For a lot of people, getting comfortable with a good book brings endless hours of pleasure, knowledge expansion, and escapism into the worlds that literature creates. For our students, and indeed students universally, reading usually means gaining knowledge and learning content to pass upcoming exams and complete assigned school work. As a result of this, students often feel that reading is more of a chore and a bore! Here in Clifford School’s Secondary English Language Program, we place great importance on our students to become determined, active, and motivated readers; all the while improving student reading comprehension, proficiency and fluency, and building a larger vocabulary base. We aim to foster a love for reading in our students so that they become more analytical and critical readers; willing to engage with the words on the page to gain a more meaningful and enriching reading experience. Here are a few snaps shot of our students embarking on their journeys into the realms of literature and the alternative worlds a book offers!

Mr. Lum’s grade 7.1 students are guiding grade 4 students in a paired and group reading activity. This helps each student concentrate, interact socially, and build confidence to discuss elements explored in the story.

Mr. Bergin’s 8.1 class are enjoying their reading in our library where there are many titles of classic and modern literature, and science books to choose from. 

Mrs. Maldonado’s 7.2 class are busy filling out book reports by taking notes about their book characters, settings and main themes presented in the story. This active reading exercise gives the reader a much better and clearer understanding of the story’s content.

Mr. May’s 8.2 students are exploring and enjoying the many books on offer in our library. The books they choose will be carefully analyzed for future assignments of presenting a book report and talking with their peers about special elements and themes given in the story.

Mr. Walker’s 7.4 students are doing their reading on one of the many reading apps offered online. These are a great resource as there are many reading activities and exercises included with the story that have pre-reading exercises, post reading questions to check for comprehension. In addition, students make their own notes as they read about important characters and plot development in each chapter. This really helps the students to fully understand what they’re reading and shows their teacher that they are taking the time to work methodically through the story!

In Mr. Harrison’s 7.5 class, students are quietly reading and busily completing their book reports as well as looking up unknown words in the dictionary. Well done to all the students for taking the time to fully engage with the story and become more effective and active readers. These skills and practices will certainly pay off in the future when studying for tests and moving into higher education.

Mr. Hargovan’s 8.3 class are busily completing and reading their cloze story exercise revision in preparation for Unit 4 vocabulary test. Throughout the school year, our teachers prepare and select reading material that focuses on key unit vocabulary, so that students have many examples and continual exposure to words that will be tested at the end of each 2-3 week period. Vocabulary acquisition in our English language program is at the heart of our curriculum because without an extensive language bank the ability to communicate and understand is greatly affected.

In Mr. Kaynak's 7.3 class, the students are developing their active reading skills by completing book reports, story analysis worksheets, and looking up new words in the dictionary. These reading practices are done throughout our grade 7 & 8 English program. Teaching students to become active readers is a skill that is transferable to all subjects and can help students to better understand any material that they need to know for assignments and tests.