A RETIRED teacher is hoping his new, unusual textbook will give people a second chance to understand the English language.

Peter Inson’s book, What, How and Why – a Manual of Better English, uses some of his unusual teaching methods to try to inspire people who had not taken to traditional learning methods.

The book is aimed at young adults and teenagers with poor literacy skills and the people who want to help them, including parents, teachers and tutors.

Mr Inson, 68, said: “Language is a gift. It is something that needs to be nurtured.

“If you’ve got something important to say, you need to be able to write it correctly.

“I hope it will make it easy for young people to fill in this gap in learning and education.”

Mr Inson, who lives in Mersea, knows what it is like to struggle with the subject as he failed his English Literature O-Level.

He was able to turn this around and went on to teach the subject and became an examiner for exam boards.

He said: “I have gone through the process of failing and catching up.

“It made me realise that you can turn things upside down.

You don’t need to be constrained by things in the past. If you are prepared to work, you can do new things.

“I hope the book will make people feel that whatever they failed at, they can put things right and that the English language is important because it is used for so much of what we do.”

In the book, Mr Inson explains why what he is teaching is important, using real life examples.

When discussing commas, he talks about a business contract which lost a company a huge sum of money because of a misplaced comma.

He said: “I’ve got inside the minds of young people.

“I used to make up my own teaching methods.

“Part of what I write is what I would explain to kids when I was teaching.”

Another aim of the book, which took Mr Inson about three years to put together, is to build the reader’s confidence. He said: “The other thing I do is to try and reassure them.

“It is making sure you don’t put kids off. I think young people are slightly let down at times.

“I’m convinced life for teenagers now is far more difficult than it was for me.

“You could get jobs without qualifications.”

Mr Inson has had a number of teaching jobs across the country and taught at the world’s most expensive boarding school in Switzerland. He has written a number of other books, including fiction.

He has also written a textbook before, but it was for a set education syllabus. His newest book does not.

He had planned to self-publish the latest book, but he has been contacted by publishers and is now deciding the best way forward.

He is hoping it will be used by people across the world.

  • Mr Inson will give a presentation on his new book at the MICA Centre, in Mersea, from 8pm on Tuesday, March 24.