What is the best way to make it very likely that a child will become a teenager who is good at English? Encouraging a love of reading and good reading habits would be at the top of my list. Think about the students who excel at English in your class - it’s very probable that they have had positive experiences with reading from a very young age. These students are often very easy to teach. They can understand and use many words. They get that texts are deliberately constructed to create effects. They have more powerful knowledge and cultural capital than their peers. But let’s face it, this isn’t what most of your students are like. If your students are anything like mine (I currently work in a larger-than-average comprehensive secondary school in Derbyshire), most of them will not read anywhere near the amount that you would like them to. Let me be clear; this isn’t the fault of schools. Many schools - like mine - have an excellent library and library staff, and teachers who care passi
A blog about teaching English.