Reading the World

Once upon a time, at the Lycée Français de Chicago, brave children set out to meet a strange monster... So began Journée de la Lecture 2022 (Reading Day) for our maternelle students. Already comfortable enough to understand a story read in both French and English, they enjoyed following the adventures of Tickle Monster, a naughty boy who fortunately fears tickling.

This bilingual reading session was one of the many activities offered to our students as part of the 5th edition of Journée de la Lecture organized by our teachers and librarians around the theme "Reading the World." Each year, all grades participate in projects inspired by words and stories, and the day has become a highlight of life at the LFC. As usual, the 2022 theme was cleverly interpreted, inspiring our students' adventures and accomplishments.

While several maternelle classes opted to "read the world" aloud and from a bilingual perspective – in an international school like ours, mastery of languages is an essential key to "deciphering" the world and each others – many of our elementary students “visited” the four corners of the world during this beautiful day. Second-graders got a taste of Turkish, Canadian and South Korean cultures through virtual readings by parents from those countries, invaluable opportunities to expand our students’ exposure to the cultural richness of the world.

With the help of a world map, first-graders traveled the world through books, visiting authors’ home countries and those of their books’ characters... A perfect activity to familiarize themselves with the geography of the world.

Fifth graders also explored the world, creating travel diaries as souvenirs of their discoveries. It was a great project for learning how to research and present geographical data, historical facts, tourist attractions, local traditions, food specialties and other information about a place they visited, in person or in books.

In high school, our Grade 9 IB students approached this day dedicated to "Reading the World" by creating their own world. They worked together to write and illustrate a tale from scratch, The Strange Story of Leonie Cartier.

This year’s Journée de la Lecture was a wonderful moment to celebrate the pleasure of books and reading. Long live the richness of words, the beauty of languages and the breadth of knowledge!