English Club Meets in the School Library
In November 2018, members of First City Gymnasia’s English Club shared their love of reading and English with first form pupils during an after-school story hour this week. The event enabled English Club members to experience the satisfaction of volunteering while serving as teachers and role models for FCG’s youngest learners. At the same time, it showed both groups of students that language learning is above all about communicating and connecting with others.
During Tuesday’s English Club, eight middle-school students read picture books in English to pupils in Valentina Yularzhi’s 1B class. Though it was the end of a long school day, the readings captured the attention of the first formers, who leaned forward to see illustrations, laughed at funny moments, and answered simple questions that the middle schoolers asked them about the stories. The English Club members had selected the books themselves from their school library (and, in one case, from a home library), and they read with confidence and enthusiasm. The story hour included Dr. Seuss’s classic rhyming tale of a fussy eater, Green Eggs and Ham, as well as a dynamic reading of a book about colors that featured lots of interaction with the first formers and gave each of them a chance to demonstrate their knowledge.
The English Club had prepared for the activity during its previous meeting by discussing strategies for checking and reinforcing the first formers’ understanding of the texts. Sonia Scherr, the Peace Corps Response Volunteer who facilitates FCG's English Club, began that week’s session by getting participants to think about the meaning and impact of volunteerism. The English Club talked about the benefits of volunteering for both the volunteer and the community and then made a list of places where people can volunteer. Club members were able to explain how reading to first formers would help these younger pupils learn while also contributing to the middle schoolers’ learning and enjoyment. And it did: after the story hour, one English Club member asked when we could do the activity again. We hope it will be soon.
