Tag Archives: EAL

Holyrood library – ‘Book chat with S6, and World Book Day fun’

This month we’re chatting to some of our wonderful S6 Pupils about books and reading. Thank you S6 for sharing these thoughts.

Taiba : “I like reading because it allows me to stand in other peoples’ shoes and experience someone else’s life for a while. I always struggled to decide what I wanted to pursue at university. Reading books written by many different professionals in their careers, such as ‘When Breath Becomes Air‘ made me feel  I could make a more educated choice. Reading has also prepared me for the university application process and has given me things to talk about in interviews”.

Manisa: “For me, reading helps me escape reality and also helps me be more creative. I got into reading by finding my types of books in the school library. Reading gives me a perspective that I haven’t seen before”.

Maryam: “I sometimes prefer books to their movies/ TV shows because it allows my imagination to visualise the plot which is different to when a movie dictates what you see. Another thing that I like about reading is that you’re able to appreciate the thoughts of each character, and you are put in their shoes, which can be interesting!”

Holly: “You may think you don’t enjoy reading because you have always viewed it as a task, but once you find a book that you love and are interested in, it can be a perfect escape from reality”

Miss K. :  “Seeing our S6 pupils studying in the library and hearing their feedback about books is one of the best things about my job. They can often be found encouraging younger pupils and doing paired reading with S1. Thanks also for the great idea of doing a Book-Tok display. Can’t wait to get started!”

On 3rd March, we celebrated World Book Day. As part of their Literacy project, S1-S3 pupils were asked to read a book set in a country other than the UK. Some borrowed books from the school library, whole others chose to access the E-library using their I=pads. Ms Longo also ran a project asking all year groups to recommend a favourite book from a different country. This truly reflects the diverse, multi-cultural and welcoming nature of our school.

Our EAL Book Group continues to meet at lunchtimes when we have fun chatting, eating lunch and finding new books to enjoy together.

 

On library Teams, we’ve enjoyed nominating our favourite places we’d like to visit, as part of the ‘Strange Worlds Detective Agency’ competition. These have included New York; the Eiffel Tower in Paris; Italy, the Maldives, and Bali in Indonesia. I feel as if I’ve travelled the World, from my desk chair.

Thanks to all pupil helpers S1 – S6 who have contributed so much time and energy helping in the Library this month.

February @ St. Andrew’s!

Hi everyone! Welcome to our first full month of normal service!

This month is LGBT History Month and we have a display of some great books which relate to LGBTQ+ issues or contain LGBTQ+ characters and protagonists. It’s a very eclectic mix and some are more ‘obvious’ than others, but we hope that there is something for everyone. Plus, there is a free rainbow bookmark with every book borrowed!

This month also brings us Languages Week Scotland as well as International Mother Language Day so what better time to set up our new Community Languages Section! We have a number of new books in French, Polish, Italian, Spanish and Arabic (most of which didn’t last long before pupils snapped them up!). We are hoping to have more in the not-so-distant future but we reckon this is a good start! Also special thanks to our EAL group for creating a new multilingual. ‘Welcome’ sign for the library.

3rd March is World Book Day and we have lots of exciting things planned, including a book cover competition, a book swap and much more. Our next update will be a WBD special so keep your eyes pealed!

 

Celebrating our different cultures

Hello readers, 

 April has marked the beginning of our EAL Reading project, supported by the Scottish Government School Library Improvement Fund.  We are one of the many Glasgow school libraries taking part, guided by the wonderful Ms DeLeavey – librarian at St Margaret Mary Secondary School and Shawlands Academy – who has tirelessly been working on it. 

As school librarians we have also taken part diverse and very informative training by different stakeholders, such as the Glasgow City Council EAL Unit and the Scottish Refugee Library.  This solid basis, and the support of Mr Gibson – Knightswood Secondary School EAL teacher – has given Ms Spaltro the right incentive to start the reading club with a group of S2 pupils. But also a multicultural club, ‘Culture Vulture’, co-lead with Miss Di Rollo, German and Spanish teacher.

Since April, the group has largely grown and while we have been all been improving our English – included the librarian – we have also learnt a lot about each other’s cultures; while reading  ‘Eagle Warrior’ by Gill Lewis. A great reading for those who seek to know more about Scottish culture and countryside.

Our weekly schedule looks like this: reading group on Wednesdays, and Culture Vulture on Thursdays at lunch, open to everyone. The topics of the club meetings have been: favourite place in Glasgow, different idioms compared, and Fashion in different countries. 

Thus far, the pupils’ commitment has been outstanding, but this was only a small part of the whole project. Stay tuned to know what’s boiling in the pot – as we say in Italy!