Creating role models of reading - Through national, regional and local competitions

Abstract

To improve the reading abilities of students in sixth grade several pilot projects have used national, regional and local competition to prove that reading is cool. The aim is to create role models of reading instead of book droppers. This paper describes two of these projects: “The national championship of reading” and “Ready, set, answer”. “The national championship of reading” is inspired by a similar Dutch project. The aim of the competition is to make it prestigious to read and be good at reading aloud. “Ready, set, answer” is a quiz, which is build around all kinds of reading. This competition is not focused only on novels.