Meeting during the school day for one hour per week, our Book Clubs are taylor-made to the students who join them. In consultation with the teachers and administrators at our partner schools, we choose age and skill-level appropriate texts for our students to delve into. At all times in our reading, we seek to build the students' ability to make predictions about what will come next in any given story, to summarize what they've read, to ask questions about anything in the text they do not fully understand, and to locate the textual clues needed to clarify what they're reading.

Sometimes we choose longer texts, including novels like Island Of The Blue Dolphins and Bandit's Moon. The students read such texts carefully over a few months, writing weekly reflections in their journals and discussing them in English with their tutors and peers.

We have also, at times, chosen sophisticated picture books with no words, such as Sector 7 and The Red Book. Once the children have digested the visual representation of the story, they are then instructed to reproduce the story with words, both individually and as a group.

At other times, we have sparked the students' interest by introducing them to non-fiction books regarding historical and cultural figures and topics of particular interest to them. These topics are generally chosen at the suggestion of our partner teachers because they dovetail nicely with what the students are studying in their everyday classes. Our Book Club students have read about Frida Kahlo and Diego Riviera, the California Gold Rush and the legendary bandit Joaquin Murrietta.

At all times, we endeavor to appeal to our students' passions. And we are constantly collaborating with the teachers and administrators at our partner schools so as to better determine what sorts of texts and exercises will most successfully strengthen their skills and peak their interest.'