1. Building Communities – Researching Literacy
Lives 2009
“From sharing myself with the children I have learnt more
about me”
It took both myself and a colleague a while to choose
two/three children to focus on, and making a final decision
came down to the fact that within my class I have 14 children
who are EAL, this number is high for a school in Tunbridge
Wells.
JA is a year three boy he has an older sister who attends
Bennett Memorial School who use to attend St. Barnabas CE
Primary. The family moved from Lamore in Pakistan to England,
moving to Tunbridge Wells to settle. Deciding that north
England was not the area they family wanted to settle,
however, Birmingham was a choice. Mr A came over eight years
ago initially to find employment opportunities and schooling.
After some thought, Tunbridge Wells was an ideal location for
the family, as it is close to London, good transport links, as well
as a lovely location.
The family wanted to improve their quality of life for both
employment opportunities and education for the children.
The second child was DB a yr two child who also has an older
brother in yr 5. This family came from Slovakia who moved to
the UK 4 years ago, to improve quality of life and employment
opportunities. The schooling system is more intense in the UK,
the Slovakian education system is different and children don’t
start school until 7 years old. (I will go into further details
about DB and his family shortly)

2. It was a tough decision to make between the two case children.
After some careful thoughts, DB is the child I am going to
focus on.
Before starting the project I didn’t know a lot about D, in
terms of reading, writing, speaking and listening. When joining
Beech class in September, D moved up from Reception class -
Acorn class, so missed out in Willow class in year one, due to
numbers and class size, therefore he missed out a whole year
of learning and interacting with his peers, and was use to play
not to read or write in the structured sense of the curriculum.
However, he did settle in to Beech class, but is easily
distracted, causing distraction to others close by. He finds it
hard to concentrate and remain focused on the activity. He is
receiving one to one focus with the better reading partners
programme.
D’s reading level at the start of the year was: P5; his writing
level was: P6; speaking and listening were P6.
D at the time found concentrating on a task hard; however, it
did improve throughout the term. His strength is maths, and is
quick to answer mental maths style questions.
On reflection from the learner visit I have found out that the
relationship between mum and dad is different; dad is the
dominant parent. The role of the parents – mum as a mother,
carer, nurturer, mum does work in the chocolate factory with
dad. Dad has two jobs and his training to extend his learning.
For a family who have moved from Slovakia, they live in a nice,
semi detached Victorian house in a road 2 minutes from school
and work.
D has a dislike for reading and writing at home and at school.
He does not read or write at home and won’t do anything other

3. than listen to the music channel and watch documentaries with
his father.
As the language for all the family is still a barrier, there
speaking in the household is Slovakian, D can speak and read
Slovakian, but does not write Slovakian. The boys don’t read
much at home, mum has a Collins dictionary at hand, so she can
translate and look up words for her understanding. The father
was on the second home visit reading Dan Brown – A digital
fortress in Slovakian.
As mum and dad are both working hard, the boys are often left
to do things independently, there is not enough time I think
spending quality time with the boys, sitting down at the table
to listen to D read and do homework. This has been more
evident these past few terms in school. D’s attitude has
changed; his behaviour is disruptive and has caused problems in
school, which I feel as I know the back ground of the family is
down to parenting, quality time spent with D to teach him the
values and modern day morals which is missing in a lot of
today’s homes.
Jumping back to J’s family life, the one thing I was surprised
about was the family home, the fact that how the home was
set up, but then the family are from Pakistan. The kitchen was
very small and in both visits the parent’s bedroom doubled up
as the living room. The children slept on a mattress on the
floor. The fact that J was the younger sibling, his older sister
was very much in control, always answering for J, not giving him
the chance to speak himself. There are so many things that I
have noticed about J’s behaviour in the classroom that makes
sense now I have visited the family in the home. Always asking
questions, but the questions are very basic, sometimes with no
relevance to what we are talking about in the classroom.

4. Now that I have this new knowledge my view of not only the
two focus children, but the view of my class has changed. I am
taking a step backwards, taking the time to allow children to
express themselves as children and not take anything as face
value.
As a teacher and as a person the children have seen me in a
different light, out of the school environment, in their home
environment, where their behaviour is different as well. I have
been able to take this knowledge of the children and put
together a topic that is based around the children’s interests
based on what I have found out and develop this with the rest
of the class. The topic was based on the ‘seaside’ a history
focus to start with; however, as I live on the coast it was an
interest of mine as well. The children knew that I often take a
walk along the sea front to clear my thoughts and get some
fresh air and all of this was a basis for a topic that has
engaged the children on all levels.
This project has also changed my views of reading, writing,
speaking and listening. I believe that as long as the children are
reading, and are engaged at home it does not matter what they
are reading; reading a book aloud at home to parents/carers or
adults is very helpful as it allows children to make mistakes and
learn from these reading mistakes and learn new words in their
vocabulary, but also if they are reading comics, the subtitles of
the football scores on sky sports, a takeaway menu or a bus
timetable.
Chatting with a friend at the weekend, she was asking about
the project and her comments made me realise and reinforces
that without reading books, enjoying reading for pleasure will
not happen. Amy said quote” Up to the age of 10 my mum read
to me the Beatrix potter stories, and so then started to read

5. ‘The Famous Five’ on my own from the age of 11. When
questioned from my school teacher, “What are you reading
those books for? “ I stopped reading for about four years. I
am now a slow reader and find reading for pleasure hard.
The relationship I now have with all my parents in my class has
changed, since the project started. I feel that the relationship
is more intense and open, and the topic that the class has been
involved in, has involved the families in all levels, especially with
the school trip to the seaside town of Hastings.
The planning for this topic was thought about carefully,
however, my planning concept has changed, as the topic is not
necessarily led by me, I would give the idea, and it’s the
children who direct which way they want the topic to go. It
has been great that I have the flexibility to put together a
topic. Reading, speaking and listening has been a huge focus in
the classroom, and it has been useful and interesting to allow
more time for this.
For future practices I believe that Building communities of
readers and researching Literacy lives is the way forward.
Reading, writing, speaking and listening is the crux of children’s
learning, so understanding the children’s home experiences
allows a development and a passion for interest.
I believe that as a class teacher at the start of a school year,
and through out the year a selection of children should be
identified for home visits. This should be part of school policy,
which will develop stronger partnerships with parents.

6. The most significant strand in this project for me gave me an
understanding how I teach and an opportunity to stand back
and reflect how I teach.
“It is important for all of us, to read for pleasure and be
inspired in what we read, based on our interests. During
this project I have made changes to my personal life, I
started a new relationship which ended 2 months ago now
and researching and reading about psychology – currently
dipping in and out of the Love chapters “The road less
travelled by M. Scott Peck which is teaching things about
me that I never knew and who I am as a person. Allowing
me to make changes and improvements to my life so I can
find the right man in my life to settle down with, as this is
not only an interest but it is my life as well, that I want to
get right!! “

7. The most significant strand in this project for me gave me an
understanding how I teach and an opportunity to stand back
and reflect how I teach.
“It is important for all of us, to read for pleasure and be
inspired in what we read, based on our interests. During
this project I have made changes to my personal life, I
started a new relationship which ended 2 months ago now
and researching and reading about psychology – currently
dipping in and out of the Love chapters “The road less
travelled by M. Scott Peck which is teaching things about
me that I never knew and who I am as a person. Allowing
me to make changes and improvements to my life so I can
find the right man in my life to settle down with, as this is
not only an interest but it is my life as well, that I want to
get right!! “