College library helps students enter magical world of stories

Bradford College’s Library is running its biggest-ever reading challenge where every member of the College community, students and staff, is invited to participate in the Big Read.

In this challenge, everyone who takes part is asked to read six books in six months. They then need to record them in a Big Read booklet, given to each student by the library.

A group of English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) students have signed up for the challenge to support their reading and listening skills. Cristina Nicolae, Team Leader for ESOL at Bradford College, said: “ESOL learners aged 16 – 18 have benefitted from tailored reading sessions weekly.”

Students and staff have entered into the spirit, having their photos taken in the library’s Big Read selfie frame with their new books.

Bradford College Library has also launched a short story competition for Storytelling week (30 Jan – 31 Mar). Staff and students have been invited to put forward writing in the form of a story or play, comic strip, poetry or digital animation. Please submit your entries here https://library.bradfordcollege.ac.uk/getcreative/writing.

Lakshmi Banner, Library Team Leader said: “The Library has a huge range of stories for readers of all abilities and interests. We welcome everyone to explore our simplified readers, quick reads and reading collection books, enter our Big Read competition, and even write something of their own.”

All written entries will be collected into an anthology available to borrow from the library, while winners will be published on its Creative Writing online library guide. The three most popular stories will win a £20 love2shop voucher.

Cristina said: “Over 60 learners in the 16-18 programme have been immersed into the magic world of stories and worked with ESOL lecturers and librarians on creating their own stories and book reviews. They have developed more confidence in English and increased their digital skills through using tools such as Adobe Spark, Storybook, Padlet and Wakelet.”