Volunteering to Learn More
Accelerating Foreign Language with FVR
Ask the average person how exciting language acquisition
is, and you’ll hear begrudging recollections of failed
vocabulary drills.
It’s easy for adults to forget a time when language
acquisition was the most exciting part of their lives —
during their childhoods, with stepping stone stories.
Early, relatable books gave them a real sense of progress,
vocabulary and grammar included.
Catalina Sanchez has not forgotten the power of a simple
story to drive children’s language acquisition instincts.
As a Spanish teacher at St. Ephrem School, she sets
aside special time every week for Free Voluntary Reading
— helping students acquire Spanish with enthusiasm,
context, and confidence.
Working with her school to build a collection that covers
a range of reading skill levels, Sanchez makes this Free
Voluntary Reading library available to each class once a
week. Her seventh and eighth grade students are invited
to choose any book they wish and read for 8 minutes,
building on their Spanish lessons with a story they can
understand.
“The texts are so simple that students recognize
how simple they are,” Sanchez told us. “They keep
going to higher level books. It makes them feel
successful because they can understand a book
that is completely in Spanish.”
This sense of accomplishment and a desire to move up to
more interesting (and therefore difficult) texts is a much
stronger motivator than drills
or grades. In fact, Sanchez’s
students are not graded or
tested on their Free Voluntary
Reading time at all — yet she
continues to see participation
rates over 90%.
La oruga muy
hambrienta
¿Sabías que a los
dragones les
encantan los tacos?
Sanchez began Free Voluntary Reading last
year after adopting the Teaching Proficiency
through Reading and Storytelling methodology.
Previously she had taken a more traditional quiz and
worksheet approach to language instruction, but found
that it was difficult to retain student interest long-term.
“On the test, students would do fine, but, after the
test… gone. It was as if I never explained it, like it never
happened.”
By contrast, Sanchez is now seeing students retain new
concepts easily, especially if it’s entertaining. In one
particularly popular book, a boy who hides a dog from his
mother fails to clean up all the evidence.
“In the story, the mom gets very worried that her son
is going to the bathroom throughout the house,” Sanchez