AIBU to think they might actually read a book in English? (Secondary)

[runningoutofnewnames]

DS's English class start reading books, then the teacher uses them to demonstrate some kind of grammar exercise or other construction of the English language - then they never actually finish it.

He's in Year 8, and they've only read one book from beginning to end in class since he started at secondary last year.

They're told they're not allowed to read ahead and often they're not even given the book, they're given photocopied sheets each lesson.

So, they read half of Animal Farm. The point of that was to teach them how to write a paragraph with a persuasive argument, apparently. Once they'd done that exercise, the module was finished and they stopped reading the book. DS loves reading and wants to discuss the content of the book in class. This isn't allowed.

This half term, they've done dystopian fiction but they've only read passages from books, not whole books (e.g. photo copied pages from the Hunger Games). The point of that was to demonstrate the elements needed to do a "creative" short story exercise - they were marked on the inclusion of these specific elements, not encouraged to be creative.

He's only read one whole book at school since he started nearly 18 months ago.

Do your DC read whole books in school?

We used to read loads when I was young! We did English Language AND literature when I went to school - it wasn't all about the mechanics of language, it was about appreciating books too and exploring ideas. I loved doing Animal Farm. We certainly read it to the end!

There's a similar focus on the mechanics and lack of creativity in his art lessons too, but that's another story.

Is this is the curriculum (fucking Gove's influence, still?) or his school, I wonder?

@runningoutofnewnames

I leant a book to a lovely 20-something colleague of mine as it was relevant to something we'd been talking about. She read it and said she really enjoyed it. After she gave it back to me, she admitted it was the first book she'd actually read in book form (not audio book) form cover to cover.

This is a really smart young women who got a first at uni. But she's only ever read bits of books, or listened to audio books, never read books for pleasure. I though she was unusual (and I was secretly pleased with myself for giving her her first whole book!) but maybe she's not that unusual these days?

Listening to an audio book is a perfectly valid way to read a book. She was reading.

*She was reading.8

She wasn't reading - she was being read to. A lot of being read to depends on the narrator. It is something in itself and a great thing but it is not the same thing as reading a book for oneself. The pacing is different, the interpretation is not your own, the choices made about how to stress a sentence are different

I just can't really imagine only reading half a book. If my DD was instructed to read half of Mice and Men she would obviously have read the whole thing anyway. They were provided with the book so it was available to her to read and she was enjoying it so obviously she finished reading it.
If you only read the one or two books that the school told you to in class then I hardly think that would be a huge advantage. Surely it's more important to encourage kids to read books they enjoy out of class

I'm mid 40's, we definitely read whole books - Kestral for a Knave, I remember very clearly, but there were others, and a Shakespeare play though that was painful as we had parts assigned each lesson....