We talked to them about literacy... they talked to us about their lives

This article argues that when secondary school teachers are able to listen to the stories young people tell about themselves and their lives there is potential to improve their literacy outcomes. As a way of illustrating how and what can be achieved, this article tells the stories of two young men who scored below benchmark on the Year 9 LaN tests. They are representative of a larger group of students involved in a literacy project across 11 secondary schools. Their stories show what can be achieved when interventions are targeted at their passions and include literacy tasks that engage and motivate them because they are interwoven with their lives.