At Lucton School Chongqing, we have an extensive reading programme to support students in their English language development and their wider learning. Since our students study for their IGCSE and A-Levels through English as the medium of instruction and considering that our students go on to some of the top universities abroad, their language skills and their studious character development is a key vehicle to get them to where they are going.
To develop students reading habits, they are required to spend 2 hours per week reading on the online reading platform, MyOn. This platform has thousands of English books from a plethora of different subject areas. There are also many different types, from novels to non-fictional books about, society, different professions, the natural world and different counties, etc. Reading is a window through which they can look out at the wider world and learn about it and their place in it.
Through the online reading platform, teachers can then monitor their reading, which books, how many pages, how long they read for, the difficulty level of the reading and their comprehension of what they are reading based on the comprehension quizzes that follow each book. This data allows teachers to support their learning and reading skill development. They use this information to guide their classes and dedicated reading sessions.
Alongside their regular English classes, students also have dedicated English reading sessions each week where they are supervised and guided in their reading to get the best out of their time. Teachers help students to build their reading and comprehension skills, while guiding them how to think about what they are reading and even how to question it with critical thinking skills. We also award our top readers and celebrate them with a certificate at assembly.
Teachers guide the students to use their vocabulary books to assist in learning new words that they come across in their reading. The students then spend 15 minutes per day at the start of every prep time to learn the new words in their vocabulary books through our comprehensive Vocabulary Acquisition Programme (VAP). This programme works alongside the reading programme to support students to grow the body of vocabulary that they have, which is essential for them to be able to express themselves effectively and supports them later when they take IELTS tests to enter university.
As a result, the students of Lucton School Chongqing have fantastic reading habits. They are avid readers and learners. This improves not only their reading skills but also supports their overall English language development. Furthermore, as a result, they can engage better in all their subjects, which require them to have a strong English foundation in order to be able to understand the lessons, concepts, materials, teachers and to express their understanding in their classrooms and also their exams. This puts them in a good position to benefit from their time in university later on and to achieve excellent results.
