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.

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.

St Marys in Luton

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

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