When I was in primary school, the education ministry launched the U.S.S.R. Programme for schools. What, you may ask, is the U.S.S.R. Programme? In those days we knew U.S.S.R. as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic.
So our education ministry, in a bid to improve our reading scores and encourage students to read and improve their English, incorporated the Uninterrupted Silent Sustained Reading into the curriculum, where students had to spend at least fifteen minutes of pre-assembly time reading a book, and one whole period during the teachers' contact time reading. In my school, those without a book would be warned. Three warnings would warrant a punishment. Hence U.S.S.R.
But judging from the number of people who actually read or are well-versed in books nowadays, somehow I feel this U.S.S.R. Programme is not that successful. I hardly meet people who read, at least not locals. The books in our libraries and bookshops are pretty run-of-the-mill and not that many variety. I guess that cannot be helped because the locals here are only interested in certain genres, hence I hardly ever find some books I really want.
On the other hand, at the eatery where my brother works, it happens to be where the Caucasians stay and visit frequently, so their mini library is filled with books written by Maxine Hong-Kingston, Somerset Maugham, Conn IgGulden to name a few - books which I hardly find in local libraries and bookstores! Imagine a small eatery with just a little shelf can contain much better books than a big bookstore!
Come to think of it, I hardly have time to do real U.S.S.R. ever since I finished school. And that was so long back. Think we should all incorporate U.S.S.R. into our lives so we can make it a point to set aside some time every day to do sone real reading!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
So our education ministry, in a bid to improve our reading scores and encourage students to read and improve their English, incorporated the Uninterrupted Silent Sustained Reading into the curriculum, where students had to spend at least fifteen minutes of pre-assembly time reading a book, and one whole period during the teachers' contact time reading. In my school, those without a book would be warned. Three warnings would warrant a punishment. Hence U.S.S.R.
But judging from the number of people who actually read or are well-versed in books nowadays, somehow I feel this U.S.S.R. Programme is not that successful. I hardly meet people who read, at least not locals. The books in our libraries and bookshops are pretty run-of-the-mill and not that many variety. I guess that cannot be helped because the locals here are only interested in certain genres, hence I hardly ever find some books I really want.
On the other hand, at the eatery where my brother works, it happens to be where the Caucasians stay and visit frequently, so their mini library is filled with books written by Maxine Hong-Kingston, Somerset Maugham, Conn IgGulden to name a few - books which I hardly find in local libraries and bookstores! Imagine a small eatery with just a little shelf can contain much better books than a big bookstore!
Come to think of it, I hardly have time to do real U.S.S.R. ever since I finished school. And that was so long back. Think we should all incorporate U.S.S.R. into our lives so we can make it a point to set aside some time every day to do sone real reading!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
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