Canada places great importance on cultivating the reading abilities of local children, and the reading education received by the children of many Canadian immigrants has verified the significant role of this approach. Canadian immigration experts state that Canadian teachers are indeed ingenious in organizing reading activities for children, which is worthy of reference by schools in China.
To understand reading education in Canada, one must first understand Canadian children's books. Below the fourth grade in Canadian elementary schools, there are no standard textbooks. Teachers select suitable materials from a vast array of publications based on students' levels and interests, allowing for considerable flexibility. However, most Canadian children's books have clear grading labels, such as those determined by readability formulas (which calculate levels based on the average number of sentences and syllables per one hundred English words), providing a reference for teachers when selecting books. When choosing, teachers also assess whether the difficulty is appropriate for their students based on the concepts and themes involved in the book. Nevertheless, the final decision remains with the students. Teachers typically bring the pre-screened books to the classroom, distribute them to the entire class, and set a five-minute timer for students to read from the first page. Once the time is up, students exchange books, and this process is repeated at least four times. Afterward, students vote to select the books that attract them to continue reading.
"Literature Circles" are a concrete manifestation of Canadian reading education, where 4 or 5 students read the same book together and conduct book discussions during extracurricular time, with the teacher acting only as an observer, facilitator, or coordinator. The discussion process generally lasts 20 minutes, and students are required to respond to questions and viewpoints raised by other members.
During the students' reading process, teachers arrange various forms of interesting exercises based on different reading themes to cultivate children's abilities in writing research, division of labor and collaboration, and using various resources to solve problems. For example, after reading a novel, in addition to appreciating the writing techniques used by the author to exercise students' writing skills and methods, teachers also allow students to put themselves in the shoes of the characters regarding the issues reflected in the plot and design a creative plan to solve similar problems in their own lives. Furthermore, because there are no standard textbooks, Canadian teachers are more accustomed to thematic reading, often setting a theme first and then finding relevant books to read, which effectively cultivates students' comprehensive application of knowledge from other subjects, such as geography, history, biology, and science.
Canadian immigration experts state that reading is not the only goal of reading education in Canadian elementary schools; allowing students' comprehensive abilities to be better exercised is the teachers' true objective. What students gain throughout this process is not just knowledge of language, the ability to share learning with others, but also the ability to solve life problems. How could students resist such a reading class that achieves multiple goals at once?
