In 2018, I started the first Open University (OU) and UK Literacy Association (UKLA) Teachers’ Reading Group in Dubai. 

The OU/UKLA support more than one hundred such groups in the UK and beyond, and their purpose is to provide free evidence-based CPD for teachers, librarians and school staff to enrich their understanding of reading for pleasure (RfP) and help them embed it in their school community. 

Before lockdown, members of our group, which consisted of educators from across Dubai, were busy implementing various projects in their schools to promote reading for pleasure - from creating cosy reading spaces in classrooms to lunchtime comic clubs. 

However, as the pandemic forced us all online, we knew we had to rethink our work to fit into this new virtual world - while ensuring we didn’t fall foul of copyright restrictions or were overly reliant on screens.

Why RfP matters

The research undertaken by Professor Teresa Cremin from the OU underpins the work of our Teachers’ Reading Group and this shows that reading for pleasure not only raises attainment across the curriculum, but helps children build empathy, increases general knowledge, and helps them become life-long readers. 

Reading aloud is a crucial part of this.

We know from experience the value it brings to our children - not only in their enjoyment of a wide range of texts and stories, but in language and vocabulary acquisition, and inference and visual literacy skills. 

As such taking reading aloud online was a simple solution - but one that brought with it opportunities to innovate and exploit the technology to make it a more meaningful experience.

Getting started

To get started I raided the IT department for a visualiser and bought myself a decent microphone for about £50 to ensure the audiovisual experience was as high quality as possible.

Then, the teachers and I found a set time for me to read to their classes every day or for 20 minutes through our school’s Microsoft Teams platform under the name Library Live!

We divided the primary classes into three groups: Years 1 and 2, Years 3 and 4, and Years 5 and 6, so that I could read different types of books to each group, with sessions timetabled before and after lunch.

We also had the option to playback the sessions afterwards if pupils were unable to take part at the time. The recordings remained available on our internal network for a month, after which I deleted them to comply with copyright regulations.

From my own point of view I found reading to a camera and not being able to see the children or have spontaneous conversations as we read difficult at first - but in time it became natural.

I also made sure that I replied to all the conversations on Teams, and as each class had a dedicated Library channel, we could chat and reflect afterwards in their channels.

The Boo! factor

Another of the crucial findings of the OU/UKLA RfP research was the importance of choice in fostering a love of reading, and it was vital this was incorporated into our Library Live! sessions.

As such I devised four book categories - Old, New, Non Fiction and Boo! (a mystery book) - and every day the children were able to read about each book and vote for their favourite in a SurveyMonkey form. 

Often the ‘Boo!’ choice won - everyone loves a surprise - so as we progressed I introduced an element of chance by spinning a wheel of fortune (an impulse Ikea purchase) to ensure a diversity of stories.

Picture a Story Live!

But how to make listening to stories a less screen-based and passive activity? 

Inspired by an event at the Edinburgh Book Festival years ago where James Mayhew painted live as he told stories and played music, I enlisted our talented art teachers and we produced five “Picture a Story” sessions as after-school events.

We decided to use traditional tales from around the world as our theme, and I got permission from Hilary McKay and Kevin Crossley-Holland to read chapters from their books - Straw into Gold and Norse Myths - and as I read, the teachers drew and painted the story and the children, parents and teachers watching joined in with them.

You can see a selection of the pictures painted by pupils and teachers below - click on the pictures to scroll through.

Author permissions

As the event was broadcast beyond our internal school network (to allow our Foundation Stage families to join in), I felt it was necessary to check with the authors first to get their permissions.

This had the unintended outcomes of some of them wanting to take part, with Crossley-Holland tuning in to watch - which was both thrilling and nerve wracking!

For our finale, we ended with tales from Geraldine McCaughrean’s One Thousand and One Arabian Nights, and one of our music teachers played The Arabian Dance from The Nutcracker on the piano from her house.

However, because of the way Teams is set up we had to pre-record this and stream it straight from the computer.

That’s one lesson that’s vital: do a run-through first to make sure everything works smoothly.

Overall, it was a huge success; parents and children all enjoyed the slow, gentle and meditative experience of watching art being created in front of them, and the opportunity to join in, too. 

Amazing drawing by @LucyPayn4 to the perfectly crafted story by @hilary_mckay this afternoon for our first Picture A Story Live. Some joined in and drew, others were just mesmerised by the picture unfolding on screen and in words. Thank you both! @KHDA @OpenUni_RfP @GreatSchLibs pic.twitter.com/jzamr5ENBm

- Hartland International School Libraries (@HISchoolLibrary) April 15, 2020

A huge impact

The impact that both Library Live! and Picture a Story had on the children was significant: viewing figures for Picture a Story regularly reached more than 300 unique views and the children enjoyed being able to see the book so clearly through the visualiser as I read it aloud.

As the summer holiday stretches ahead of us - with many families unable to travel and forced to stay inside by the unbearable Dubai heat - I emailed parents to ask whether they would be interested in a Library Live summer edition.

The response has been extraordinary, with well more than 60 people wanting to tune in, and more than 50 children expressing an interest in an online book club.

Clearly remote teaching should be no barrier for encouraging reading for pleasure.

Mary-Rose Grieve is the Librarian at Hartland International School in Dubai, and was the 2019 UAE School Librarian of the Year