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May 18, 2007
A new passion for language
VTT teacher inspires his students to stretch their imagination.
KATHARINE HAMER EDITOR
When Adam Gelmon walked into a classroom of Grade 5 students at
Vancouver Talmud Torah last September, what he found was a group
of kids who would rather play video games than read a book.
Gelmon said many of his charges admitted to finding reading difficult.
"Some even came right out and said, 'I hate reading books,'
" he said. "When I hear a statement like this, I often
ask my students if they enjoy stories. [I ask], 'Do you watch TV
and go to movies?' The answer to this, of course, is always, 'Yes.'
"The question, then, is, if you like stories, how can you hate
books? Books are stories. My belief is that if someone tells you
that they don't like reading, it's because they either can't read
skilfully, or they haven't found a book that's right for them. The
bottom line is, people like stories. Kids like stories. Somewhere
along the way, many kids lose interest in reading, even though they
still love stories. We had to bring back reading as a means to access
stories."
Eight months later, Gelmon's mission has been become an overwhelming
success. In a recent conversation with the Independent, three of
his pupils shared their newfound passion for the written word.
"I think Mr. G.'s really connected us with our books and he's
made us love books. Books is my second name," said Marc Levin.
"I love reading," said Dena Schertzer. "I used to
listen to my mom read and not read as much – if I had a chapter
then I would not really read it, but now I read books a lot. Last
night, I stayed up really late and I was reading this book. My mom
likes that I'm reading, but sometimes she'll say, 'Dena, you have
to go to bed.' "
One of the techniques Gelmon has used to foster this love of reading
has been to teach the children how to pick books that are right
for them.
"I taught my students some specific skills that they could
use to figure out if a book is for them or not in about 30 seconds,"
he said. "We don't go to the video store and spend 20 minutes
with each movie jacket. We don't have to do this with books, either.
Our students can go to the shelf and tell very quickly and skilfully
if a book is right for their level and tastes."
"If you're picky about one type of gender [sic], Mr. G. will
teach you how to get into other types of genders," said Matthew
Boroditsky, "so you can read more books, instead of just looking
in the library. He'll find a book that sort of has what you like
and is a bit different, so he'll figure out another side of you
that you'll like it or not. He did that to me, and I actually read
a lot of books this year that aren't what I liked before. I'm reading
a lot of different genders this year."
Within the classroom – which has its own built-in library –
the youngsters are also given the opportunity to share their reading
experiences, by recommending titles they enjoyed and by visualizing
and relating to scenes and characters within the text.
"Within a very short time, it was clear that they were becoming
better readers," said Gelmon. "Their responses were increasingly
more thoughtful, and personally relevant, and it was clear that
they were truly connecting with their books on a much deeper level."
They've also come to prefer the book version to the screen version
of their favorite stories.
"Always, the books are better," said Levin. "It's
always more detail in the books than in the movie.... I think by
seeing the movies, it ruins your imagination, because they make
you see this one way. Now, when I think of Harry Potter, I think
of that guy, and when I think of Hermione, I think of that girl.
And when I think of Count Olav, I think of Ben Stiller."
"In the movie, they have to have only the parts of the book
that could be talking," added Schertzer, "but I thought
there are many parts in the book that could have been in the movie.
There was this one part in The Secrets of Nimh where the
mouse gets all this food. That didn't happen in the movie, but it
could have. When you're in the book, you can imagine anything you
want."
The students said that reading more had helped them become better
writers, too.
"When I'm reading books, it helps me with how I'm writing,"
said Boroditsky. "It teaches you how to write and I get more
creative the more I read books. If I read a book, instead of writing,
'A cat walked down the street,'
I'll write, 'A humongous, black-eyed, scary cat walked down the
alleyway.' "
"Mr. G. says, 'OK, guys, let's write 20 lines,' " Levin
chimed in, "and by the end of the session, I've written five
pages full of amazing stuff and I didn't know where it came from,
but then I just look down and it's like, 'Whoah, I just wrote that?'
It's crazy! And then I think about it and I know where it comes
from – it comes from reading books."
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