B Is for Book

CHILD: Once upon a time, in a little primary school,

some children set out on an extraordinary journey.

Millions of children go on this journey.

But then they become grown-ups and they forget it ever happened.

Since we were born, we've looked at these strange squiggles.

They're everywhere.

But we can't understand them.

This is the story of how we learn to break the code.

It's a mad, bad tale,

epic in scale.

Words become swords,

like driving a plane through the brain.

We'll find friends, not fiends.

And we'll be redding...

Uh, I mean, reading.

We'll discover for ourselves a magical, mysterious,

wonderful universe of books.

-Boo!

-CHILDREN STARTLE

Start getting up

very slowly,

as if you're a butterfly coming out of a cocoon.

You can spread your wings very slowly.

CHILDREN YAWN

This is my class.

And this is me.

And today is the start of the new school year.

When some of the children come to Kingsmead,

they don't know the alphabet. They don't know how to hold a book.

They don't know which way the pages turn.

They don't know how to follow the text in a book.

It's all new to them.

It's a huge journey.

A massive journey.

You can meet the whole world in my school.

There are 244 children,

47 different languages,

15 chickens

and two rabbits.

I practise reading a thousand times in 29 minutes.

You have to look after books because they're precious

and you can't throw them in the bin.

-Juh.

-KIDS: Juh!

-Zz.

-KIDS: Zz.

-Uh.

-KIDS: Uh!

-Kk.

-KIDS: Kk.

-Yeh.

-KIDS: Yeh.

-Yeh!

-KIDS: Yeh!

-Yeh!

-KIDS: Yeh!

-Ss.

-KIDS: Ss.

-Ss.

-KIDS: Ss.

-Wah.

-KIDS: Wah.

-Vv.

-KIDS: Vv.

-Peh.

-KIDS: Peh.

'Our story begins with these strange sounds,

'which we say for hours every day.'

It's called f-o-n-y-x.

Phonics.

It's a language that only children can understand.

-Yh.

-KIDS: Yh!

-Beh.

-KIDS: Beh!

-Qwah.

-KIDS: Qwah!

-Say p-p-pirate!

-KIDS: P-p-pirate!

Make your scariest pirate face.

KIDS: ARGH!

Fantastic.

Well done. Give yourself a marshmallow clap.

Just a little small marshmallow. Just a little small one.

Expectations are very, very high in reception.

And they are only four years old.

When I think about when I was in reception,

I thought the only thing I did was learn how to make my name

out of Play-Doh. And then they come here

and we expect them to be reading independently

by the time they leave.

Ssss. Ah.

Mm. And ff. And uh. And ah.

And, erm...

Duh and nn.

Ah. Buh. And buh.

There's no buh there.

Duh, nn.

Ah.

Ll.

Ff. Ss.

Ah.

Sienna.

I don't know. Does it say that?

Sienna wants to be a teacher.

Or she has also told me she wants to be a butterfly.

She is very, very sweet.

Very caring, very loving.

But lacks confidence with her reading,

so she needs a lot of praise just to keep on going.

N, A, T.

Ink.

D, A, P.

Bat.

M, A, T.

-Mat.

-Nearly, look at the last sound.

-What's the last sound?

-Mm. Nn.

-What's the last sound? Nn.

Nn. M, A, N.

-Nat.

-You're nearly there. Are you ready? Watch.

Mm, ah, nn. Mm, ah, nn.

-Mum.

-Man.

-Man.

-Man.

-Man.

-Man.

-Mam.

-Man-n.

-Man.

-Do the N sound at the end.

-Mm, ah, nn.

-Mm, ah, mm.

-Is it mm?

-Mm, ah, nn.

Nn. Nn.

-Good.

-Nn. Mm, ah, nn.

-Man.

-Man.

-Good girl, you're doing good, Sienna.

Like most of the children at our school,

Sienna lives next door,

on the Kingsmead Estate.

-INTERVIEWER:

-Have you got some books, Sienna?

Erm, I don't read with the books.

I don't like having books.

I don't like books.

What's wrong with books?

Sienna?

-What's wrong with the books?

-I just don't like reading.

Look at this!

She's just crazy, lovable, fun.

