Connecting students to English?: Or English to students?

Working recently with a lovely Year 13 group of seven young mothers, five of whom had not gone beyond Year 10 at their previous school, was a revelation, a challenge and a delight. The revelation was the courage they showed in deciding to keep their babies, often on their own, and return to school. The challenge was their low confidence in their ability to pass any NCEA English and especially Year 13, and the delight was seeing their growing confidence and strength as they collected passes, merits and the odd excellence on their way to PolyTech and University.