Reading Culture – The strong foundation of Education

Reading culture is one of the essential factors in building a solid foundation for the development of education, particularly in the country as a whole. At UTS, we encourage our “Seeds” to develop their love of reading through daily habits from their early years. UTS believes that cultivating a reading culture is an important steppingstone for the journey of a global citizen in the 21st century.

What is reading culture? 

Reading culture is a phrase that expresses the reading behavior, reading values, and reading standards of each individual and the whole social community (according to Mr. Nguyen Huu Viem, National Library of Vietnam). In the conference “Books and Revitalising Education” in 2012, participating professors pointed out three factors that makeup reading culture: reading habits, book selection methods, and reading skills. The formation of the above three factors will determine whether the development of reading culture is positive or not.

In the current context of global integration, each individual needs to constantly improve themselves, and forming a positive reading culture is one of the core things for individuals and the community, in general, to develop sustainably.

The importance of reading culture in personal development 

Reading culture plays a key role in perfecting human skills and personality through the following values:

• Providing knowledge
• Developing emotional intelligence quotient (EQ)
• Improving communication skills
• Training thinking in everything

The experience and quintessence of our predecessors are often summarised and preserved today in the form of books and documents, so reading culture is a means to help us receive that huge source of knowledge. In addition, reading also helps us absorb many other thoughts, philosophies, and perspectives to have a more comprehensive and objective view of life, and develop emotional intelligence (EQ) when learning to understand many different stories. Reading a lot also helps enrich language skills, creating a premise for improving communication skills. Finally, reading diverse content will lead us into many specific contexts, requiring a prominent level of imagination, thanks to which we can face many problems in life and practice thinking.

The values that cultivate the habit of reading books and documents, in general, support the learning and development process of everyone. For that reason, schools or educational centers encourage their students to read more and especially encourage the formation of a reading culture for children from an early age.

A child’s experiences in the first years of life greatly influence their habits and behavior in the future. In a study on reading culture by Professor Vu Thi Thu Ha, she also made recommendations for the right direction in reading methods and reading skills at an early age for children.

Cultivating reading culture for students from an early age at UTS  

Understanding the importance of cultivating reading habits for children from an early age will affect the development of their reading culture in the future. US Vietnam Talent International School – UTS has helped children become familiar with books through picture books and teacher interpretation right from pre-school to high school.

Regarding the curriculum, UTS fosters a reading culture through the extensive reading program and the Bookworm program, which provides students with reading sessions at the library with multi-genre books in English and Vietnamese. With young “Seeds,” UTS encourages children to get used to “seeing” books to “reading” books, through Show&Tell storytelling sessions, from which children can maintain their habits and love of reading books in the next years of their lives.

Additionally, to encourage and maintain a reading culture, UTS also regularly organizes reading contests and book reviews for classes and all students in the school, such as UTS Voice and Book Review. Students can take advantage of the large library at the school to discover new books. Competitions aimed at developing a reading culture at UTS do not stop at Vietnamese, but extend to English, such as creative writing and story creation competitions offered by the International Programme.

More specifically, the campus and facilities at UTS are also optimized to encourage a reading culture for students in the school. In addition to the library, each classroom is also equipped with a separate bookshelf for students to enjoy stories in the most spontaneous way, creating opportunities for children to develop language skills and love reading anytime, anywhere.

Reading culture is an element that needs more attention in the current era of digital technology and fast information. Hopefully, through this article, UTS can help parents and children better understand this phrase as well as consider developing a reading culture for themselves and those around them. Education is the premise for forming a reading culture while reading culture is the steppingstone of education to develop and support the development of comprehensive thinking for readers.

“You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.”

Mahatma Gandhi