A bit bossy.

-TOY:

-'Look, I'm a pony! Ha-ha!'

Lovable. Did I say that already?

-TOY:

-'Aren't you excited, aren't you, aren't you?'

Sometimes she's like a little granny.

And then sometimes she's like a teenager.

And then sometimes she's a four-year-old.

-Why don't we read this one? You liked this one.

-Nah.

-Please?

-No.

I don't like that.

Where's my favourite book? I found it.

But, Mummy, I'm not going to read all of it.

I just want to say the animals.

Tiger.

Monkey.

Rhinososaurus.

-Cowl.

-Cow.

Cow. What are these?

Read it.

What does it say?

Little froggies.

T...

-Read the letters out, and you'll find the answer.

-T...

-No, you read it.

-No, cos I want you to learn.

T-A-D...

Tad...

-Tadpoles.

-Tadpoles.

-Is it difficult to get her to read?

-Sh!

-When she's being fussy, it's kind of annoying.

-Be quiet!

It should be her choice what she wants to read anyway.

-Be quiet!

-OK, sorry, go on, then.

-Shush.

-B... B...

-B... Be quiet!

-Come on.

-Now, lion, baboon with a red bum,

wildebeest, giraffe, impala...

William is also in reception.

He lives with his mum and his brother.

He's only two.

Bye, Mummy.

Who's ready? Are you ready?

'Sienna and William came to the nursery together,

'so they have already been in the same school for a year.'

Apparently, William and Sienna are boyfriend and girlfriend.

What does that mean?

I'm not too sure. Probably that they just enjoy

spending time with one another, I think.

I don't think they even know!

# If you're happy and you know it, don't squash

# If you're happy and you know it, don't squash me

# If you're happy and you know it, kiss me. #

No!

-Do you want a jacket potato?

-No.

William, I don't like potatoes either.

Thank you.

Oh! Uh-oh...

I don't...

You hit Mrs Bonbons, bunny head.

-TEACHER:

-Keep eating, please!

William, don't move. Just stay exactly in that place.

Yeah, there. Don't...

don't sit down. Can you do it standing up, William?

Um...

It's going... OK, I'll try.

Em, yuh. Em-yuh.

Em-yuh!

So, what's... I don't know what's this one.

Ff. Ay.

Ef.

Ff. Eh.

Ff-ay-ef.

-I don't get it right.

-Oh, why not?

Because it's so hard.

'William is very, very self-motivated.'

He wants to learn, and you can see that in him.

'I think he has quite a love of reading.'

Rat. R-a-t.

Ruh, ah tuh.

Rat. And this one says...

Huh, ah, tuh. Hat.

And this one says bat.

Ah... Buh, ah, tuh. Bat.

CHILDREN LAUGH AND SCREAM

If you thought reception looks hard, wait till you see Year 1.

That's my class.

Let's go. No, no bike, no bike. We've got to move.

"When we arrived at the park,

"Sarah and Nick ran across the grass to a big wide path.

"They were just about to put on their rollerblades

"when Dad said, 'Look, you can't skate here.'"

Um...

My name is Taijah. I am five years old.

Easy!

Easy.

I can just spell everything.

"'We've found the perfect place to rollerblade,' said Dad.

"'Yes,' grinned Nick.

"'And there are no flowers here, either.'"

You know when they got to the park, they were disappointed.

Do you know why that was?

-Because they couldn't rollerblade there.

-And why, do you think?

Because there were flowers.

That is lovely reading.

This is my friend Maria.

She is in my class, Year 1.

She lives two floors up in a flat just like mine.

Ow, ow, ow, ow!

-Morning, Maria.

-Good morning.

-Morning.

Um...

Peh.

Nn.

Mm.

Eh.

Mm, yh, eh.

OK, I can't sound it out now.

Right, Maria.

Let's look at some letters.

A, B...

-C.

-Are you sure?

How about this one?

-Er...

-Have you seen that before?

-No.

-No? How about these, do you know?

-Zzz.

-Good.

How about this one here?

Yuh.

Yep, got that.

-Er...

-Have you seen that?

-No.

-Don't worry.

Er...

-I don't know that one.

