Page 104 - Teaching English at Primary Level: From Theory into the Classroom

Reading and Writing

Classroom Insight: DEAR
Anja incorporated the extensive reading pro- were often disappointed when the ten min-
gramme called DEAR (‘Drop everything and utes were up and wanted to continue with
read’) into her teaching in the third grade. reading. When she asked her pupils what
Her pupils silently read books for ten min- they liked about the programme they said
utes every lesson. They picked their own that they learnt new letters and words in En-
books from the book corner that Anja created glish, they deepened their knowledge of
before starting the programme. They read reading and they had fun. She listed some
the books individually or in pairs in different factors that she thought contributed to the
places in the classroom – sitting, standing, ly- success of the programme: the books in-
ing on the floor etc. The reading process was cluded different levels and topics; the pupils
silent. The children found the programme in- had control over the selections of the books
teresting and were looking forward to every and the reading place; they could work in
lesson. She said that they ran to the reading pairs; and the overall reading environment
corner every time when the programme was was encouraging. The programme also insti-
announced. She also noticed the children gated her pupils to borrow more books in the
calmed down during the programme. They library and read at home more often.

every week or by taking part in the so-called ‘Reading Badge’ or ‘Bookworm.’
These programmes are organised by the two leading publishing houses and
attract thousands of learners every year. The percentage of primary schools
that took part in the ‘Reading Badge’ programme in Slovenia in 2017 was
64.4 (Dagarin Fojkar et al., 2017). Generally, pupils read two to five graded
readers of different length and level per year depending on their level of
knowledge and all the pupils are awarded with a certificate upon a success-
ful completion of the programme. These programmes start as early as in the
2nd grade but are most often integrated into FL instruction from grade 4
onwards. The main aim of the programme is to encourage extensive read-
ing in a foreign language. The sub-aims of the project are to increase pupils’
FL knowledge, to contribute to plurilingualism and, more specifically, to de-
velop pupils’ reading skills and vocabulary (Dagarin Fojkar et al., 2017). They
do not follow all of the Bamford and Day’s guidelines for extensive reading
programmes (e.g. learners cannot choose the books they want to read), but
they are very often the only reading programmes that learners participate in
and are therefore an important part of the development of Slovene learners’
FL reading skills.

Reflection Point
1. How did you learn to read in L1/FL? How did your parents help you with
reading in L1? Which activities did the teacher use to help you read in En-
glish?

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