Kids Corner (KS3): How to discover your love of reading
One of your tasks for Key Stage 3 in English is to read independently. That means you need to peel your face off of Imposter or detach yourself from your bike for a few hours a week and stuff your head in a book.
We do this so that we can increase our vocabularies, and experience writing from different perspectives, different voices, and points of view. It sounds like such hard work doesn’t it? Well it doesn’t have to be. It can actually be a lot of fun.
What do you enjoy anyway? - Do you like playing fantasy games? Find a book about an epic fantasy story! Google best selling fantasy books and give them a go. If you are fascinated by trains, find non-fiction and fiction books about trains. If you read a book about a topic you are already interested in, you will enjoy your reading and it will not feel like a task.
Set up a routine – Read a little bit just before bed. Maybe a chapter or 10 pages each night. This will help you sleep and have interesting dreams, and it helps to make sure you make time to read often. A little every day is a lot easier than a lot at the weekend when you could be inhaling Halloween sweets.
Dyslexic? Listen to books – You can start your reading journey by listening to books. If you are lucky enough to have a parent that will read to you each night, take advantage of that and let them ignite the passion of reading in you. You can also download audiobooks from places like audible, and begin this way. Once your interest in stories is alive you can begin reading yourself
Challenge yourself – If you never wonder what a word means you aren’t learning anything. If you are spending half your time in a dictionary and half your time in the book it is too hard and you will end up bored or annoyed. You should be finding a few words a page that challenge you. Use the words around them to guess what it might mean.
Find a series and take a deep dive – If you can find a book you like in a long series you have portable learning and entertainment for years! For a long time you will not have to look for something to love, just pick up the next book and dive in!
Slam your beautiful brain into a fascinating story and discover your love of reading. Future you will love you for it.
If you like the way I teach kids, find out more about my school tutoring English lessons at www.wrightenglish.com/en-schooltutoring
