Another Christmas, another John Lewis ad

I may have retired – my second Christmas period away from teaching – but the time still goes so fast! Every year, I am curious as to what John Lewis & Partners did with their famous annual Christmas ad. It was always fun to share and discuss these productions with the students. Merry Christmas!


Christmas 2019 Ad | John Lewis & Partners and Waitrose & Partners | Excitable Edgar


The Making Of Excitable Edgar (Extended Version) | John Lewis & Partners and Waitrose & Partners

Merry Christmas!

Have you been wondering why no updates?

Currently I am on Long Service Leave, preparing for retirement. I guess there will be irregular blog updates as they occur to me. Meanwhile, Merry Christmas!


John Lewis Christmas advert 2018 featuring Elton John | The boy and the piano


The making of The boy and the piano | John Lewis & Partners Christmas ad 2018

Sainsbury’s Christmas ads

UK department store Sainsbury’s features Judith Kerr’s famous book character, Mog the cat, in an advertisement for the Christmas season. These ads are also excellent examples of persuasive visual texts.


Sainsbury’s official Christmas advert 2015 – Mog’s Christmas calamity


Sainsbury’s official Christmas 2014 ad – 1914

And the current ad is:


Sainsbury’s official Christmas advert 2016 – The greatest gift

Buster the boxer – persuasive digital stories

Each year, UK department store, John Lewis, hires a team to create a special ad for the Christmas season. These ads are excellent examples of persuasive visual texts.


John Lewis Christmas advert 2016 – #BustertheBoxer

Previous annual links to John Lewis ads are HERE.

More about whales

Past student book rappers created a digital slideshow on Photo Peach to accompany our work on the Aboriginal Dreaming story, How the whale got a hole in his head:


How the whale got a hole in his head


Humpback whale shows amazing appreciation after being freed from nets

Additional audiovisual resources on whales, starfish and barnacles, used in previous years of the cycle, are HERE.

Monty the penguin

Each year, UK department store, John Lewis, hires a team to create a special ad for the Christmas season. These ads are excellent examples of persuasive visual texts.


John Lewis Christmas advert 2014 – #MontyThePenguin


Flock Associates – John Lewis: The Making of Monty the Penguin 2014


John Lewis Christmas advert 2013 – The bear & the hare


Lily Allen | [The Making of] Somewhere Only We Know (John Lewis Christmas Advert)


John Lewis Christmas advert 2012 – The journey


John Lewis Christmas advert 2011 – The long wait

Same ad, with a different music track:

The New John Lewis 2011 Christmas TV Advert – The long wait [Alternate]


John Lewis Christmas advert 2010 – This feeling inside


John Lewis Christmas advert 2009 – Sweet child of mine


John Lewis Christmas advert 2008 – From me to you [Extended studio version]


John Lewis Christmas advert 2007 – Shadow

Teachers’ notes for One red shoe

The Teachers’ notes I wrote for Wilkins Farago Publishing are now online. I hope lots of school libraries buy their own copy of the picture book, One red shoe, and get good use out of it!

The notes can be downloaded as a PDF here.

When I was testing the book out with our Stage 3 students, even the Stage 2 students were intrigued, although they only really discussed the red symbolism throughout, not the stronger themes about war/unrest in the Gaza Strip, but they came up with this digital slideshow: