates on Karl Nova, a London based rapper, singer and poet. His music is best described as inspirational hip hop with a socially conscious message which seeks to uplift and inspire. Musical influences include Lauryn Hill, Nas, Bob Marley, Mos Def and Kirk Franklin to a name a few.
“I perform to communicate a message of love and inspiration. I want people to believe in themselves and in their dreams”


As a Student of Life practitioner, Karl’s literacy workshops in schools are designed to inspire children and young adults to recognize the beauty of poetry and creativity

LUTON

STUDENT OF LIFE has been very busy this month. With workshops in London, Oxfordshire, Hertforshire and Luton.

One of my visits this month was to a school in Luton called Lea Manor School. I had the most amazing welcome from the librarian, Rosemarie. She picked me up from the station at 8am, her hospitality was second to none. She had done her homework on me and new all the things I'd been upto over the years, including the first rap competition I won in 1997! I was hugely impressed. As if that wasn't big enough, she had baked me a chocolate cake and made loads of sandwiches. She invited the English dept to come join us at lunchtime, where she served everybody. I then had to do an impromptu performance for all the English teachers present, which was fun. The day went lovely, students had fun and produced some good work, the teachers were amazing and they've invited me back too. As I got dropped off at the station on the way home, Rosemarie gave me a box of ferrerro rocher! She is simply the best, the nicest most special person I've come across in all my years in education. The school is blessed to have her. A few days later she wrote this poem and sent it to me. Hope you enjoy



The man in the photograph

The man in the photograph caught my eye
His smile so wide it could fill the sky
He’s the one, I confidently thought
How to Rap many times had he taught

The email arrived he would be free that day
Arriving early, ‘til 2 he would stay
Sandwiches, quiche, cake and tea
All will be perfect for our guest to be

Arriving at the station early and bright
He’ll arrive soon so just sit there tight
At last I see him walking my way
I know at once this’ll be a fabulous day

His smile said it all, it’ll be as I dreamed
The man in the photograph is who he seemed
Talented, inspiring and totally at ease
The staff and students loved him, thank you Breis!

CLASS DISMISSED

CLASS DISMISSED by Michael T. Adewale

In this riveting book Class Dismissed, Michael Adewale expounds on the principles which have helped him succeed in life. He uses stories to capture the imagination of the reader and illustrates how to put the principles into action. He speaks about personal issues which he has had to overcome during secondary school, sixth form and university. He also discusses the life of friends he has had during these periods and why some succeeded and others failed.

In a day and age where our young people struggle with low self esteem, anger, rejection and loneliness, this book practically guides the youth of this nation. It is a book which all young people and adults need to have, read and apply in their lives. Personal stories of bullying and robbery are tackled as well as the ways in which forgiveness overcame anger and hate. Learning how to love yourself and how to overcome low self esteem are also tackled. Class Dismissed is an easy read and a book you won’t want to put down. It’s available on amazon.co.uk

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Michael Adewale is a teacher by profession and has worked in the education system for five years. He is passionate about young people reaching their potential. Having seen several of his friends go to prison for various crimes, Michael is determined to ensure that the youth in this generation don’t make the same mistakes. Having been brought up in a single parent home with four other siblings on a council estate in South London, Michael has exceeded people’s expectations of him. As a public speaker, he brings warmth, charisma, a sense of humour, insights and practical steps to help people navigate through the circumstances they face.


To book Michael for speaking engagements in schools and libraries and for further information, please call us on 07951 239 762

Science of Rap workshops

LEARNING SCIENCE THROUGH RAP
The Science of Rap is a fun, cross – curricular workshop that encourages young people to take a greater interest in science. Fusing rap with Science, our stimulating and creative workshops cover the core topics in Biology, Physics and Chemistry and are in line with the National Curriculum learning objectives and QCA requirements for key stages 2 and 3. This initiative from Student of Life presents ways of revising Science for the students and acts as the perfect learning support for your class lessons.

"What I enjoyed the most was making up our own lyrics. This allowed us to see our own ability" - student

"This was one of the best things I've seen", said the head at Loxford School of Science and Technology.

During one of the sessions with year 8 students. Fully engaged and eager to get ideas down. They came up with some brilliant work...

"We're looking forward to introducing this into Science week. The children loved it" - Extended Schools Co-ordinator

"I had teachers begging me for extra classes to be fitted in today!" - Librarian

Student of Life Team working with boys in Wallington County Grammar School. This was officially the first SOR workshop we did together in March 2009. Dr Osman came with the science prizes...everybody loves prezies.

For further information on bringing The Science of Rap Workshops to your school, please call Fiona Solomon on 07951 239 762

WHAT WE DO

STUDENT OF LIFE - Mixing Education with Hip Hop

If you're looking for ways to make your Literacy lessons fun and exciting, want to liven up your school assembly/conference, empower teachers, make boys begin reading more or just want your students to be more imaginative in their writing...you've come to the right place! Call us on 07951239762 for more information

Student of Life is a creative arts company using Hip Hop culture to engage young people in education. We make learning fun and engaging with Rap and Poetry workshops in Primary and Secondary Schools. SOL was founded by critically acclaimed Hip Hop MC and workshop facilitator, BREIS (breeze).

We currently offer a range of initiatives to key stages 2,3 and 4 (7 - 14 years old). The first are Positive Rap Workshops that show students how to write their own raps and poems with positive themes. Students take part in games and exercises that give writing and performance tips and in the process develop confidence in their own abilities. The second initiative is the Science of Rap which fuses rap with Science in a stimulating and creative way. A project sure to inspire future scientists!

The workshops are run by dynamic rap artists BREIS and Karl Nova (both artists are enhanced CRB checked). Between both artists they have 12 years experience in running Rap workshops and Performance Poetry workshops in over 500 schools around the UK. BREIS has also worked extensively with the British Council on numerous occasions as a trainer and Creative Consultant in South Africa and Washington DC.

WHAT SCHOOLS ARE SAYING

"The workshops were inspirational and fun! Student of Life created an environment where the students were learning about science without even realising it and were able to express themselves freely. It was in a language they understood and they thoroughly enjoyed it”
-Zehra Jaffer, Assistant Head teacher, Wallington County Grammar School

“The children loved having a rap artist in their midst. BREIS’ performance won the school over immediately with his crowd participation, lyrics and humour. In the workshop BREIS had an easy teaching style and could differentiate between students who were confident and those that weren’t. He was excellent at getting good work out of everyone”
- Karen Arthur, Head of House. Forest Hill School, London

“Student of Life boosted the children’s confidence, raised their self esteem and encouraged team work. It brought fun to learning and the teachers thought it was fab too”
- Sonia Marquis, Yr 5 Teacher. St Paul’s Way Community School

"I just wanted to say a massive thank you with all my heart for the whole experience that you gave us, pure brilliance"
- Henry Worger, pupil (14), Highbury School



For bookings and further information on any of the initiatives, please call 07951 239762 or email studentoflife.ltd@gmail.com