-Don't worry. How about that?

Maria doesn't always retain

the shape of a letter. So she sees letters not in the way

that we think she's seeing them.

-What is this one?

-Guh.

-Guh.

-Er, what is this one?

-Juh.

-Juh.

-What this one?

-Kwuh.

-Kwuh.

-Huh.

-Huh.

-Juh.

-Juh.

If you watch her very closely,

she will wait for another child's answer

and answer just a microsecond after they do.

-Juh.

-Juh.

-Puh.

-Puh.

-Kwuh.

-Kwuh.

-Tuh.

-Tuh.

-Wuh.

-Wuh.

-Wuh.

-Kss.

-Kss.

-Wuh.

-Wuh.

-Ssh.

-Ssh.

-Chuh.

-Chuh.

-Chuh.

-Chuh.

-ALL:

-Choo! Choo!

It's nearly getting dark.

IN PORTUGUESE:

'My mum and my dad's language is Portuguese.'

And I can't speak like that.

INTERVIEWER: What do you speak?

Um, my language.

My language. Like my friends.

Like my friends.

But you can understand Portuguese, can't you?

Yes.

'But my mum don't know my language.'

MOTHER, IN PORTUGUESE:

FATHER, IN PORTUGUESE:

Mm-hm! Yes.

MOTHER:

Where's my kiss?

You speak Portuguese to her?

IN PORTUGUESE:

Yes, OK.

MARIA GIGGLES

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday...

..Thursday, Friday...

..Saturday, Tuesday.

Tuesday.

Mm-mm.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,

Thursday, Friday, Wednesday... Saturday.

Monday.

Er...

Sunday.

It is.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday...

-..Tuesday.

-Saturday.

Saturday.

Mm...

Tuesday.

-Sun...

-Sunday.

Yeah.

OK, shall I tell you what we're doing today?

Yeah!

OK, we've got a very exciting day

because we are going to do all our sounds,

and then we are going to...

Some of you are going to try some reading.

-KIDS GASP

-Who's excited to read to Hannah?

-ALL:

-Me!

I can't wait to open this.

Have a look at the front.

Get your finger.

-ALL:

-"Sun...hat...fun."

Look how Hannah is using one finger at a time.

Show me that you can do it.

-ALL:

-"Sun...hat...fun."

Right, open it to the first page.

Right, let's point together. Sienna, get your pointing finger.

-A.

-ALL:

-A.

-Hat.

-Hat.

-Sun.

-Sun.

-Fun.

-Fun.

-It.

-It.

-On.

-On.

-And.

-And.

Run.

OK, turn the page.

OK, now this word is called a red word.

-What's it called?

-Red word.

And red words are very, very tricky. Do you know why?

Right, red words, you cannot sound out.

OK. You cannot sound them out.

So, listen. "Puh-uh-tuh."

Putt!

Putt!

That's not the right word.

You cannot sound them out. They're trying to trick us.

This word says "put". What does it say?

-Put.

-Put. Put.

"I put my hat on."

If you've read a red word, you'll know it's not so easy to read.

It doesn't look how it sounds.

Who thought the oo in too should also be in threw and glue?

Is this the work of a loony?

Or a spelling monster sent to confuse me?

INTERVIEWER: Tell me the hardest word you know how to spell.

I can spell Vuh-cuh-ah-ruh-vuh-ah-nuh.

Caravan.

I know how to spell "suddenly".

Go on, then.

Sss-uh...

..duh-uh-uh...

Is it Y after?

I think I've forgotten.

What's the hardest word that you two know to spell?

Mm...

Er...

I just need some more time under the table to think.

-Mm.

-OK?

-Come and jump up on my horse.

-No.

Climb up! Climb!

Maria?

Some books, they're nonfiction, and they give you information

and I like...

I don't really like nonfiction books.

Only a little bit, I do.

I do like fiction books.

What are fiction books?

Fiction books are fairy tales.

There's stories of strange creatures and imaginary worlds.

So, the story is called Big Scary Monster.

"On top of a mountain not very far from here,

"there once lived a big scary monster.

"This monster was bigger and scarier than any other creature."

WIND RUSHES

"All the other little creatures that lived on top of the mountain

"spent their days playing happily together

"among the small rocks and the small plants.

"But suddenly, when they least expected it,

"something disturbed the peace.

-"Boo!"

-KIDS YELP

MONSTER ROARS

The best stories make you understand what it's like to be there yourself.

I think we've all got monsters living inside our heads,

trying to get out.

My monster's a very sad monster.

MONSTER SOBS

My monster is a happy monster.

My monster is called Gerotina.

This monster gets angry when she roars.

HE MAKES A GROWLING SOUND

MONSTER GROWLS

If I was in the story and the monster was sad,

I would give the monster a big hug.

Why would you do that?

To make him feel happy.

Then he'll never be horrible any more.

CHILDREN CHATTER

-MARIA:

-Aaaaaaaaaaaaah!

-WHISPERS:

-Come on, sunshine, wake up.

One, two, three, four...

-Wash, wash, wash.

-HE GIGGLES

'Doors closing.'

'Doors opening.'

'Doors closing.'

Everybody's cold!

It's very good for popsicles.

CHILDREN CHATTER AND SCREAM

Who has got the start-of-the-year feeling?

Wow, fantastic.

2000 and...?

-ALL:

-16!

INTERVIEWER: OK, take a few steps back.

HE MAKES "VEHICLE REVERSING" BEEPS

So, all together, what does it say?

Tell me what you think about reading.

I think reading is boring.

A bit not boring.

HE COUGHS

A bit OK.

And...a bit fun.

Because you get to learn some new words in it.

Stephan, can you come back?

CHILDREN CHATTER AND SCREAM

Right, we're going to do a little bit of reading.

This book is called On The Table.

Can you have a go at reading that?

I really don't know how to read this.

Really?

What do you think's happening in the picture?

The toy car's on a table.

Well, that's exactly what this says.

It says, look, "The little car is on the table."

A dolly's on the table.

A ball's on the table.

And a plane is on the table.

So boring.

A bus is on the table.

Bo-ring!

This is a boring book.

Once you've finished, put your pencil in the pot.

'Some people think there are two Stephans in my class.

'But the other one is his twin brother, Nicholas.'

You go to work, you come home.

The kids go to school, they come home.

Nobody wants to sit and start doing work.

But they do it because they know they don't have a choice.

And that's only because they're young still.

-Until they grow up a bit older.

-Yeah, exactly, because that's it.

When they get older... They'll be like,

"Dad, you can't tell me what to do, man, it's my homework!"

-Will.

-W...

-I...

-Ill.

I...

L.

Her.

Hih...

Eh...

R...

To.

Look.

Ell, O-O,

kay.

Now...Nicholas.

This.

Fine. That.

Them. Fine.

I don't like the T, though.

You could have done that a bit better.

All. A, L, L.

BOTH: 13, 14, 15, 16, 17.

Plus your two half marks.

-18.

-18!

That's really good.

'Nicholas is all about solving puzzles.

'It's just a puzzle of sounds.

'So Nicholas will do it

'whereas Stephan doesn't have that ability to do the phonics

'and piece the word together.'

Spell "her".

Huh-rrr.

-Her.

-In letters?

A?

R.

No.

H-E-R.

H-E-R.

That "them" is wrong as well.

T-H-E-M.

I'm not going to mark that correct, that one.

Your N looks like an H and your H looks like an N.

12, 13, 14.

-That's a bit better than Nicholas's.

-I wouldn't say that.

Aww.

You go here.

Do your homework.

But the kid thinks he doesn't like reading.

He thinks books doesn't teach him many words.

-He has got a good heart, doesn't he?

-Yeah.

-He's cute.

-Cuddly.

Beautiful speech.

When he first started talking, oh, wow.

It was surprising how well he could pronounce the words.

His main downfall, though, he's stubborn.

Stephan doesn't understand that reading

is something that you NEED for life.

"Children...came...to the house."

Oh...

Out.

"They came to play with Chip."

Stephan, your brother's trying to read. Can you be calm and quiet?

"Can..."

SHE MUMBLES

Wih-ah-tih.

Stephan.

SHE SIGHS

HE SINGS

Don't lose your tail, otherwise you won't be a cat any more.

Will you?

Imagine if you suddenly turned into a character

from one of the stories you read.

That's exactly what happens on World Book Day.

She's probably not going to wear this hat, but I'll give it a go.

I don't really want a hat.

I've just made it for you.

Otherwise you're not the real Cat in the Hat.

To the side, always with style, OK?

There you go.

You look so pretty.

Cheese.

I can't believe I forgot your hat. I am so unhappy about that.

I'm not unhappy. I'm happy!

You're a big bouncy cat.

-I'm a skipping cat.

-OK.

Bye.

I don't know where Purple Class have gone.

I don't know who you all are, but you all look very nice.

Good morning, Stephan.

Morning.

Good morning, Nicholas.

Morning.

Good morning, Maria.

Good morning.

-Good morning, Taijah.

-Morning.

I have come as Mog out of Meg And Mog

because the children requested it.

I came as Aslan, with my beautiful mane.

I've come as... Don't you know who I am?

I've come as a character called Lucky Luke

from a French comic that I used to love

when I was younger, that I still have quite a few of his comics.

Thank you.

World Book Day is one of the most exciting events of Kingsmead.

It's absolutely brilliant.

We have got children and staff

that get really excited about dressing up.

We talk about books. We talk about characters.

We talk about the importance of reading.

Probably one of the best days of the year, actually.

We are celebrating loving books and reading

and everything to do with reading.

Put your hand up if you like to read.

We love reading.

I love reading.

OK. I'm going to show you this.

Have a look. Use your looking eyes.

Magnet eyes switched on. Magnet eyes switched on.

"No-one remembered how she came to the woods,

"but all knew that it was right.

"The whole forest took her as their own."

"Bird taught her how to speak.

"Bear taught her how to eat."

"Fox taught her how to play."

"And she understood and was happy."

"One day, she met some new animals in the forest."

"They found her strange.

"And she found them strange, too."

"They spoke wrong."

"They ate wrong.

"And she did not understand, and she was not happy."

They made her do things she didn't like.

Did she want to speak like them?

-CHILDREN:

-No.

-No.

She wanted to speak like the birds.

Did she want to eat her food with a knife and fork?

-CHILDREN:

-No.

-She wanted to use her hands.

"Everyone remembered how she left, and all knew it was right."

"Because you cannot tame something so happily wild."

Good, good, I like this.

Loo-king. Where is the kih sound?

Look-ing.

We've got "ing" in now. Look-ing.

Ing. Excellent.

Stephan, sit up.

Show me that you're ready.

Stephan, you just wasted all that writing time.

You will have to miss some break time to get it done.

Come on, Stephan.

Sitting up.

On your chair, properly.

You didn't write quickly enough when we were doing the lesson.

You had a long time to do that, and you didn't do it,

so I'm afraid you will have to miss playtime and do that.

Because I asked you so many times.

Didn't I?

And you just didn't get it done.

It's very sad.

Everybody is there doing their thing

and Stephan is being the clown in the back, in the corner,

or being loud, talking, having a laugh, having a giggle.

He is already a fidgety type of person

so sitting down for five minutes,

he's going to start picking at his hair, playing with his clothes,

eating his sleeve, before he starts moving.

Once he starts moving, you're in trouble.

And that gets him into these predicaments at school.

I'm hoping that he takes a leaf out of his brother's book

and makes those type of changes for himself,

rather than being forced to do it.

Go on, then.

Stephan is coming a long way.

Reading, though - carry on practising,

because...it takes a long time.

Especially with the four-letter words.

The quicker he can say them as he sees them...

We have tried that. We want him to keep up with everyone else

but the phonics don't work for him.

Whereas, Nicholas, phonics works fine.

Stephan will get there, definitely.

Sienna, did you push inside the line?

Sit on the carpet, please.

Yes, you need to be making sure that you are listening all the time, OK?

-I did my name.

-Because you could have done much more than that.

Were you play-fighting?

You are on time out and when we do choosing later,

you will miss out of the choosing.

Sienna does find it a little bit tricky

to cooperate with the other children sometimes

and also to follow my instructions sometimes.

Why me?

Do you always listen to Hannah?

You're a good girl.

But sometimes I'm a bit in trouble.

She's just got quite strong ideas sometimes

and if she doesn't want to do something,

she will do any kind of distraction.

# Ba ba dee, ba da ba da ba ba ba... #

Learning-wise...

Very capable. But just sometimes again it's whether she chooses

to follow what is being asked of her in class.

Badiba-bam!

Be quiet!

-All of you may...

-NONSENSE SPEECH

I don't think I could stress enough

how important motivation is for children to learn.

Winds help the animals move through the air.

It's half the battle, because we need to get them to want to do it.

We need to get that excitement there.

KIDS CLAMOUR

You want the children to want to read all the time.

You want them to pick up all the books.

You want them to be proud, show their parents, show the adults,

"Look what I can do. I can read!"

Have you seen the croco...diles?

Said the...what does that say?

-Frog.

-Good.

"I've seen the crocodile," snapped the crocodile.

-What do you think he is going to do?

-He's going to eat all of them.

Do you think?

Good boy. Very proud of you.

-Have you been practising with your mummy?

-Yes.

-Good.

-Are you ready?

-Yeah.

-Are you ready?

-Yes.

-Are you really ready?

-Yes.

-Are you really, really, really ready?

-Yes!

-BOTH:

-Ksss!

Oh, you both got it.

-BOTH:

-Qih!

Q.

-Cih.

-Oh, yeah.

-BOTH:

-Lll.

'We're working really hard with Maria.'

We're practising the sounds with her,

so Caz will take Maria and practise her sounds every day.

This is...?

-Sh!

-Good!

'There's a few sounds that she's still wobbly with.

'But she's improved so much,

'compared to where she was in September.'

Th...i...n.

-Thin.

-Good girl.

One, two, three, four. I'm getting better at this!

Log!

F...l...ume - flume.

-Flume?!

-The flume!

-I want to read... I want to read this.

-No, I am reading it.

Give me the book.

Go and read something else.

Whatever.

-SHE SPEAKS QUIETLY

-It means you're in love.

-MAN:

-What's love?

-It's something when someone,

when someone likes someone and they don't know what's going on.

Oh, my goodness! I cannot spell this.

-M..a - ma.

-HE LAUGHS

BOTH GIGGLE

Are you both the same at reading, or is one better, or...?

Well, both of us are a little bit better,

but Nicholas is the better of.

-MAN:

-Would you like to be in love?

-No!

-Why not?

-Because, if we do, we wouldn't be a child any more.

H-E-R-E. Here.

B-I-G. Big.

AN-D.

-And.

-Good.

I've got...I've got something...

Nicolas, go back and finish your work.

You're not finishing the work.

You're just mucking about now.

Day. There's two "days", but they are actually different.

This day and this "they" sounds exactly the same, but...

I'm so glad you remembered that one

and I'm so glad you didn't get them confused.

-Daddy knows I can get them right.

-Yeah!

-Daddy believes in me.

-Of course I do!

And my last one is complete.

Stephan's reading has come on leaps and bounds.

So much better now. He's using his sounds more when he's reading.

'And he's much more confident with his reading.

'He's enjoying his reading.'

Brilliant, brilliant work! Look at this word.

Look how difficult that word is, but you could read it.

Are you proud of yourself?

Kangaroos to the door, then.

Not all of the books we read are fairy tales.

There are also stories that teach us about the real world.

"I live with my family in a city close to the sea.

"Every summer, we spend many weekends at the beach.

"But we never go there any more, because, last year...

"..our lives changed forever."

CHILDREN'S LAUGHTER ECHOES

"The war began.

"Every day, bad things started happening around us."

BOMBS WHISTLE

"And soon there was nothing but chaos."

"And one day the war took my father."

Do you know what it means?

It's... It's a battle.

Yeah, in a way. Do you understand what it means?

It means that her daddy was lost.

He died in the war.

-How?

-Because war is bad and bad things happen.

And that's a bad thing that happened to her family.

'Recently, my grandmother passed away'

and they saw how sad I was, and they couldn't understand

why I was being so sad, so I had to explain it to them.

