Reading

   In this entry, I would like to share with you about my reading observation from the Smart School. 

   In Smart School, on the corridor children have shelves with books. There are books not only for kids but also pedagogical books for teachers. On breaks, children can choose a book and read it. Reading in lessons is rather seldom, especially when it comes to older grades. 

   In grade two, on project lessons, kids learn about British and American culture. They usually sit in a circle on the carpet and talk. One time they needed to prepare posters at home about something connected with American culture, for example about cowboys. To do this, they needed to read at home a lot to find information. 

   I also observe the English lessons in grade four, here children read dialogues with roles division. First, the teacher shows children a picture connected with the reading and asks them questions. Next, she chooses kids that will read. Usually, they read the text two times but by different kids so that all of them can take part in reading. After that children do tasks connected with reading. 

   In class five, on the English lessons, the teacher uses the book from the same series, so it is constructed in the same way. There is a picture, then the dialogue and exercises to reading. Although here children do not read, they listen to the recording. 

   At project lessons in grade seven, I didn't observe any reading activities. Usually, they listen or watch something and then they do some exercises. 

   As we may see, in those classes teachers don't do a lot of reading. Maybe in the English lessons in grade two teacher teaches kids how to read but in older classes, children already know how to do this. I appreciate the idea of books on corridors. If children grow up in the environment with books, they are more keen on reading. Unfortunately, I think that in this case, it may not be enough. If teachers do not encourage kids to read, they will never start like reading. They will treat it as an obligation and not as a pleasure. Another point is that I don't think that reading the new text without previous hearing of pronunciation is a good idea. Children may not know how to pronounce some words so what is the point of reading aloud with incorrect pronunciation. The teacher should give children key vocabulary at the beginning and teach them how to pronounce those words and play the record. 

   To sum up, in my lessons I would conduct more activities connected with reading. In my opinion, it is a good way of learning vocabulary and also by previous listening children can learn pronunciation.