The Reading Buddies Program is Back!
Written by Dr. Isabirye
CIS’s Reading Buddies program is proud to be entering its fourth year here at CIS, with more participants than ever. This year, a record number of junior high students are serving as “big buddies,” and they’re excited to help their younger peers develop their English literacy skills and to foster a love of reading. Each day, three pairs of “buddies” meet up one-on-one for ten enjoyable minutes of reading at the end of their lunch breaks. Some of this year’s junior high mentors were also “little buddies” themselves when they were in elementary school, and are now continuing that legacy.
Tini, a grade 12 student, has taken over as the student leader of the program, with the help of advisor Mr. Fergus. Tini says that organizing Reading Buddies has been both a joy and a challenge. Coordinating the schedules of more than twenty students hasn’t been easy, but she’s excited to see how the program helps students at every stage of reading. “Our buddies really help develop pronunciation,” she says, “especially for hard to pronounce things like ‘ed’ and ‘s’ at the end of words.” For Tini, one of the biggest benefits of reading aloud is that it helps readers develop an understandable spoken English accent. “Sometimes our buddies can understand what’s written, but speaking clearly is a lot harder.” The one-on-one attention of Reading Buddies gives students the opportunity to practice their English reading and speaking skills in a fun, low pressure environment. For older students, Reading Buddies is a wonderful way to give back to the CIS community and forge relationships across age groups. Way to go, buddies!
