Humanising Language Teaching
Year 6; Issue 1; January 2004

A School Book Club

Sheena Macdonald, Brighton, UK

The idea of running a book club at my own school, St Giles, Brighton, UK, arose from my own personal membership of a reading group. I never thought I'd be able to commit myself to reading a book a month but, in fact, I have done and have really enjoyed discussing the book with friends in a social situation. Your reading becomes more meaningful if you know you have to discuss it, and the fact that the activity is associated with eating and drinking makes putting forward ideas non-threatening. The fact that you are discussing the book at all gives you a wider perspective on the ideas in it and has made the books I've read much more memorable.

Our students at St Giles are encouraged to read in their free time and the use of readers is also incorporated into lessons. However, it is rather unrealistic for a complete reader to be used in class for group activities, because of the varying needs and levels of motivation of the students. So I hit upon the idea of running a book club as part of the social programme, to attract the keen readers initially and hopefully the less-keen, too. We advertised the group at two different levels, a higher one, ie Upper Intermediate and Advanced, and Intermediate, so that the level of language was roughly the same and posed no barriers to the discussion. I was involved in the higher group.

We had an initial meeting of interested students and decided that we would like to meet once a month. I took in blurbs from the Oxford Bookworms catalogue and the students chose the book that they thought sounded interesting (first eliminating any they had already read). I had decided to start with the Bookworms series because the language is graded and they are not too long. It seemed important that the students would be able to finish the book easily without too heavy a vocabulary load. They are also adapted from well-known novels and read very naturally. We arranged a time to meet and I ordered the books. As only seven students came to the first meeting I ordered a book for everyone, but if in future the club grows, it will be necessary for students to share books. The books will either be kept for future book club sessions or go into the library.

We usually meet late on a Thursday afternoon and the discussion process has evolved and become established practice. We start off by retelling the story, which seems to be the best place to start with any book. This is a good way of practising narrative tenses and the students are reminded of the story and comprehension is checked. I put the names of the main characters and events on the board, along with any issues or questions that arise as the story is being told in a separate section on the board. When the story has been told, I usually leave the students to discuss the main characters and go and make a cup of tea and bring out the biscuits, which go down extremely well. When I come back we have a quick feedback session on their discussion and then we carry on with the other questions.

The questions we discuss usually cover the characters and then issues raised by the book. We finally discuss the writer's style. This is still relevant, even when the book is abridged, as the writer's stylistic devices for building up character or creating suspense remain evident. Finally, we wind up by saying whether we enjoyed the book or not and why, and if we would recommend it to our friends. The whole process takes about an hour. I ensure that the students do most of the talking and feel free to express their opinions without fear of being told they are wrong and I act more as a facilitator, guiding the discussion, giving opinions if asked and prompting if they are struggling (this is very rare!).

As far as books are concerned, we have now tried two. The first was The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. This is about Chinese mothers who emigrated to America and their relationships with their daughters. Although students tend to be very good at retelling stories, they did find this one quite challenging and it is important for the teacher to know the details – the students in my group expected me to be able to fill in any gaps and clarify the stories. I did have to do quite a lot of preparation and made notes to remind myself of the separate stories and relationships. We discussed parent/child relationships and cultural differences, both in the book and in general. The students felt it was a very well written and interesting book, which they would recommend to their friends, although the subject was felt to be a bit 'girlie'. One of the students commented that it actually would be a good idea for more chaps to read it!

The second book was The Enemy by Desmond Bagley. On the whole, this was more suitable as the story was not so complicated. We had a really interesting discussion on genetic research and the balance of power between scientists and politicians. We felt that although it was written in the 70s, it was extremely topical. One student even compared the scientist who disappeared to Dr David Kelly. The students commented on the successful way that Desmond Bagley had built up the mystery in the book and put in unexpected twists and turns.

The Book Club idea has proved to be successful. The level of communication achieved has been gratifying and the students and I have really enjoyed the sessions – so much so that at the end of our discussion of The Enemy, the students asked for an extra session before they left at Christmas. I look forward to further meetings and more stimulating discussions around the tea table.

Sheena Macdonald, St Giles International, Brighton
10^th December 2003