Reading is an individual activity but if it evoked strong feelings in you, it is only natural that you would like to talk about it, possibly with somebody who has read the same book to see if they share your opinion or not.  

A Reader’s club gives you an opportunity to talk about your reading experiences rather than the book itself; how the book made you feel- whether you absolutely loved/hated the book and why. The readers’ clubs help to inspire young people to read and broaden their world outlook and to give them opportunity to express themselves.

In 2005 the British Council Uzbekistan has launched a new initiative to promote reading in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan – reading for pleasure, reading for information, reading to learn.

The new project aims to support teachers and learners of English through developing a model and methodology of the Readers’ club for self-access centres, libraries, universities and teachers’ associations in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

In January 2005 we organised a workshop for future Readers’ club facilitators from Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan which provided the forum for discussion of practical aspects of reading groups, gave participants hands-on experience of facilitating discussion groups and helped to explore ways to involve readers in various creative activities.

The training video was produced as a result of this workshop and provides examples of reading group sessions, discusses the methodology of creating the reading groups and gives readers’ views on the new initiative.

We hope that the guide and training video will support Readers’ club facilitators as well as authorities of various educational institutions and help them set up Readers’ clubs of their own to promote innovative ways to learning, stimulate young people’s imagination, and give them topics to discuss and help them create new friends through the world of reading.

If you want to start your own group the guide and training video developed by the BC team will help you.