The ideas here are all thanks to the readers in the Abofour Book Club, initially established by Gloria Addae, and now led by Mr Cofie. I hope that we can pull together many ideas for reading activities from great initiatives across Ghana.

Gloria indicated to me that the Book Club meets every Friday at 8am. The session starts with a prayer, and the reading of minutes from the previous meeting. The sessions then comprise of both ‘formal’ and ‘informal’ activities.

‘Formal’ Activities

Each week 2 or 3 ‘formal’ activities are chosen by the President of the society. 

1. Discoveries:

Pupils say what they have ‘discovered’ that week – e.g. scientific or historical facts, ideas, or new words.

2. Book summaries:

3 pupils asked to summarise books that they have read, and consider:

• Moral of the story – questioning on whether it is a good moral? Do they want to follow that moral?
• How is the story related to what is going on in our society
• See the ‘possible questions’ sheet for further ideas.

3. Vocabulary:

• New words they learnt in the book and meanings.
• Literary devices used in the book e.g. personification, similie, metaphor, hyperbole, oxymoron, irony, satire, sarcasm etc

4. Debate:

On issued to a book – e.g. ‘The book ended well’. Discuss. 1 minute per speaker. 2 on each side.

‘Informal’ Activities 

1. Riddles (pupils say a riddle and the rest of the club have to guess)
2. Pick and act (pupils pack out words (e.g. book characters) and have to act in that word)
3. Truth or dare (pupils are either quizzed on a reading related topic, or dared to do a reading-related activity).
4. Question time by President or ‘hot seating’ – one pupil has to pretend to be a character in a particular book, and the others have to ask questions about his thoughts on various topics.
5. Competition in pairs- quizzed on books.
6. Articulate (words in a hat – pupils have to describe the word in teams without saying the word itself)

Pupil responsibilities

There should be various roles of responsibility in a well-established book club.

President – presides over the meeting (so it can run without a teacher)

Vice-President – assist the President and can preside if President not there.

Secretary –  write minutes of the meeting in the official Book Club Book, and read the minutes at the beginning of next week’s meeting.

Organisers – they remind people of the time for the meetings and arrange the room. Choosing particular people to make sure the library is tidy.

Porters– make sure order is maintained during meeting – break up arguments and keep noise down!

 Responsibilities of the Executive Board:

• Offer invitations, and encourage to use the library.
• Keep activities of the library ongoing.
• Visit younger classes to explain the benefit of reading, and highlight good stories.
• Keep the book club running.

 If you have any other ideas for running a Ghanaian book club, do get in touch on contact@readingspots.org