In a class as low-level as our beginner class, students aren’t able to practice their reading with magazines and newspapers. For most learners, they buy children’s books because they use simple words and the pictures help you understand ideas and guess the meaning of words you don’t know. The issue with children’s books is that they are meant to teach language and phonetics to children. They aren’t very useful in a survival English context because the vocabulary is about talking animals and the fantasy world of princesses and fairies.
When our beginner class’ instructors saw their students lending books amongst themselves about princesses and talking rabbits, they saw their lack of access to adult reading materials in our small city. The Instructors began to research a series of low-level readers (short stories with pictures) that are created to support exclusively adult literacy.
After considering several series and consulting with the Penticton Library and the South Okanagan Community Literacy Society, they decided that the Page Turners collection from Grass Roots Press was the best option for the students, with a balance of good content and affordable pricing. They are colour-coded for four different stages of reading ability, with the most variety being at the lowest level. We have set them all up in a little class library and so far they have been very popular with the students.
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