A Ten-Minute Reading Session Every Morning

Reading Helps Promote Good Personal Character-

A morning reading campaign began in 2005 when principal Kang Bok-deuk of Beomseo Elementary School in Ulsan took the helm of his school in March 2004. He came up with this idea, believing that a lot of reading develops good personal character.

In order to use around 70 teachers as reading instructors, Kang purchased six volumes of nine kinds of reading guide books, including, ‘Ten minutes of reading in the morning works miracles’ (Hiroshi Hayashi); ‘How to read a book’ (Mortimer Adler); and ‘Reading education with teachers’ (Teachers making the better world with books).

He also banned all activities interfering with morning reading, such as morning cleaning and all school meeting broadcasts on Mondays, energy saving announcements on Wednesdays, and class recreation on Fridays. Teachers are required to read with their students as well.

The school library had only about 7,000 books when it was founded in March 2005, but now with the help of Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power, the school development fund, and its alumni, it contains as many as 32,000. This elementary school has the largest book collection among domestic elementary schools.

This Year’s Reading King Read 611 Books -

An average student read 57 books last year. Kim Ju-hyeong, a second grader, won an award after reading 611 books.

Nam Hae-in, 13, a sixth grader whose dream is to become a diplomat, said, “ When there was no school library, I couldn’t read the books I wanted to, but now I read 5 to 10 books weekly. I am happier when I read books in the library than when I sit in front of a computer.”

Seung Yeong-ok, 49, a head teacher in the reading department, said, “I am not sure whether this is the result of the morning reading campaign, but like a habit, many students come to the library during breaks.”

Jeong Gong-ju, 39, a parent who is working as an assistant in the school library, said, “ I feel proud of my child, who is a fourth grader, because she reads wherever she goes and whenever she has time.”

At the request of students who want to extend reading time, which was five minutes initially, the reading time has increased to 10 minutes since last year. Starting next year, it will be extended to 15 minutes.

Thanks to the campaign, this school took first place in the group category of the national essay competition hosted by the Joongang Essay Academy, receiving 300 books as a supplementary prize.

Designated As an Exemplary School-

This school, which opened with only one class in November 1927, was once on the verge of closing down for a lack of students as people moved to the cities. However, since 2000, when large apartment complexes began to be built around the school, the number of students increased.

After a new elementary school was set up nearby in March 2005, the school split the students and has now 57 classrooms and 1,889 students.

From 2005 to last year, it was designated as a school for studying energy-saving policy with a lot of hands-on educational activities to encourage making it a habit to save energy.

For three years starting last year, the school was also designated as an exemplary school and it has been planting trees and flowers exclusively around the playground.

“After beginning the morning reading campaign and greening the school, students became more mature and brighter. I will find various ways to encourage students and local residents to read more books,” said principal Kang.

raks@donga.com