At St George’s International School there is a real buzz about learning. Children throughout the school are mesmerised by their work based on the use of quality books. Not surprisingly, the result is that they, in turn, produce high quality work.
Staff at St George’s Primary have worked with Sue McGonigle from the Institute of Education, UCL, to create a curriculum based on immersion in high quality books, rather than studying little snippets of text, followed up by exercises in spelling and grammar.
‘Without doubt there’s a real issue because if we’re increasing the attainment of children at the expense of their engagement and enjoyment, then we are failing to do the whole job and we have to take that seriously’’ (Hall, 2004, p. 20).
Research shows that by exposing children to quality literature, they extend their vocabulary and understanding of text. Children’s’ knowledge of language and storytelling is then reflected in their writing. The National Literacy Trust surveys show that young people who enjoy reading very much are three times as likely to read above the level expected for their age compared with young people who do not enjoy reading at all (34.9% vs. 10.7%). IoE Research into reading for pleasure and cognitive attainment (2013),
found that children who read for pleasure made more progress in maths, vocabulary and spelling between the ages of 10 and 16 than those who rarely read. The research was
conducted by Dr Alice Sullivan and Matt Brown, who analysed the reading behaviour of approximately 6,000 young people. They discovered that those who read books often at age 10 and more than once a week at age 16 gained higher results in all three tests at age 16 than those who read less regularly. Children who were read to regularly by their parents at age 5 performed better in all three tests at age 16 than those who were not helped in this way. Perhaps surprisingly, reading for pleasure was found to be more important for children’s cognitive development between ages 10 and 16 than their parents’ level of education.
We often hear children in the early years of education begin a story quoting the time old phrase “Once Upon a Time” based on their knowledge of traditional tales. By using quality texts children move up through school using more and more sophisticated language influenced by the style of authors they study such as David Almond, Phillip Pullman, and Beverly Naidoo.
'Through choosing books carefully and selecting creative teaching approaches including talk, drama and art, teachers can pause as they read aloud, unfolding a story gradually. During the process children will become totally immersed in the story world as they explore the experiences of the characters from the inside. In this way children's engagement, enjoyment and understanding will increase. Fictional worlds can provide exciting contexts for a range of purposeful writing and creative work.' Sue McGonigle Lecturer in Primary Education at UCL Institute of Education.
Children at St George’s studying The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas were able to discuss complex issues such as Nazi Germany. They used their knowledge to reference the text drawing inference about the character father, a General at Auschwitz.
“He is immoral because he agreed to work for the Fury”.
“He tries to show his family he loves them. We know that because he gives them goodnight kisses”.
“He doesn’t talk to Bruno much. On p… they only spoke once.”
For children for whom English is not their mother tongue, it is quite difficult to understand inference and deduction, which requires a deeper understanding of our rather complex English language. Books such as Anthony Browne’s Into the Forest or Grahame Baker-Smith’s FaRther appear, on face value, to be simple picture books but delve inside and you will find multi-layered concepts. Going even further, Jeannie Baker’s Window has no words at all, but uses collage pictures to tell a moving story, reflecting on the impact of environmental change. The lack of words allows the children to weave their own stories to explain what is happening to the land outside the window.
Children at St George’s use a range of techniques to immerse themselves fully into the story. Often, the front cover, or an image from the book is used to spark interest and imagination before the story has begun. The children may use post it notes to write their thoughts under the headings see, think, wonder, predicting what they think the book is about. Through studying a whole book, the children are able to write in a range of different genres – writing in role as a character from the story they write diary
entries, or postcards from a location in the story. Children in Year 3 used the technique conscience alley, where they formed a human tunnel to whisper advice to a character in the story Oliver and the Seawigs on whether he should keep on trying to achieve his goal: “Give up”, whispered some, “It’s not worth the effort.” “Be resilient”, advised others, “it will be worth it in the end.” The ideas generated fed into formal letter writing to the characters involved “Dear Cliff, I think you should go to the Hallowed Shallows because your friends are in need…” To which her writing partner replied “Thank you for your letter. It encouraged me and I agree, I think I should go.”
Teachers at St George’s reflect that the approach delivers high levels of engagement from the children, filling them with an excitement and a passion for books and language.
Following work on the book Mouse Bird Snake Wolf, one teacher commented “Next week, we will be writing stories based on our own creations. This gives the children a real sense of ownership over their work. Furthermore, the children can really visualise their characters and are inspired to add depth to their descriptive writing.”
The book-based approach to teaching literacy, begun in 2014, has helped to transform the way children learn at St George’s. It has also attracted interest from our partner schools in Brussels and Netherlands. Following a presentation by the Primary Headteacher, other international schools have expressed their enthusiasm and interest in the methodology, and some are now exploring a similar approach for their schools. After visiting the school, Alicia Baine from BSB wrote: “We were able share in some of the learning that your children experience and it was wonderful to see how engaged they were. The context was meaningful and the opportunity for the children to be active in the lesson was brilliant. It was evident that the children understood the story very well and were keen to find out more, share their ideas and connect their own experiences to the book and to their learning. Lifelong learners in development.... something we can all aspire to!”
Last, but by no means least, the children express their enjoyment in the way they learn. “An alien was in your office the other day..” giggled a year 1 child “he was sitting at your desk!”. Further up the school pupils articulate their love of reading and writing “I never thought I could write” explained a Year 6 pupil, “but now I want to be an author.”
For information on exciting books and activities to help children reading, please visit: www.lovemybooks.co.uk
