Reading for pleasure is an activity that is commonly taken for granted. Although many readers are initially interested in developing their reading skills for very practical reasons, reading for pleasure provides an ideal opportunity to introduce them to a range of experiences that cannot be explained in words. If this skill is fostered as from a very early age, it may result in many advantages for the future of the students.
Inspired by this introduction, my FCE Adults´ students decided to develop a reading project with an ambitious aim in mind - letting the small ones experience the pleasure of enjoying a short story simplified and read for them.
From the range of different short stories proposed by our Area Coodinator, we pondered on the different options, eager to find the most appealing one for the kiddies, taking into account different aspects such as the level of cognitive complexity, the motivational interests of the stories and the degree of difficulty from a linguistic perspective.
Having evaluated all these aspects and after extensive discussions, we finally concluded that the most appealing story would be “The Shepherd’s Daughter” by William Saroyan. We developed a simplified version which we considered appropriate for the level of students attending 3rd and 4th Year Kids and prepared a Powerpoint Presentation to make the story more visual for them.
On November 14, we invited these two classes and offered this project as part of their End-of-the-Year Party. Our classroom was soon filled with smiling kids with anxious eyes and broad smiles ready to enjoy the performance. The story was vividly read by some of my FCE students while others were in charge of the slides and some follow up questions to check understanding, plus a final Hangman to consolidate the correct spelling of the new vocabulary.
Everything resulted in great success and the kids’ motivation and excitement left us all with the certainty that reading stories to the little ones is a pleasure that cannot be compared to many fun activities our present world can provide. Definitely, if a child can be motivated in learning, we are on the right track to get the best of our future world.
Inspired by this introduction, my FCE Adults´ students decided to develop a reading project with an ambitious aim in mind - letting the small ones experience the pleasure of enjoying a short story simplified and read for them.
From the range of different short stories proposed by our Area Coodinator, we pondered on the different options, eager to find the most appealing one for the kiddies, taking into account different aspects such as the level of cognitive complexity, the motivational interests of the stories and the degree of difficulty from a linguistic perspective.
Having evaluated all these aspects and after extensive discussions, we finally concluded that the most appealing story would be “The Shepherd’s Daughter” by William Saroyan. We developed a simplified version which we considered appropriate for the level of students attending 3rd and 4th Year Kids and prepared a Powerpoint Presentation to make the story more visual for them.
On November 14, we invited these two classes and offered this project as part of their End-of-the-Year Party. Our classroom was soon filled with smiling kids with anxious eyes and broad smiles ready to enjoy the performance. The story was vividly read by some of my FCE students while others were in charge of the slides and some follow up questions to check understanding, plus a final Hangman to consolidate the correct spelling of the new vocabulary.
Everything resulted in great success and the kids’ motivation and excitement left us all with the certainty that reading stories to the little ones is a pleasure that cannot be compared to many fun activities our present world can provide. Definitely, if a child can be motivated in learning, we are on the right track to get the best of our future world.
Class: FCE Adults C