And I started reading them books where there is a character that dies

and that character is not coming back like in the games.

You know, it's something you have to introduce to them.

"We leave at night to avoid being seen...

"The further we go, the more we leave behind.

"We finally arrive at a border."

-DOG BARKS, PEOPLE SHOUT

-"Oh, no. It's the guards!

"They are looking for us and we must hide.

"In the darkness, the noises of the forest scare me."

CREAKING

"But Mother is with us

"and she is never scared.

"We close our eyes and we finally fall asleep."

-Crying.

-Why is she crying?

Because she had to leave everything behind, because of the war.

But she is protecting the children.

Cos that's what mothers do, isn't it?

"My...dad."

And then?

"Used to...

"be so cool."

Yes!

"This is my dad."

Yes!

"He s...eems...

"seems...

-"pla..."

-Pre...pre...

-"..pretty..."

-Yes.

-"..normal..."

-Normal.

-"..to me."

-That's it, well done.

"My dad having fun."

-It's a question...

-VOICE LIFTS:

-"My dad having fun?"

Is the question.

"I wish I could have

"seen it."

"Anna must choose between..."

-Um, Elsa.

-No.

-Love?

-No.

-Christophe?

-Stop guessing words. How do you know these letters?

How do you know this word? You have to look at the letters.

-Huh-eh-rah!

-I know, I know!

-Go on, then.

-Her!

-"Her sister's life or..."

ICE CREAM VAN JINGLE PLAYS OUTSIDE

Ice cream van!

-Why do we have to practise our reading?

-Because it's not boring.

-Stop it. Why do we have to practise our reading?

-Er...

Because you have to get strong hands.

Strong hands?

You have to get ready for Year 1, when you move to your new class.

Otherwise you're not going to be as good as everyone else

and you're not going to know what to do.

-You're not going to be ready. Isn't it?

-Yeah.

-OK?

-Yeah.

-So have that one sticker and we're going to do some reading.

She's... I know she can do it.

You know, she doesn't really have any other difficulties.

You just have to practise, darling, isn't it? We both have to practise.

-Yeah.

-Because you have to be ready for your new class.

Yeah.

-Where's the word "the"...

-Hmm...

-..in the front of the book?

Well done! Where's the word "up"?

On any of the books. Any of the books. Where's the word "up"?

-There.

-Well done! Where's the word "tiger"?

-I don't know how to spell tiger.

-T-I-G-E-R.

Well done! What about..."kick"?

Good girl!

W-A-I-T. Wait.

Oh! Why does waiting have to be so boring?!

SOFT CHATTER

Let's go to the kids' section. Come on, then, boys.

Oh, looky, looky.

-There's toys in the shop as well.

-Shall we have a look at books first?

-Look! Dennis The Menace 3.

-Dennis The Menace.

That's a CD, not a book.

"..looking out...the window."

'It's going OK for now.'

They're paying interest to the books that they're seeing

and that's a good sign.

Well, this one does not feel useless.

This one actually feels quite great.

'I worry in the sense of what their future will turn out like.'

I...want...his book!

'But as long as I know that

'the two of them are learning at a decent pace,

'I'll know that, eventually, I won't need to worry.'

OK, now can we just go to the toys?

LAUGHTER

At the end of the year,

the teachers test us to see what we have learned.

"She got some fish.

"Father Bear got some fish, too.

"We are good at fishing, said Father Bear."

-Hmm.

-Finished.

-Nice reading, Stephan.

When we started this journey...

words were monsters!

But now, they've become our friends.

And who would have thought something so hard...

..can be so much fun?

"Sam looked and looked for

"Little Bear.

"Mum looked and looked

"for the bear, too."

She can read. Yeah, she can read. It's great.

Um, she didn't make many errors.

In fact, I was enjoying it so much

that I didn't record all of the errors.

In September, she had problems

recognising the letters, even the single letters of the alphabet,

and her spoken English wasn't very strong.

Just the sheer volume of what she's read has helped with her English

and also her English has helped with her reading.

I'm pleased for her. These are life skills that she's learning.

-BELL RINGS, CHILD SQUEALS

-Oh, sorry! Sorry!