After the first TOELF test in my fifth grade, it was obvious that the reading skill was not nearly as good as the listening skill. Therefore, I decided to see if it made any improvements on the students reading score if we read more in class. We have been reading for 20 minutes almost every week since October and the students and I was eager to see if it had had any impact.
When I got the new test results from April, it was clear that the reading skill have improved. Some by a lot, and some not so much - but all students have improved. When I talked with the students about it, a lot of them talked about the confidence it has given them to read more in English. They are now not afraid to read English books, and know how to read books, even if they are a bit difficult. They know how to use the dictionary while reading, and how to read ahead if there is something, they do not understand.
One of my students said: Before I never read the text when I played my online games, but now I have found out, that I actually understand most of it.
The try-out has shown me, that it is important that we practice the different skills in English, and the effort the students put in it is worth it. I will continue to have a lot of focus on reading next year, both to practice the reading itself, but also to improve the students vocabulary.