We really need graded readers

Some of you will recall the old, widely used Bibliobus collection of French readers for use from Y7 to Y9. If you don’t, these were box sets of colour-coded readers, graded by level, richly illustrated, on a wide range of topics. each box contained, from memory, around 50 stories or non-fiction texts. My friend Steve Glover of dolanguages.com reminded me the other day that he had a hand in the writing a few of them. Guardian cartoonist Steve Bell did illustrations for some.

It was no doubt the cost of printing such a colourful and rich resource which led to their demise. In the hands of young readers they became scruffy within a few years and were costly to replace at nearly £100 a box. In addition, departments must feel they don’t have the time to allocate to quiet reading. Not to mention the fact that teachers want to feel busy! I recall one charming young Y7 girl saying to me on one occasion:  “Do you get bored as we just read on our own?”

I used the readers withY7 and Y8 classes, once a week for a period of several weeks each year. The cleverly written, well illustrated material meant that the content was easy enough to understand, and students could move through the different levels at their own pace. Each box contained sets of different colour-coded booklets and pupils could move up from easier to harder as they wished. Vocabulary glosses were provided.

We were lucky to have four timetabled slots a week, so I felt it was worth allocating a lesson a week over about eight weeks to free reading. (It was also a welcome rest for me - don’t knock it!)

So called free voluntary reading or “sustained silent reading” is recommended for language acquisition, notably by Stephen Krashen, who in recent years has made it a major focus. The reading material can reinforce previously learned language and create the conditions for implicit learning to occur (“picking up” the language). In addition, many of the booklets contained interesting cultural content.

To my knowledge, there has never been a real successor to Bibliobus - and I’m talking about the 1990s here. Please comment below if I am in error! Story books for young French readers don’t cut the mustard since the vocabulary can be too obscure and the past historic tense is not a neat fit with the needs if our learners. Other collections I have seen aren't carefully graded for difficulty enough or as rich in content. The cost of writing and printing similar books may, stress may, be prohibitive. But I wonder if there is scope for an online equivalent. You would still need a good deal of writing skill and knowledge of the UK syllabuses, as well as high quality illustrations. But going online would take printing cost and degradation out of the equation.

We just need someone to do it!