Impressive activities during Vinschool Book Week – Northern Primary Schools

Vinschool Book Week 2019 was held in October at Vinschool Primary schools in the Northern region with many activities, highlights, deep impressions, and meaningful experiences for students and helped nurture, spread, and develop the reading culture.

Reading experiences through a wide range of activities
There were many new and exciting reading activities held by schools, inspiring students and teachers alike, and helping them pick up the reading habit and develop a passion for books.

 These colorful reading tents were set up at Vinschool Green Bay Primary School. Reading activities were tailored to the children’s age: “Reading with brothers and sisters” (grade 1, grade 5); Creative story-telling with pictures (grade 2); Read and reflect (grade 3, grade 4).

Minh Minh (Class 3B1) shared: “This is the first time I have read in such a pretty tent with my friends. We were so excited, especially when we read Alice Through the Looking Glass. We have done the Book Work activity together in groups and divided the work within each group in order to find answers to the questions. Working in a tent makes us feel like we are camping”.

Alongside the “Writing reading journal” activity which is carried on throughout the school year, a reading environment was also created for the students through the activity “Reading together” held at the beginning and the end of every school day. The teachers and students of Vinschool Times City Primary School – T35 all started and ended their school day by putting their work aside and picking up a book. This time is called DEAR (Drop Everything and Read) time.

DEAR time was piloted by 5th graders and then expanded to all the teachers and students in the school. Each student started their school day with reading from 7:30 AM until 7:55 AM and then ended their day by reading from 3:30 PM until 3:55 PM as well. The books came from different sources. There were books on the reading list for each grade, the children’s favorite books, and books that were donated by parents. Walking across the classrooms at the beginning and end of a school day, you could feel the positive energy everywhere; it was the energy from the teachers’ and students’ love for books.

“The Good, the Bad, and Fairy Tales” was the book chosen for the nearly 1,500 Vinsers of Vinschool The Harmony Primary School to read and to think about. The book is made in the form of an artbook comic, and it is a collection of 16 classic Vietnamese fairy tales like “Starfruit tree”, “One-hundred-knot bamboo plant”, “Son Tinh (Mountain God) – Thuy Tinh (Water God)”, etc. which are told in novel and creative ways.

A creative environment for students

The students also had a chance to take part in competitions such as Bookmark Design, Book Cover Design – Comic Writing, Junior Writers, etc. to show their reading passion and creativity. Schools also created opportunities for the students to meet guest speakers, namely: Ms. Phan Ho Diep, Poet Tran Dang Khoa, Journalist Pham Thi Hoai Anh, and many more. They inspired the students with their love of reading and their experiences as writers. Many Vinsers completed their first writing works during the Book Week.

To help their budding writers gain more experiences in the “Junior Writers” competition, Vinschool Times City Primary School – T36 held a meeting with Tran Duc Toan, a young writer from Vinschool GATE Center. He is one of the authors of the book entitled “So that I will roar you gently”, which was introduced to readers very recently.

Students at Vinschool Times City Primary School – T36 also got to meet Poet Tran Dang Khoa, the author of the poem “My village’s rice seeds”. The activity called “How to write a poem?” with Khoa really excited the students.

For the very first time, Vinsers at Vinschool Imperia Primary School had a meeting with Ms. Phan Ho Diep, mother of child prodigy Do Nhat Nam. At the meeting, Vinsers listened to the story of Elmer, the elephant, and the two peas. Ms. Phan Ho Diep also shared the real and vivid stories about how much Do Nhat Nam loved books since he was very young. The Vinsers learnt how to tell a story, how to write a story, and how to be creative with one’s own story, too. Ms. Diep shared: “To write a good story, you should draw pictures and use words to describe them – that’s the easiest way to realize your ideas”.

Parents help spread the reading culture with children
To join hands with the schools in cultivating the reading habit among students, parents actively participated in the competitions like “Reading with Your Child”, “Book Challenge”, “Book Review”, “Wise Men”, “Ring the Golden Bell”, and more.

As the Book Week came to an end, Vinsers from all Vinschool Primary Schools in the North had an exciting Book Fair Day. The most active Vinsers/classes were given prizes and certificates for their activities. The competitions, including “My Beloved Character”, “Rhythm of Books”, “Book Review”, were vividly reproduced on the stage of the Book Fair Day.

With its interesting and useful activities, Vinschool Book Week 2019 once again strengthened the school-family relationships and the bonds between teachers and students by helping students develop and maintain a reading habit and spreading the reading culture throughout Vinschool.