It is important to understand that the WordsPlease website contains a great deal of background information to the activities in the form of Flash movies (audio/visual presentations) and youngsters should watch these when tackling the items in the magazines. When you subscribe to WordsPlease, you will be able to log in to view the movies and many other items of interest.

The first magazine introduces intelligent children to the WordsPlease team and some word games to start off the action. We then go deep into the subject of story writing by encouraging youngsters to carry a camera and notebook to record events and scenes around them that they can then incorporate into their work. Katie Howard, who wrote these articles, is a very experienced and highly qualified teacher of English and has experience at both primary and secondary levels.

Each module contains a pretty heavy grammar section and in the first module we cover similes and metaphors. As Aristotle once wrote, 'The greatest thing by far is to be a master of metaphor' (I'm not sure if he mentioned similes!).

We go into a lot of detail about the history of different aspects of the English language, including place names, first names and surnames. This is one way in which intelligent children can begin to study the history of the language and to appreciate its complexities and points of interest. We begin in the first module with an item on personal names.

Then comes some work on codes and this is designed to stimulate the interest of intelligent youngsters who perhaps have a more mathematical bent. We also provide an introduction to the topic of cryptic clues, so that in years to come your intelligent children will be able to have a go at those rather more difficult crosswords.

It's proverbs next and this is the first of a series of articles designed to make intelligent youngsters aware of the sayings and remarks that people use in everyday conversation.

Then comes an article on drama. Whether your children live in a small or large family, there is always some drama work they can include and this section has been written by our drama specialists. It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that communication is all about reading and writing, using the internet and being able to send emails. However, a great deal of communication is done orally and face to face and it is essential that intelligent children are able to speak up for themselves and communicate with others in this medium. Drama activities build the necessary confidence and skills.

In each module we cover both serious and fun poetry and here we begin with limericks and a little of the history of Edward Lear, the most famous writer of limericks.

The history of spelling is a fascinating subject and Jane Davis (another specialist English teacher) has done a great deal of research into this subject and shows how our the spelling of our language has changed and developed over the centuries. In my experience, intelligent children love to discover why English has such crazy spelling and why they have been subject to so many spelling tests over the years!

Once all that heavy stuff has been covered, they can turn to the fun page for a little relaxation and some items on the unusual 'applications' to which people have subjected the language!

Lastly, there is the tricky crossword. This has straight forward, but quite difficult clues and will involve most intelligent chidlren in a good deal of research. They are not left completely alone, though, as in each module we present a word list that may prove useful in the following module.