Book group talk (SVFL)

Do you like to read books? Hmm... well whether you do... or not, it becomes more enjoyable to read together with friends. Talking with friends about what you've read improves your experience of it.

Partly because you hear about other people's feelings, and partly because you can better understand things happening in the book. It gets more interesting and enjoyable with discussion. AND you learn how to improve your language skills by putting your thoughts into words. Sounds a bit tough? How can all that happen, just talking about a book?

There are some tricks you could use. In a book study-group you have three vital roles. You are the narrator, telling your thoughts about the book. You are the interviewer, who helps the narrator by asking questions, and follow up questions. Your questions are needed for them to develop their thoughts.

And you're also an active listener; you show your interest by watching the narrator and letting them talk without interrupting. It's important that you are well prepared. You need to have read the book you're going to talk about. You also need to have figured out what you want to tell the others. Furthermore, you need to have figured out what you want the others to tell you about.

But it's not up to you to decide what they should talk about? Is it? Yes, for a good book discussion, the trick is to ask the right questions. An important tip is to avoid using the word "why?" Imagine yourself being asked the question, "Why do you think that?" or "Why do you feel that?" Do you find that hard to answer? Many people do.

That's because the question "why?" is somehow too big to answer in a simple way. And then it's easy to feel blocked and not be able to answer at all. And when you can't answer, the talk ends. Try posing lighter questions that invite simpler answers. A good way to pose the question is... "Tell me about... " Or "I wonder if... " Like this: I wonder if there is something special in the book that you liked?

I wonder if there was any place in the book that you found boring? Tell me if there was anything you didn't understand or found difficult. Tell me if there was something that you were really surprised about. When you listen to your friend; be prepared to pose follow up questions. Then they will feel encouraged and can tell you more.

How exciting! Tell me more about your thoughts on... Three important things happen when you have a group book discussion. Firstly, when there are several people talking with one another, you become more engaged; You share enthusiasm. So you talk, not only about what happens in the book, but also about your personal interpretations.

Tell me... Was there anything the others said that surprised you? Did that make you change your view about the book? Or understand it better? Secondly...

together, you can figure out what's difficult to understand on your own: You share question marks. I wonder, do you think there were characters not mentioned in the book that were important to the story? Thirdly... the group book discussion helps you compare experiences with each other. Has anyone else been through something similar?

Has anything like that happened to someone you know? Or has someone read another book about the same things? You connect the text to yourself, to the world, and to other books. Tell me, was there anyone in the book that reminded you of someone you know? ... or of someone you read about before?

When you share connections like this, it becomes easier to find patterns in the book, and that makes it easier both to read and to write similar texts yourself. Good eh? And it's fun.