Dear Mr. Bennet,
It's me again. Gaila Cohen Morrison from A.H.A.V.A. English Learned in a Natural Method. Two weeks ago I wrote to you a letter commending you about your decision to build an English library in every school. From my 40 years of teaching experience, I'd like to share some pointers on how to make sure that the students actually read the books. (After all, you can bring the books to the school, but you can't make them read!)
Allow time in class for reading. Tempt the children by reading them an interesting book out loud. Be sure the books are both on their intellectual and reading level. This requires high interest-low readability (Hi-Lo) books.
Part of class time needs to be dedicated to choosing books. Teacher/librarian familiarity with the books is a must so that students are offered books to read that interest them – be it fairy tales or dinosaurs, mysteries or how rockets reach the moon.
And for heaven’s sake do not kill the joy of reading by requiring a book report or book task after each book! Indeed track how many books the child or class reads with numerical or pictorial charts. And you can have some creative book tasks or reports for some of the books. But don’t kill that interest that children can have in reading something that is interesting to them.
I hope you will take some of my ideas to heart! Till next week, Gaila