Bookworms In Europe: Improving Reading Skills And The Motivation To Read Books Erasmus Project

Project Title

Bookworms In Europe: Improving Reading Skills And The Motivation To Read Books

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for Schools Only

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Pedagogy and didactics; Early School Leaving / combating failure in education; Key Competences (incl. mathematics and literacy) – basic skills

Project Summary

The project has been a great success – initial objectives have been met and exceeded in some areas. The project set out to increase children’s passion for reading, enabling them to access learning more successfully and result in higher attainment throughout their education and become lifelong learners. Through the range of activities and events held, children’s enthusiasm for reading and literature-based activities has increased. Through the project, many children have had increased access to literature and opportunities to perform. Extra support was given to families where barriers to learning were present (immigrants, educational, financial, etc). This has resulted in improved relationships not only with the children, but also the wider community. Initial project activities included: sharing photos of favourite reading places, creating Top Ten book lists for individual classes, school exhibitions, learning about favourite authors and writing book reviews. These were all shared across the partner schools. All schools studied a national author of choice, reading their books and hosting Book Days to celebrate work and enjoy the books. Local authors visited schools, delivering workshops and hosting Q and A sessions. Each school created a Big Book of a traditional tale from their country, written in the mother tongue and translated into English. An audio version of the book was also produced. Schools produced their own performances of stories to outside audiences. Staff noticed a raise in self-esteem in some children as a result of the project: those who were reluctant to take part in class activities became more confident and engaged. Others with behavioural issues became more focused and enjoyed success.
Via the sharing of teaching strategies across the partner schools, staff now have access to a wider range of successful methods for the teaching of reading. During each visit, the host school provided a range of workshops focusing on reading strategies. These covered a range of areas – phonics, guided reading, SEND, comprehension, additional-language learning, etc. As a result, these examples of best practice strategies have been incorporated into partner schools’ teaching and learning. Monk Fryston has recently become part of a multi-academy trust and so other schools within the trust will also benefit from the sharing of these reading strategies, thus spreading the work of the project even wider.
As a result of the project, children now also have a fuller understanding and enjoyment of partner country languages, cultures and traditions. They thoroughly enjoyed writing penpal letters, cards, making bookmarks, etc for their european friends. Even the older children looked forward excitedly to their next correspondence. Staff believe the students now have a higher level of interest for language learning as they progress to secondary education.
Reading attainment has risen across partner schools, although this cannot be wholly due to the project. However, we strongly believe that the new-found enthusiasm for reading may contribute to this success. The questionnaires completed at the end of the project demonstrate a higher understanding and appreciation of the languages, customs and traditions in each partner country. The children certainly know more about each country than at the start of the project and are eager to learn more. The reading questionnaires demonstrate an upturn in students’ desire to read and in how long they read for on average a week. Results show a much higher level of interest in reading books written by each country’s national author and a wider range of genres being read.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 71279,02 Eur

Project Coordinator

Monk Fryston Voluntary Controlled Church of England Primary School & Country: UK

Project Partners

• Direzione Didattica IV Circolo Nichelino
• Freiherr-vom-Stein-Schule, Gladenbach
• BRÅVIKSSKOLAN
• Zakladna skola, Tomasikova 31, Kosice
• St Ignatius College Siggiewi Primary