It's 9.30 a.m. at Whitney Institute and the assembly hall is abuzz with energy. About 400 primary school children from across the Island are grinning excitedly, dancing up and down on the spot to a hip-hop beat and loudly chanting the less-than-catchy phrase "no major errors in usage".

The teachers dotted around the hall are smiling too — even when students are encouraged to lead them to the stage to flex their muscles as the young audience members squeal with glee.

The scene is hardly one you would expect to find in a school first thing on a morning — but Erik Cork is hardly your typical type of educator.

The self-styled "writing consultant" from Texas has a novel approach to getting children to organise their thoughts and communicate them on paper.

Figuring that today's youth are happiest when on a games console or listening to their favourite music, he uses a high-energy delivery style, bold screen images and a boom box to get across the essentials of writing.

The 45-year-old former magazine editor was invited to bring his "Rap, Rhythm, and Rhyme: Rebuilding the Writing Foundation" workshop to Bermuda by Whitney principal Freddie Evans.

Dr. Evans, who recently completed his doctoral thesis comparing traditional and technologically advanced teaching methods, had seen Mr. Cork conduct the workshop several times in the States and was impressed.

"The energy was something I really wanted to share with my students," he said, adding that modern-day pupils may be "wired a little differently" to previous generations.

"People from my generation are digital immigrants; we are still learning. These kids are digital natives. My research and Erik's teaching all fit with the same pattern."

Dr. Evans predicted that there would be no discipline problems during the day-long workshop with younger children on Thursday — and he was right. Mr. Cork had the children eating out of the palm of his hand as he led them through the importance of spelling, punctuation and subject verb agreement, handing out dollar bills to those giving correct answers.

Last Friday saw another session with middle and high school students. Mr. Cork told The Royal Gazette he "really, really enjoyed" his trip to the Island.

"The students did not want to leave," he said. "A couple of them were crying because they had to leave and I take that as a compliment. They were here from 8.30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and we had no rest room breaks. They were just really awesome."