Paired Reading.

Paired Reading

Paired reading is a course in which sixth formers are given the option to help out yr 9 students gain progress and interest with reading, which is part of our community service. In order to do this, a training session had been arranged for us, where we had been taught ways in which to socialise and encourage those students who particularly display less interest or weaknesses in their reading, or in any aspects. To get the scheme on the road we decided that the first task would be to get to know your partners and therefore planned to take them ice skating. This gave both of us the opportunity to get to know one another and talk about their interests. After having met Andrew Gardener I thought by contributing to this scheme I can not just help teach him, but also felt as though this was the opportunity for me to accept the challenge of improving his skills which would gain my self confidence in teaching. Andrew Gardner is a wonderful, keen hard working boy, who is willing to contribute and learn in sessions which I arranged once a week.

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To begin with, I didn’t quite know what type of books he was interested in since reading wasn’t his kind of thing, but eventually I suggested a variety of books which could be chosen from ‘Harry Potter’ to possibly anything. At first we went for higher reads, but found that Andrew however lacked confidence in his reading and read very nervously which he suggested himself and so we decided to change the book as well as the level of reads and finally settled for ‘Abe’s Team’.

What I particular noticed when he began reading was that he ...

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What I particular noticed when he began reading was that he wasn’t reading very carefully and often tend to miss out words or ignore words he wasn’t sure of, but soon as the reading progressed he avoid doing that and began to ask me words he didn’t understand and words that were difficult to pronounce. The strategy I had given him was to break each word down into syllables and slowly repeating the word, so that he would get used to using this strategy to help use for the future, which he then began to do so. However his general reading was very good and began to display a great deal of confidence which I tried to boast up by setting him some spelling tests and general questions on the book to speak up. He scored pretty high marks and was able to explain the plot in great detail. We also used the dictionary to look up words we weren’t sure of together so that he would get the habit of using the dictionary as often as he could. Though Andrew’s quite shy he was very easy to get along with, of course once you got to know him. His attendance was absolutely brilliant he did not miss a single lesson and was very keen to attend the reading sessions. As he became more confident we decided to read as a group to increase his self confidence, the group merge worked very well and planned various activities together where we played educational games, quizzes and read ‘Eye For An Eye’ which were short easy reads. I think Andrew has made a great deal of progress.

Overall both my student and I gained an important experience in undertaking this scheme. From this experience, what I have learnt is that reading is an important aspect of our life where we develop our grammar and reading skills as well as vivid imagination. And that by reading it develops an interest for books as well as reading with them and a chance to listen and communicate. What I have gained importantly is the experience of becoming a mentor and in helping someone else. I enjoyed being part of this scheme as it’s allowed me to build a good relationship with a student particularly Andrew, it gives a chance to do something nice for a change. Overall I really enjoyed this pair reading course and I believe I have learnt a lot from it which will be very helpful for future references.

Uzma Ellahi